Who is to blame?

In the wake of A-Rod's second confession and apology in the matter of a week, I thought it was time that someone (me) listed everyone who should share a portion of the blame for the steroid mess that baseball currently finds itself in.

So here goes:

• The Players - Of course, the players. They are the ones taking the drugs and performance enhancers and the ones benefiting from them. Supposedly. I don't know if Barry Bonds would have hit 73 home runs in 2001 au naturale. No one does. But it is suspect, isn't it? Dude hit 38 dingers in 1998 when he noticed everyone else juicing. Then 49 in 2000 and the ridiculous number of 73 the following year. That's a bit of a jump if you ask me. Anyway, none of this mess would have happened if baseball weren't a business that paid for performance. Chicks dig home runs, so dudes bulked up and Hulk started to smash. They are culprit numero uno.
• The Owners - For these guys, more than anyone else, baseball is profit. Home runs get fans to the ballpark and increases the viewing numbers at home. Both of those increase revenues for the owners. Why wouldn't they turn a blind eye to ballplayers that look like superheroes? Especially after the disaster of the 1994 strike. Which they blame on the players, of course.
  
• The Commissioner - Bud Selig, more than any commish in the history of the game, is all about making money and deflecting blame. You know he is a former owner who still has ties to the Brewers, right? He is paid over $18 million a year to make as much money for the owners as possible. Now he wants everyone to know that he isn't to blame. Bullshit. Stand in line and take your blame, dipshit. When you retire you go down in history as the worst commissioner the game has ever seen. Nice job.
  
• The Agents - This one is rather simple. Steroids enhance performance, right? Performance enhances salaries, right? Higher salaries equals higher commissions for the agents, right? Isn't math easy?
• The Managers - And coaches. More so than anyone, they see what goes on in the clubhouse. And to a man, each one of them had denied "actual" knowledge of players juicing up. I'm sorry, I just don't buy it. I'm gonna have a whole boatload of respect for the first manager to come out and admit he knew what was going on. Because they all know.
• The Press - This one really gets to me. Some of them admit their participation in the fraud, but some of them sound so sanctimonious when talking about it now. "I will never vote for Barry Bonds for the Hall of Fame. Not with what we know now!" Bullshit! Everyone knew Barry was on something in 2001 when he broke the single season home run record. Especially the press. Didn't stop them from voting Barry the MVP of the National League that year. Or the next year. Or the next year. Or...wait for it...yes, the next year. By huge margins. So let me get this straight? The press aren't stupid. They knew Barry was juicing from 2001-2004 and it may have inflated his numbers, but they voted him the MVP of the league each of those seasons? And now they say they won't put him in the Hall for the same reason? Even though there is no actual proof*? What a bunch of dicks!
• The Fans - Yes, the fans. We all bought into it. Back in 1998, we saw how big McGwire and Sosa got. And we also saw them race towards a formerly sacred record in that glorious summer and we bought into it. We loved it. It brought us back to the game that had betrayed us in 1994. So we watched them swat baseballs over the fence and we chuckled about how big they had all become and we let it happen. Because Sosa and McGwire were kinda nice guys. It wasn't until Barry the douchebag bulked up the following year that some folks started to question it all. Sad. And it wasn't until our "heroes" started getting caught up in allegations years later that it seemed to matter to anyone. Sadder still.
  

So who is to blame for it all? We are. And by "we", I mean everyone who is employed by baseball and everyone who enjoys it as a fan. Most of you fuckers probably don't give a shit at all because you aren't fans. But the rest of us need to step up and get a slice of the blame pie. We have earned it.

*Well, there might be proof. That's gonna all come out in his trial in a couple of weeks.

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Note: Remember to play the Bug-Eyed Trivia Challenge every day. All the sanctimonious bastards are doing it.