Stop Snitchin'

Who would have thought that Major League Baseball and the Stop Snitchin' Movement had so much in common. For the MLB, they have no Cam'Ron to lead their crusade of killing snitches like this guy , this guy , and this guy. Instead it's this man-twat. Now Selig's latest actions should make even the casual baseball fan induce projectile vomiting. What we do know, is that Selig is planning on suspending Jason Giambi relatively soon. Now what it will be for is an entirely different question. Selig is talking both straight from his asshole...and straight from his asshole (All of Bud Selig's orifices are indeed assholes). On one side he is threatening to suspend Giambi for talking in a recent USA Today article. But he's also threatening to suspend Giambi for not talking to the head of baseball's independent steroid investigation, George Mitchell. Clearly a win-win situation for Giambi. I'm not quite sure what Selig is trying to accomplish with this, outside of trying to save how future generations will look on his record with the steroid scandal. This just reveals to me that Selig is a petty asshole who cares nothing of the game he leads. THT's John Brattain weighed in on the subject and I couldn't agree more with this:

"He’s created a situation where players are unlikely to talk.

Which is what he probably wants. Selig isn’t trying to get to the bottom of anything. Mitchell isn’t digging for management’s complicity in this fustercluck, Selig is trying to keep the focus on the players. What Bud wants from this investigation is:

1) Make sure that public perception is that performance-enhancing drugs was a baseball players scandal—not a baseball one.
2) Demonstrate to Congress and the public that the Mitchell investigation proves that he is a crusader on a mission to get to the bottom of this dirty business and restore the game’s integrity.
3) Show Congress that he is indeed "serious" about purging anabolic steroids from his sport by coming down hard on those miscreants guilty of using them. "

For Selig, it's not about the integrity of 90's baseball or the future of the game, it's all about saving face on his legacy as he finishes out his tenure as commissioner. He's trying to reflect himself as some kind of modern day Kenesaw Mountain Landis, who is ridding the game of its ills. What he's really doing is creating an extremely unhealthy environment for players who want to come clean. The very idea of Giambi placing at least some of the blame on the MLB higher ups, scares the crap out of Selig. He truly wants this as "a player's scandal." If he fails at making it a player's scandal, it will add to the many controversial/unhealthy things that have stricken baseball in the last 10+ years under his watch. The least of which include talent diffusion through expansions in '93 and '98, a taxing player's strike in '94, and the institution of a weak playoff system that has become in all honesty a crapshoot. In my eyes, his handling of the "steroid scandal" is completely inappropriate in all regards. This has to be the tipping point for baseball fans. We have to realize that Selig is not a crusader who will save the day, but simply a roadblock to progress. His two sided "stop snitching" stance is utterly unacceptable when the sport is at a crossroads. But once Selig leaves, is a solution to PED's even possible? Getting the players union and the owners to agree on something is always difficult, much less a getting an issue like PED testing resolved. But I think a permanent solution could come within the next couple of years. Giambi's remarks are very encouraging in that they recognize a) there was a problem b) something should have been done c) Not enough is being done now. So that brings us back to a solution, and the obvious answer: that the way to rid baseball completely of PED's is to institute rigorous testing like the NFL has done. But things are never that simple between the owners and the MLBPA. I think we could all agree that the healthiest outcome of steroid testing would involve the owners and players agreeing on a resolution, instead of imposed restrictions from the owner's office or (God help us if it ever came to this) Congress. However, where are we left if that resolution never comes? I've always wondered why the MLBPA can't take things into its own hands and police itself. They could require their members to undergo spot testing throughout the year and into the offseason, and impose hefty fines on violators. I think the true answer lies somewhere in the middle. Personally, I could give two shits about PED's. I think the whole thing is entirely overblown as earlier ranted here. But I'm in the minority on this one and I realize that. So we need this solution to the somewhat imaginary problem...It's just more likely that this man has the true secrets of time travel than Selig having the true answer to PED's.