Mitchell Report

The Mitchell Report, George Mitchell's report on performance enhancing drug use in baseball said to name BIG names, will be released today. Everyone is speculating who is going to be listed and going nuts about it. Frankly who cares. The greatest baseball player of all time has already admitted using it (Bonds) and we (or at least I) have already assumed the majority of great players are using HGH or something like it. ESPN is reporting that one of the big names is going to be Roger Clemens (seen above). SHOCKING!!!!!!! No, wait, not shocking at all. I'm pretty sure it's just been assumed that Clemens was on performance enhancing drugs for the last decade--so who cares that he's listed now? I mean, I guess there is some satisfaction in having his fat face have to answer to specific evidence, but what is it really going to change?

Bonds continued to play and break the most sacred record in baseball (speaking of records, I still say the record that will never be broken is the 56 game hit streak) and I'll bet in some years he'll be inducted to the Hall of Fame. Does anyone think MLB is going to suspend a slew of all stars and potential hall of famers when they get listed in the report? I don't really see it happening. If they do, it won't be for any substantial amount of time. Is the legacy of someone like Clemens going to change because of this report? I don't really see it happening.

Someone forwarded me an email today where the author said he loved the steroid era (loved the Home Runs, the controversy and all the sports talk it created). I completely disagree. Is the offensive production more interesting? Probably. That said, wondering which players are cheating with drugs has left me with LESS respect for and LESS interest in the game, not more. As for the talk it generates (here's a blog entry that doesn't exist without it), I generally think it's tired and only turns me off from the sport of baseball more (am i hypocrite now for writing this?). Before the steroids scandal peaked and I was naive, I used to get into baseball--I watched Sportscenter to see if Sammy or Mcgwire hit another homer (yes, very naive I suppose--or maybe refusing to believe at first) or if Louis Castillo was still chasing the consecutive hits record. Now? I care about two things--my home team (Phillies) and my fantasy team. I blame steroids and the lack of integrity/accountability of baseball for this. So you say, shouldn't the Mitchell report be important to me then? No. Because it's not going to change anything.