Who's To Blame?

The Deputy Dog is barking mad!

Enough is enough, already. Stop the shenanigans. PLEASE! I beg of you in the name of all that is holy.

What does it tell us when the two most honest sports figures of our time are Jose Canseco and Sir Charles Barkley?

It tells us that Barkley was correct. Athletes are not role models. Sports don’t owe us any morality and athletes don’t owe children who buy their jerseys any parenting. That’s what they have PARENTS for.

Alex Rodriguez did not cause the steroid era in baseball. Neither did Mark McGwire, Andy Pettitte, Roger Clemens or Barry Bonds. As a matter fact, despite the fact that he has done the most in my lifetime to kill the great game I love, Alan H. “Bud” Selig did not even cause the steroid era.

So who did cause the steroid era? Who is the evil villain that gave us this modern day plague on our house?

Donald Fehr.

This man convinced the MLB Players Union that the 1994 strike was a good idea. It wasn’t.

The darkest, coldest fall on record was 1994. No baseball. No world series. No Cal Ripken. Nothing but millionaires and multi-millionaires fighting over a couple of billion dollars, all at the urging of Mr. Fehr.

The delayed start of the 1995 season pushed Ripken’s record breaking game back even further and probably cost Mike Mussina his first 20 win season. Thanks Don.

Even after the game was back, the fans weren’t. How does an average joe making 30 grand a year justify going to a game were these guys just stopped working because $8 million a year wasn’t enough?

For the second time in history, the great game needed to be saved. The first time we can blame the Blacksox Scandal. The second time, we have no choice but to blame Don Fehr.

How could Bud Selig go after steroids when the union had there foot on his throat? How could he stop the one thing that was bringing back the fans? Chicks dig the long ball. As a matter of fact, everyone digs the longball.

Just look at the ratings for the 1998 season if you don’t believe. I know where I was the night Mark McGwire launched that ball over the left field fence at the old Busch Stadium. I am betting you do too.

Don Fehr did this. Bud couldn’t stop it. The players merely did what these two men forced them to do. They were pawns in the greater game.

Don’t blame Alex Rodriguez or Brady Anderson or Rafael Palmeiro. Please. It’s enough already. They are no different than the beer league softball player that buys the $600.00 titanium bat to hit balls 450 feet. They just want to play ball and be great. Don Fehr pushed. Bud turned a blind eye. We asked. They delivered.

So get off their asses.