Today in the world of sports, in particular, the world of baseball, a sole winner emerged; relief pitcher Bruce Sutter, who formerly pitched for among other teams, the Chicago Cubs, was voted into Baseball's Hall Of Fame. He will take his place and formally be inducted among the many other recipients already inside on July 30 (later this year) in Cooperstown, New York, but I really couldn’t care less, considering that baseball has done itself an injustice by not inducting one of the greatest among greatest of baseball players.
That former baseball player is none other than Pete Rose.
Yes, sure; so Rose admitted to betting on his own team the Cincinnati Reds and yes, he did bet on baseball and yes he supposedly hurt the integrity of the game of baseball as a whole, but according to, whom? The fans? The sports-writers? The world who doesn’t give a hoot?
Rose was never found guilty by a trail jury of his supposed crime; rather he was convicted of tax evasion, a petty charge that seemingly has tarnished the image of a grand-master player.
I don’t get it; Rose was never found guilty, yet he gets shit upon for doing something that is so commonplace these days, hell! Everybody bets, from the boys hanging ‘round the pool-room, to the lowly office worker who partake in football bets based on squares, to families and relatives who bet against each other for major sporting events.
There are betting halls all over the world, from bingo to slots to poker to craps. It’s all legal; heck
Why hang a man for one tiny misdemeanor, when his career highlights far outway the good sportsmanship he brought into the game during his time?
Or maybe he just wants Rose to kiss-ass and cow-tow to his liking, just like most big and little bosses do to their workers, kiss-ass and you shall receive; don’t kiss-ass and you will recede.
Whatever happened to doing what you loved doing without ever worrying about the chance to get ahead and you would get ahead based on merit, not on who you know or who you slept with?
In the meantime, why didn’t Selig move faster on the steroid usage within major league baseball?
Why did our United States Congress have to hold hearings and enact a policy prohibiting steroid-usage? Why has Selig let steroid-happy sluggers like former St. Louis Cardinals' Mark McGuire and San Francisco Giants’ Barry Bonds continue to play, break and hold homerun- hitting records under the guise of taking steroids to enhance their playing ability?
In the real world and in the sports world, drug enhancement has always been unacceptable, yet lots of sports players in the various fields are taking them to bring them forward to the next level.
In a fan’s mind, it is mixed, many taking both sides or listening to big-mouthed radio & television talk show hosts blab on about what they believe is right and what is blight and let their fans control the airwaves for an hour or so and then they move onto the next subject.
In The MishegasMaster’s world, I see it like this; if you need drugs to enhance your ability to play a sport or lift weights, then perhaps you shouldn’t be playing or working out. Prescribed drugs are different, obviously, so please I won’t even argue that point. Those that use steroids should have all of their records removed from baseball and be banned outright for life!
Whatever happened to wanting the thrill of playing with the natural self-mutating wonder drugs like “enthusiasm” or “adrenalin” or wanting to set an example for the younger folks (and older generations in between) who look up to sports heroes like they were your big brother, big sister or your parents?
Baseball heavy-hitting legends like Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Ernie Banks, Johnny Bench, Ty Cobb, Al Kaline and many others, never used drugs as they smacked their way into the record books.
And neither did Pete Rose.
So why is drug use tolerated and betting or gambling is not?
There is truly something wrong within these
And that’s sad, especially for Pete Rose.
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