Mitchell Report

I cannot stand talking about steroids in sports…call me ignorant, but I prefer to think of sports as uncorrupted…

Having said this, however, I think it would only be fair to talk about the Mitchell Report. His report was long, (you can read the entire 407 page report on ESPN.com), and concretely proved only a few players to have used steroids. An inordinate amount of the accused players was based on hearsay, lacking any real validity. As I sat and watched Sen. Mitchell on ESPN yesterday afternoon, I saw a man who probably realized that he had not accomplished much. I respect the action that he took, and steroids and HGH need to be removed from baseball, but overall, I found little of intrigue or importance in the report. In all honesty, I was disappointed. As a curious fan, I assumed some big names that had not beeen at all associated with steroids’ names would be leaked. Thankfully, baseball’s stars will still be role models for young children. Thankfully for baseball, only the ‘obvious’ names were revealed.

Mitchell’s message was what he considered to be most important. Mitchell wanted Bud Selig to not punish the players, but rather focus on resolving the issue and creating a new image and a new, clean era of baseball. It will be interesting to see what Selig will do in the coming days, weeks, and months. Hopefully, the work of Mitchell will not go to waste, and hopefully, baseball can continue to be ‘America’s Pastime’ and continue to be watched.

I think it is safe to assume that baseball will rebound. In the end, fans just want to watch the game, and want to assume that only a few players cheat. Hopefully, men like Brian Roberts, whose image was tarnished by being named, even though there is no real evidence, will continue to play hard and to be positive role models. Overall, the Mitchell Report was good for baseball. It is a great first step towards cleaning up the game and MLB should finally act to help in the cause.