The Mitchell Report is due very soon. For years... for decades we have been lied to as fans and most of us have been unaware of the lie. The lie of our favorite athletes not being real. Not being naturally gifted to accomplish their achievements. I'm talking about steroid use in sports and in this case, baseball.
The Mitchell Report will expose them. The Mitchell report will mean that you and I as fans will have to make an important decision. Do we care? Because for years we've been able to put our heads in the sand.
It's clear that the fans in the San Francisco bay area don't care. They have sold their souls to Barry Bonds home run record. They seem to have anyway. Why do I say that? When Barry visited any other ball park he was boo'd as a fraud. But at home... they hailed him as a Champion of virtue and accepted his accomplishments regardless of steroid use.
The Mitchell Report will name 60 to 80 players genuinely linked to steroid use. That news should do one of two things. Seal the deal on apathy or spark a true awareness in fans about fraudulent accomplishments. We will either accept that cheating is acceptable or we will finally make a stand and care who we hero worship in the world of sports.
More of a concern is that the Mitchell Report is also going to implicate not only the players but the commissioners office and baseball union. This to me means that Baseball will protect it's own interest and de-emphasize the issue entirely, thus taking the spotlite off the players and help the problem go away.
This does nothing for us the fans as we have no voice to share our objections and our hopes of repair to a national pass time sport.
It seems unless an athlete is actually arrested, the violation is not real or taken to heart by anyone.
I for one care. I'm not a snob. I just don't want my children thinking that cheating in sports is acceptable. Once that is accepted on a whole by a younger generation then the next generation will lower their standards even more.
As an adult on an adult level, I just find it silly to give the nod to a guy that cheated. It can't be any more simplistic.
So folks... how will you react when the news hits today? Will you care?
