Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Let's Play Ball

I have not followed the Congressional hearings and Mitchell report on doping in baseball very closely, so I will admit the possibility that I missed a key point somewhere along the way.
That said, as a casual observer I have yet to hear anyone state clearly why it matters so much as to require these sorts of resources.

Perhaps Congress has nothing better to do.
Perhaps Congress doesn't know it has something better to do.
Perhaps Congress does have something better to do but doesn't want to do it.
Perhaps Congress thinks we think this is what it should be doing.

Either way, I'm pretty sure that the very worst thing that could happen to baseball should Congress ignore it completely is nowhere near the scale of importance of what could happen to our nation if Congress ignores revising FISA court regulations, doesn't prepare for the economic consequences of the ill-concieved stimulus package, or the fallout of the EPA's recent declaration that states do not have the authority to enact stricter environmental regulations than the Federal government.

1 comment:

MintyJ said...

Honestly? This "investigation" isn't taking up much in the way of resources. Really. Doping in baseball has gotten a lot of attention recently (most recently b/c of Barry Bonds' attempt at breaking the home run record, and discussion of whether that record break would count considering Bonds was almost certainly taking performance enhancers). So Congress knows this is a way to jump on an issue that a) some very vocal people are really fired up about, b) has a long public life, and c) has a clear "right side" to it (what politician in his or her right mind will come out in favor of performance enhancing drugs?). It's a perceived agreed-upon evil, so it's an easy thing for Congress to jawbone about stopping. Wa-hay easier than tackling, say, the economy. Or any of the other examples you give. So that's why.

And the beauty of it is, this whole hullabaloo will probably not stop ANY major league baseball player (or NFL player, or pro basketball player) from taking performance enhancing drugs. It's all a show.

Sometime over beer and if you have 5 hours, I'll get into my personal stuff over this.