The Mitchell Report has opened it and it's going to get ugly. I have tried to read through what everyone has put so I apologize for putting something some have already said.
The two sides don't realize they are in the same boat. MLB is going to try and push blame off onto the players while the players union is going to say the facts are in the gray area. THey are going to have a knock down drag out fight to show who is right when the third side of this - the fans - don't care. The fans want to move on and put into place something that will work from now on.
Selig messed up when he said he will be going after players on a individual basis and quickly. First this gives the players union so much ammunition to counter argue when player A was punished this way while player B was punished more severely although they did the same thing. Second the Mitchell Report is not a legal finding. If you went to court just with this document get ready to lose.
Mitchell messed up by saying not to punish anyone "unless Selig believes they tarnished the integrity of the league" - seriously how irresponsible of a statement is that? He is saying go after people with very little legal facts against an organization (players union) who will back their players to the hilt.
This report has destroyed the credibility of some of these players. This might be the most debatable statment I will make but I think eventually we will find that some of these guys are innocent. Whether he is telling the truth or not Roger Clemens could be right that this trainer is a loser looking to make a name for himself and will put out names to be putting out names. Also, there are a ton of names NOT on the list that should be. The names should have been left out until it could be accurate to stand up in a court of law. I wouldn't be surprise if there are some defemation law suits coming.
Only thing this has done is guarantee Congress will step in and it already has. ESPN said that Selig and Fehr are to appear before them on Tuesday.
Baseball will survive this. In 10 years (probably 5 years) all these guys will be our of our minds and kids who are in high school right now will be the next new stars. Let's just hope that MLB and the players union learn their lesson and these kids will be clean.
It's about to get really ugly.
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