Reign Drops Fall…

Surprised? Not really. Shocked? A little, but not at what you would think. The big news of the day is that Barry Bonds admitted to using steroids (unknowingly, though). Again, I’m not surprised. When a guy that is 175 pounds when he enters the league until he is 30 suddenly starts putting on muscle mass at 35, a little flag goes up in my mind saying, “Something doesn’t match here!” But this isn’t the most alarming part of it. Ok, he used steroids. Suspend him and put an asterisk by his records, ask him to leave, or prevent this from happening again. But my biggest beef with this whole story is the leaking of grand jury testimony to the media.

I am all for the freedom of the press. That combined with the freedom of speech allows me to post here, but when that freedom starts to impede on laws protecting our rights to privacy, we should be alarmed. Rule 6e of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure requires that “matters occurring before the grand jury” be kept secret. The rule also says that if anyone bound by secrecy reveals “matters occurring before” a grand jury, this is “CRIMINAL contempt.” (I got this from here ) I don’t know about you, but I keep hearing about Barry Bonds testifying before a federal grand jury. I want to know who leaked this information and have them prosecuted to the fullest extent. I know this may seem mundane or unneeded, but if grand jury testimonies on, what some would say, small issues such as steroids in sports get out, what’s to say that they won’t get out on cases dealing with murder or issues where privacy is key. The privacy guaranteed us in a grand jury is to protect us if we have to testify against someone who could hurt us if information got out. How are we supposed to prosecute people in power in federal courts if there is no way to protect the people testifying against them from repercussions? So, although Barry Bonds’ records may or may not be tainted (that’s up for discussion in another blog post), we should really be concerned with the leaking of grand jury testimony. Has the media gone too far?

Ok, I’m a baseball nut. Something about the strategy involved in playing the game just gets my blood running. It may be boring to some, but it’s chock full of excitement for me. Recently, a player hit 700 homeruns (quite a feat) and I’d like to address some issues I have with baseball.

I can’t stand one thing: Barry Bonds.

Ok, admittedly, it’s not really Barry Bonds… it’s how baseball has pandered to the Barry Bondses and Mark McGwyers (and yes, Sammy Sosas) to make it easier to hit “the long ball.” And yes, most of this (if not all) was done under Bud Selig. I think I despise him more than Barry Bonds. The three things that were done that have ruined the game for me are as follows:

1) The strike zone has become smaller: I can see how some people would like this… it makes it so the pitchers have to have more skill, and admittedly pitchers like Maddux and Clemens have done quite well with the new strike zone size. The problem I have with this is the strike zone has moved directly into players’ wheelhouses. Aaron and Ruth had to deal with pitches that were called strikes at their shoulders and knees (roughly). The number of homeruns they hit would have drastically increased if pitchers only threw into their wheelhouses.

2) Pitchers can no longer throw inside: This pisses me off more than number one. I was watching a game where Kerry Wood threw ONE pitch inside and got ejected. I remember watching baseball back in the 80’s and people feared going to the plate against people like Nolan Ryan because they weren’t afraid of hitting batters. If you can’t stand up there and take one for the team, you need to be playing in a softball league in Wichita, Kansas.

3) Batters wearing armor (Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, etc.): If you have an injury that’s bad enough to warrant you wearing protective gear at the plate, SIT OUT!! I don’t remember Aaron, Ruth, Gehrig, Cobb, Mantle, Marris, or any other baseball going up to the plate looking like a football player (American football, for the international readers). And these were guys that had pitchers throwing AT THEIR HEADS regularly.

That’s all I have for now. Maybe I’ll come up with some more after my brother reads this .