i love baseball. i really do. but…

i’ve got a whole lotta opinions about this a-rod thing.   there are few people who have a greater love and respect for this game than i do.  i’m not saying i have more than others…just few that have more than i.  that’s just the way it is.

baseball, as i was raised with it, is dead.  it has been for years.  a 162-game season changed it.  the designated hitter changed it.  pete rose betting changed it.  steinbrenner’s wallet changed it.  technology changed it.  replays changed it.  and i’m a guy that’s not against change!

i love change.  i love change for change sake.  change keeps things fresh.  change moves us from good to better…and sometimes to best.  but not for baseball.  but i’m a realist.

i still love baseball.  i love the purity and the mysticism of the game.  i love the unwritten rules.  i love that you can look at the way a guy stands or holds his bat or adjusts his cup or how he takes care of his glove…and know whether he is a real baseball player or not.

the zen of baseball is ulitmately unexplainable, but absolutely knowable.  you’ve either got it or you don’t.

but baseball, as we know it, has changed.  it’s a business.  it’s entertainment.  it is the perfect sport wrapped in a contract.  we need to stop thinking it is more than that.  ballplayers are not role models.  they do not live for moral perfection.  we shouldn’t expect it from them.  they shouldn’t use steroids, but they shouldn’t be playing for ungodly amounts of money either.

in a sport driven by greed and not by the love of the game, why are we so picky about other sins…like cheating to get a competitive edge or betting on the side.  why are we not as uptight about the blatant racism in management or ballplayers who cheat on their wives with baseball groupies at away games or the heartless disregard of a young player who no longer performs as expected?  hypocrisy is everywhere.

i say leave a-rod alone.  he cheated.  he got caught.  he apologized.  he probably won’t do it again.  let him collect his bizillions and pay his alimony and drive his bentley and find a new supermodel or rock star to date.  sheesh.  he’s been through enough already…

real baseball is alive and well.  you just have to look for it carefully.  but it’s there.

#baseball #love #steroids