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Bud Selig
Roger "Pig" Clemens
Dan Fogelberg
Clinton Portis
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Clemens Love
Fest |
January 17, 2008
White Russian
Bud Selig has been the commissioner of baseball since 1992. In that time he
has been a bumbling fool from little things like awkward on field presentations
where he butchers stats read off an index card to big things like turning
a blind eye to the entire issue of steroids. There was the All Star game that
ended in a tie just because he couldn’t make a decision on what to do.
The only thing that came out of that was the dubious decision to make home
field advantage go the winner of the All Star game so that Fox can now proclaim,
“This one counts.” There was the strike in 1994 that he presided
over and that ended in the cancellation of the World Series – the first
time since 1904 that there was not a World Series. He planned to allow the
Spiderman 2 logo to be placed on first, second, and third base in major league
parks until there was such an outcry that he realized how stupid he was and
nixed the plan. He has trouble making any kind of decision and when he finally
does it is too little too late. He took months just to decide if he was going
to be present when Bonds broke the all time home run record.
The argument can be made that he must be o.k. as baseball has thrived while he has been commissioner, but that would be wrong. Baseball has thrived economically, but there is a black eye on the sport. Baseball has remained popular in spite of Bud Selig. Selig represents the owners – he is not an independent commissioner who acts in the best interest of baseball. He was put in place as commissioner because the owners did not like their current commissioner, Fay Vincent. The idea of the commissioner’s office is that this is a post independent of owners and players. He is the first person to be both owner and commissioner and he did not sell his interest in the Brewers until he had been commish for 12 years.
On December 1, 2006, Selig announced that he would step down as commish when his contract expired in 2009. But now Selig has received a unanimous three year extension from the owners, so we are stuck with this idiot until at least 2012…
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| Selig's Tarnished Legacy (4/12/05) |
Diesel
Selig is like the crooked politician in that he does things that are to his
immediate advantage and not the long term health of the game. He only makes
decisions, no matter how minor, until after he meets with a committee or feels
which way the public sentiment is blowing. When he does need to make a decision
on the fly, such as the tied AS game, he always makes a less than favorable
decision, typically choosing the worst viable option.
Selig's contract wasn't extended because he does what they say – it was extended because he is one of them and believes what they say as he says it himself. Selig would probably be of value within the hierarchy of baseball and leading well determined projects, but as the primary decision maker he remains unskilled. The Spiderman 2 example is pure Selig. Sells out the game for immediate gain and long term issues that would result, professes it’s a good thing, caves in and changes stance when criticized. He is a weak willed idiot who doesn't have the moral convictions or intelligence to lead MLB beyond the seventies when everything was behind the scenes and the Big Machine couldn't expose his debacles with such clarity.
While Selig now distances himself from the likes of McGwire and Bonds, he was in love with them just a few years ago when it is almost without question that what he knows now he knew then. Despite Bonds never being convicted of anything, Selig has made a conscious decision to distance himself, even with all of his significant accomplishments. Sentiment blew against Bonds, despite formal convictions, and Selig gave in as always. Unlike the new NFL commish, Goodall, Selig is unable to take ownership and make quality decisions. He also blames his failures on others (read up on each one and he will never accept blame). Where Goodall will find it necessary to make a firm stance or require that a particular rule get reviewed for legitimacy, Selig prefers to blame the Players Union or some other source for not giving him the authority to do so. Your authority is what you take and for the next 3 years it’s been again handed to Mr. Selig, who is uninterested and ill equipped to reach out and grab it for the good of the game.