Tony Massarotti has a post up today in which he addresses Ryan Braun, and how it sure as hell isn't the media's fault for the furor and elbow-nudging going on about whether Braun did or didn't. And who does he bring as a witness? Jeff Bagwell.
Along with you stands someone like Jeff Bagwell, whose numbers (if clean) certainly qualify him for Hall-of-Fame induction. The problem is that we just don't know yet. And while Bagwell's approval rating increased in the most recent election (to 56 percent) from the previous year (41.7 percent), he is still considerably short of induction because the behavior of his peers made his accomplishments difficult to believe.
He can blame the same people you can. And to the best our knowledge, he was never even accused of having failed a drug test.
Is any of this fair? No, no, no. A million times no. If innocent, Bagwell is every bit the victim you are. Many of us are willing to admit that. But we are not the ones who are treating you or Bagwell unfairly, Ryan. We are merely making decisions based on the behavior of you and your peers. In 2001, at age 36, Bonds hit 73 home runs in 476 at-bats, an average of one every 6.5 at-bats. He made a mockery of the game. Assuming you are truly clean, you should know how absurd that is given that you have never hit more than 37 home runs in any season.
Unfortunately, that does not prove your innocence. In fact, it only increases the likelihood of your guilt.
America - where everybody's guilty, but nobody is to blame! Groupguilt fever - Catch it!
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
