I Hate Talking Politics, But.......

As you can see by looking at the entries below, this blog has really leaned heavily towards baseball-related pieces. I'm an unapologetic hardcore baseball fan, and it seems that I'm having some difficulty letting this season go. Part of my feeling stems directly from the fact that I should be watching the NBA right now. I didn't think that I'd miss basketball that much, having just really got back into the sport over the past two years. But the NHL (aka the Habs) has been underwhelming so far and it just doesn't get any coverage on TV besides on the artist formerly known as the Outdoor Life Network (Versus, or is it NBC Sports?). I usually get sick of the NFL storylines by midweek, after the media has shoved them down my throat for a few days. And I don't want to write about college football until after the first leg of the Allstate BCS National Championship Game this weekend. So.......I guess I'll write another baseball piece!

Now here's where the politics come in: I am very angry at a letter written by two congressmen to MLB commissioner Bum Bud Selig (I can't wait to type someone else's name after the words 'MLB commissioner'). The two representatives are both Democrats and one of them, Frank Pallone, is from my home state of New Jersey. In the letter, the politicians urge Selig and the MLB to ban chewing tobacco and enforce strict HGH blood testing. I'm not going to go into more specifics here, but if you're interested in more of the facts, check out this ESPN article.

Personally, I don't think that the federal government should interfere with these kinds of sports issues when there is a worldwide economic downturn & significant unrest throughout the nation. I'm not here to comment on any of the political issues that should be addressed, only on the ones that shouldn't. Why does the government care about chewing tobacco use in baseball? The heyday of smokeless tobacco is long gone, unless you're former Red Sox manager Terry Francona, and I don't think that too many kids are dreaming of spitting out dip in the big leagues these days. HGH is a substance that has the potential to launch baseball's Steroid Era 2.0, but it's not the government's job to regulate drug testing inside of a private business. There is also little reason to send these appeals to the Commissioner; the wildly powerful MLB Player's Association is the real barrier to Olympic-style testing. The MLBPA successfully fought stringent steroid testing & the related tough consequences for years; what makes the congressmen think that appealing to the league will do anything?

The writing of this letter probably cost taxpayers millions of dollars, but that's just how politics works (especially when one representative is from NJ). I generally am not a big fan of government wasting time by interfering with sports leagues and issues, and this is no exception. Small things like the ones discussed in the letter should be left to the people who run the business daily, and government should work on big picture issues. And don't get me wrong, there are some huge sports issues that I think need government intervention (e.g. unfair compensation for student athletes, sports league antitrust exemptions), but they can be shelved until things get better in this country.

-Cote