Step Up To The Plate

You knew that is was bound to happen, that it was only a matter of time. Sports talk radio and television was a buzz today regarding the news that the baseball writers slammed the Hall of Fame door into the face of Mark McGwire. He fell a whopping 281 votes shy of enshrinement! And the reason for the snub? It's the fault of the Baseball Writers Association of America. It's a version of "slay the messenger."

The most incredible thing I heard today is that McGwire's problems are due to "moralistic sports writers and journalists." Excuse me, did I hear that right? Moralistic sports writers and journalists? You have to be kidding me! The words moralistic and sports writers don't even belong in the same sentence.

You know, your friendly, neighborhood moralistic sports journalists. The ones who help little old ladies across the street; who call their mothers every Sunday evening; who attend mass, synagogue or their local church twice a week; who volunteer at the soup kitchen on the weekends.

I know, you thought you saw them hanging out at the local bar, cigar in hand, cussing up a storm while complaining about the officiating. But that wasn't really them. They were all attending a Peace Rally and Global Warming Conference at the local college campus!

So blame the moralistic sports writers. They're the ones who encouraged Mark to take performance-enhancing drugs. The moralistic sports writers are the ones who told Mark to "not talk about the past" when questioned about steroid use at the congressional hearing in 2005. This entire "misunderstanding" could have all been cleared up by Mark while under oath if he were to have said, "I never took a performance-enhancing drug." Instead he said nothing, refusing to "talk about the past."

So blame the sports writers if you must. But please don't suggest that Mark McGwire is only being kept out of the Hall of Fame for moralistic reasons. 409 hard-core journalists don't get "religion" overnight and vote in lock step with one another. People are much too intelligent for that.

During his playing days, Mark McGwire loved to come up to bat in the bottom of the 9th with the game on the line. He was a feared, clutch hitter. Someone needs to tell Mark that it's now time to be a man and to take personal responsibility. It's time to stop blaming others for personal indiscretion and poor judgement. Mark, it's time to step up to the plate.