BBWAA: Mark McGwire died for your sins

For all the sanctimonious and self righteous members of the BBWA that refused to vote for McGwire because of steroids: What was your job in 1996, 1997, 1998 & 1999 ?
If he was taking all kinds of juicy supplements, why didn't you do your fucking jobs and report it? Why didn't you investigate it? Isn't that journalism? Or do the BBWAA merely show up in the press box, watch a game, eat some food drink, some beers, keep score, get a few quotes and write it up? I mean, it's clearly not as easy as being a White House correspondent and showing up at the daily briefing for you 45 second sound bite for the evening news, but, shouldn't you have done something? I believe someone asked Sosa to take a drug test and he was roundly criticized, to their everlasting shame.

Who were the scrotum lickers that chased Sosa and McGwire for a year, calling them the saviors of baseball? Any of those taint lickers not cast a ballot for McGwire?

But for the suspicion of juicy supplements taken by McGwire, he would have gotten anywhere from 65-80% of the vote. But those that cheered him in '98 and/or did suspect it but didn't write about it committed journalistic malpractice, and if you didn't know, why the fuck not? Someone wrote about andro in McGwire's locker, and he was criticized for invasion of privacy, pretty funny for a group that prides itself on leaking illegally obtained evidence.

That holier than thou alleged journalist who turned in a blank ballot in protest of the alleged steroid era should post, online, links to all of his articles in 1996,97,98 &99 that discussed the horror of chemical cheating. I'll bet that's fairly close to being blank, other wise he would have already said "I told you so"

Mark McGwire may have disgraced himself in front of Congress and by roiding up, but sports journalism looks like shit for fellating him and Sosa and now crusifiying them.

 

Re: BBWA: Mark McGwire died for your sins


h-a, the guy who wrote about the andro was an AP writer who didn't understand the rules and etiquette of covering ballplayers and was roundly criticized by bbwa members, by the way.

carry on.

 

Re: BBWA: Mark McGwire died for your sins

Felt good to get that off your chest, didn't it.

Not that I don't agree, at least somewhat.

 

Re: BBWA: Mark McGwire died for your sins

I don't understand how Jay Buhner only received one vote.

 

Re: BBWA: Mark McGwire died for your sins

I'm goin' to smoke a cigarette then pretend to fall asleep

 

Re: BBWA: Mark McGwire died for your sins

Yeah, it's the writers' fault that the players were juicing... Good logic...

 

Re: BBWA: Mark McGwire died for your sins

Outing Alert:

heyabbott is my ex-wife.

 

Re: BBWA: Mark McGwire died for your sins

I didn't say that.
It's the fault of piss poor journalism that this went on, for years, either under their noses or in front of their faces, and only until Ken Caminti and Jose Canseco did anyone really take notice. And Canseco was vilified by the press. Turns out he was telling the truth and those that questioned his veracity were wrong. But you won;t hear that.
No, what the players did was wrong, morally, but against the rules? Maybe?
But what is the job of journalism in sports? To be a stenographer a score keeper a record keeper? The person that holds the tape recorder or to go beyond the box score to ask real questions to get beyond the press conference of worn out cliches?

Are sports journalists real journalists? We saw Don Rumsfeld kill a few Iraqis but it was in the locker room, so we don't report it?

 

Re: BBWA: Mark McGwire died for your sins

So tell us, Abbott, how would you...obviously a great reporter :...have gone about investigating this story and breaking it wide open?

Given that andro was a legal over-the-counter substance, there was no steroid testing and there was no evidence other than the grotesque size of McGwire et al., what would you have done?
Followed McGwire around the clock hoping to "catch" him shooting up with 'roids?

And, like it or not, walking up to a player's locker when the player is NOT there and taking a bottle of andro off the shelf IS an invasion of privacy. And asking Sosa to take a urine test on the spot was nothing but bullshit grandstanding.
But maybe that's what you consider great investigative journalism, asshole.

Lastly, Abbottt, given all the pompous bullshit in your post --journalistic malpractice, my ass ... you shouldn't be talking about anyone else's holier than thou attitude.

Oops, one more thing... learn how to spell "crucifying" .. douchebag.


And that, ladies and gentlemen, is my rant for No. 10,000
You can now all go fuck yourselves. ;D

 

Re: BBWA: Mark McGwire died for your sins

Well, maybe the journalists did something stupid, like wait until they had proof before writing something... Hindsight is 20/20 and as someone who was covering baseball in 1997-98, I feel a bit duped by everything that has come out in the time since then. I think a lot of us knew something wasn't right, but there's a fine line between having a feeling about it and being able to prove it.

There were no drug tests for steroids. They weren't officially banned until 2002 (Coincidentally, the year McGwire retired...) Unless you could find a player to fess up (as SI did with Caminiti a few years later...) there wasn't a ton you could do...

 

Re: BBWA: Mark McGwire died for your sins

Agree, except on what Kiszla and Reilly did... I didn't think either did anything wrong...

 

Re: BBWA: Mark McGwire died for your sins

Point of note: Thomas Boswell wrote about the (Jose) Canseco shake probably back in like '90 ... of course, it was all conjecture. While many did ignore the possibility, I do wonder how any proof could have been obtained.