Comments on: Take me out to the ball game http://montaraventures.com/blog/2007/04/23/take-me-out-to-the-ball-game/ Mike Harding's Blog Fri, 21 Nov 2008 07:05:08 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.1 By: mike http://montaraventures.com/blog/2007/04/23/take-me-out-to-the-ball-game/#comment-12294 mike Wed, 25 Apr 2007 20:04:22 +0000 http://montaraventures.com/blog/?p=385#comment-12294 Yeah, I didn't really comment on Bonds and the HoF. I'm with you on this, he belongs along with Pete Rose. Strangely, the comparison with the Reds didn't really occur to me, but there it is. As for the rest, yes, it's a sad time for the press and for our society...it will only get corrected by degree... Yeah, I didn’t really comment on Bonds and the HoF. I’m with you on this, he belongs along with Pete Rose. Strangely, the comparison with the Reds didn’t really occur to me, but there it is.

As for the rest, yes, it’s a sad time for the press and for our society…it will only get corrected by degree…

]]> By: Andy http://montaraventures.com/blog/2007/04/23/take-me-out-to-the-ball-game/#comment-12282 Andy Wed, 25 Apr 2007 18:33:54 +0000 http://montaraventures.com/blog/?p=385#comment-12282 Ironically there is a unique parallel between the Big Red Machine and today’s Giants. Both have or had at least one first round, guaranteed, mortal lock Hall of Famer who we are told may not get in because of cheating. Actually, that is just the company line. There are plenty of cheaters already in the Hall. No, their infraction requires the intersection of three unrelated but necessary phenomena: possessing stratospheric stats, being cheaters (whatever that means), and all the while being perceived as world class A-holes. Today most professional sports, like politics, are well-marketed triumphs of style over substance. And the “style” of Bonds, like Rose, has been tainted by a couple of key incidents throughout their careers (running over Ray Fosse at the All-Star game) that they may never live down. Add to that a general reluctance by them to be disingenuously candid or interested when speaking with journalists (liberal use of term to be sure; try to find real “journalism” applied today to Iraq, Israel, Afghanistan...) all of the time and MLB has themselves a couple of real bad guys. This, no doubt, counterbalances all the good guys who are also gamblers, wife beaters, drunk drivers, absentee dads, etc. Both belong in the Hall of Fame. If entertainment success is measured by box office receipts – How else can it possibly be measured? – both should be inducted tomorrow. But like in other pro sports and politics, American culture has developed a very delusional sense of right vs. wrong – How else can we be in Iraq? - and we nonstop demand the right to be sanctimonious, ill-informed, and catastrophically stupid all at the same time. Ironically there is a unique parallel between the Big Red Machine and today’s Giants. Both have or had at least one first round, guaranteed, mortal lock Hall of Famer who we are told may not get in because of cheating. Actually, that is just the company line. There are plenty of cheaters already in the Hall. No, their infraction requires the intersection of three unrelated but necessary phenomena: possessing stratospheric stats, being cheaters (whatever that means), and all the while being perceived as world class A-holes.

Today most professional sports, like politics, are well-marketed triumphs of style over substance. And the “style” of Bonds, like Rose, has been tainted by a couple of key incidents throughout their careers (running over Ray Fosse at the All-Star game) that they may never live down. Add to that a general reluctance by them to be disingenuously candid or interested when speaking with journalists (liberal use of term to be sure; try to find real “journalism” applied today to Iraq, Israel, Afghanistan…) all of the time and MLB has themselves a couple of real bad guys. This, no doubt, counterbalances all the good guys who are also gamblers, wife beaters, drunk drivers, absentee dads, etc.

Both belong in the Hall of Fame. If entertainment success is measured by box office receipts – How else can it possibly be measured? – both should be inducted tomorrow. But like in other pro sports and politics, American culture has developed a very delusional sense of right vs. wrong – How else can we be in Iraq? - and we nonstop demand the right to be sanctimonious, ill-informed, and catastrophically stupid all at the same time.

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