I’ve long believed that baseball fans tend to see things much the way the American electorate views the U.S. Congress. They’re down on “politicians”, but generally supportive of their own representatives and senators. At least the ones they keep electing. So it goes with baseball fans. Legions of Giants’ die-hards still insist, against all common sense, that Barry Bonds is an innocent victim of a witch-hunt. Or some racially-motivated smear campaign. Away from San Francisco, naturally, Bonds is vilified and held in contempt. Many St Louis Cardinal fans hold a special place in their redbird hearts for Mark McGwire, despite his infamous and cringe-worthy moment in the hot seat when he was grilled on drug use – and went down looking.
The Mitchell Report – the report of former senator and federal prosecutor George Mitchell’s 20-month investigation on steroid and other performance-enhancing drug use in Major League Baseball – is due out tomorrow, Dec 13, with a special news conference being held at 2pm EST. Expect at least 50 MLB players to be called out. But the most contempt will be directed at those “other players” on those “other teams”. The brand promise of the team whose cap and tee-shirts each of us wears will endure the slime. After all, we just want to play ball, right?
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