The Backlash from the Mitchell Report
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The New England Patriots won the duel in Dallas, the parity in college football is starting to get ridiculous, and Dusty Baker is in as the Cincinnati Reds' new manager.
The Colorado Rockies are on the verge of their first World Series berth and the Indians and Red Sox look to be in a dogfight to take the AL spot.
But the biggest story of the weekend, in my opinion, managed to fly under the radar. The Mitchell Report, which is going through one last proofread and compiling its sources for the works cited, is about to released.
When the report does comes out -- sometime after the Rockies win the World Series and before we kick off the election year -- names will be named. We're talking to you, Jason Grimsley.
But seriously, a source privy to the information told ESPN that it's going to be "huge when these names come out." I'm not pointing any fingers here, but some of the big names that come to mind are Miguel Tejada, Frank Thomas, Sammy Sosa, and David Ortiz. If any or all of those were outed for steroids, I'd call that a "huge story."
Besides a shock wave causing a collective gasp among owners and fans (the players already know all this stuff), what would be the ramifications? I'm thinking they will be three-fold.
First, fans will respond in righteous indignation, because that's what we do. We will call for records to be wiped from the books, asterisks added, and players we don't like anymore (Sosa) banned from the game. As if we had no reason to suspect anything when they were launching 65 homers in an "average" year.
Second, owners will respond in righteous indignation, because there are big dollars at stake. Sure, there were big dollars flowing into their pockets when home runs were flying out of the parks and fans were swarming into them. But that won't be discussed. Owners were deceived, tricked, and they would like their contracts -- and signing bonuses, mind you, now that we've set a precedent with Michael Vick -- back in their own wallets, where it rightfully belongs.
Finally, regardless of the protests of Scott Boras, the owners will use this news as a bargaining chip to drive player salaries down. Agents and the Players' Union will fight this tooth and nail, of course, but what recourse do they have when every player becomes a suspect (and many have been proven guilty) of past or present steroid use?
Did I miss anything?
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