Thursday, June 6, 2013

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears; I come to bury A-Rod, not to praise him. The drugs that men do live after them; The hits are oft interred with their bones; So let it be with Alexander. The noble Selig hath told you A-Rod was juicing: If it were so, it was a grievous fault, And grievously hath A-Rod answer'd it. Here, under leave of Selig and the rest - For Selig is an honourable man; So are they all, all honourable men. Come I to speak in A-Rod's funeral...

Nah. Can't do it. No point in it. No traffic. Nobody wants to click on a defense of A-Rod. Let's let him die his death of 1,000 cuts. (Take away the styptic pencil.) Let's delete the last 20 years - from Sosa to Cervelli - and when kids ask why there's no fossil record of the period, just play the National Anthem and move on.

Once upon a time, to escape a scandal, baseball turned to Babe Ruth. Well, we have our new Babe. His name is Bud Selig. He is the key to the 2013 pennant race. (This befits his $25 million salary, by the way.) Selig now sits on decisions that - frankly - dwarf Michael Pineda's rehab, or Lyle Overbay's attempts to learn rightfield. Tomorrow, if he wants, he could wipe out half the Yankee lineup with a keystroke - or reset the balance of power throughout any division in baseball. On July 1, the Astros could suddenly become the game's greatest team.

A raft of MLB players - including major stars, according to the "leaks" - will get suspended, based primarily on the testimony of a sleazebag - an "honorable" man that no federal grand jury would touch with a 10-foot indictment. It's so clean, so perfect - MLB sues this guy, Bosch, draining him of money, and then says it will let him off the hook if he names names. It's not worth the time and trouble to get a few Lenn Sakatas. It's only viable if he can bring down stars. So... grab a knife, everybody, the fun is about to begin.

I know, I know... this looks like another rant in defense of A-Rod. I assure you, I come to bury him, nothing more.

Once upon a time, we were a country where you were innocent until proven guilty. Now, we're the country that says you get throat cancer from oral sex.

MLB - with its "steroid police" - is making deals with the devil that make Faust look like Debbie Boone pushing the Lifestyle Lift. The closer you look, it's like a fight between salmonella and botulism. Who should you root for? We all drugs out of the game. So do we emulate the famous "war on drugs" in America? We know how that one turned out, eh?

And frankly, we know what's coming down: A set of announcements that will shake the Yankees to their core. Remember the Mitchell Report? Orchestrated by a man who sat on the board of the Boston Redsocks - which focused entirely on the Yankees? (Even now, does anybody talked about Big Papi the way they do about A-Rod?)

If ESPN is right - and from the looks of things, somebody in MLB is feeding them raw meat (in exchange for what? that's a question folks should ask) - we're about to see an explosion reshape the 2013 pennant race. If history tells us anything, it will center around the seat of power - Rome.

So... what city is Rome?

6 comments:

JM said...

Jesus wept.

Me too.

A travesty.

Parson Tom said...

the ESPN coverage drools with enthusiasm for an execution in the town square. these guys should hear themselves.

Anthony La Russa, Esq. said...

Here's the real deal with Bosch's testimony. The test won't be beyond a reasonable doubt, like in a criminal trial. In arbitration hearings or in civil suits it will be preponderance of the evidence. In other words, is it 51% likely that "he" [whoever the player is] took the drug. Bosch is a sleaze, so his testimony might not be good enough to win a case if the player contradicts him. So the key will be corroborating evidence. Will someone else, more reliable, support Bosch's testimony? Will any of the accused players, for some reason, admit that what he says about them is true? If so that increases Bosch's credibility. Will other confirm what Bosch alleges? Will documentary evidence, like airline or hotel records support Bosch by showing players were in Miami on the dates Bosch claims he gave them drugs? Were any players stupid enough to sign receipts? So it's not going to be just do you believe the sleazy drug dealer or the accused player. It's much more complicated than that.

el duque said...

Anthony,

You are hereby appointed legal correspondent to IIHIIFIIc.

KD said...

I don't care what you say. They are guilty, guilty, GUILTY! dirty, filthy little druggies all. Now if you will excuse me, it's cocktail hour and maybe i can score a little weed off my grandson.

Anthony La Russa, Esq. said...

As my criminal law teacher used to say, just because they did it that doesn't mean they're guilty.