Lost amidst all the rampant rioting in San Francisco (35 arrests, 22 on felony charges) has been the real catalyst behind the Giants' 2012 season: Steroids. A quick google search indicates I'm not the only one thinking that this title deserves a big whopping asterisk (like so many other of the Giants' "achievements").
Let's remember Bay Area columnist Tim Kawakami, who opined back in August about the Giants' latest chapter in a long history of drug abuse and cheating:
You thought the Giants and their fans would never go through the wringer with a star left fielder again? You believed the joy and sunny good tidings of the 2010 World Series and the post-Barry Bonds era would last forever? The answer was provided in sledgehammer form less than an hour before Wednesday’s game at AT&T Park: No, the dark cloud is back over the Giants and everything they have achieved or might accomplish in 2012. They harbored, and flourished with, a cheater, again.Melky Cabrera’s story was too good to be true, too tainted to pass a drug test and all too hauntingly familiar for a franchise cursed by steroids.
And others noticed too. Here's one piece on a tainted World Series:
The answer to that question is simple. I'm not really sure they deserve to be there. The Giants took the National League West after using Melkey Cabrera for more than half the season. As you know, The Melkman was found to have cheated the game by failing a drug test. He was suspended for 50 games, but the Giants had, by the time of the suspension, amassed a pretty good record. The Giants were not penalized and I have to wonder if they should have been. They garnered many of their victories using a player who contributed mightily but was cheating as he did so. The Giants also will have home field advantage, again thanks in no small part to Melky Cabrera. He was the MVP in the midsummer All Star Game. Baseball, for reasons I still don't quite understand, gives the home field advantage to the league that wins the All Star Game. So if the Giants win the 2012 World Series, will it be deemed fair? I have never been a fan of asterisks and I'm not proposing to use one here, but at the very least the title will be a little tainted if the Giants win.So why am I so bummed out that the San Francisco Giants are in the World Series?
And here's one more blogpost, questioning if the Giants should have even been in the postseason to begin with:
The question is, should they have even been there? Amidst the dog-pile of black and orange humanity in the middle of Comerica park tonight, a lot of people seemed to have memory lapses. Remember Melky Cabrera? You know…the San Francisco Giants outfielder who admittedly took PEDs and was handed down a 50-game suspension from MLB. The guy who pretty much single-handedly got the National League an All-Star game victory, securing home field advantage for…you guessed it, the Giants.The San Francisco Giants defied the odds, and came back from an 0-2 deficit against the Cincinnati Reds in the division series, came back again against the always seemingly carried-by-fate St. Louis Cardinals in the NLCS, and then pulled off an unlikely World Series sweep of the mighty Detroit Tigers.
Enjoy yet another asterisk, San Francisco.
10 comments:
Reporting from Sandy-ravaged Upstate NY...
Lowest-rated WS ever. Even lower ratings than 2010, the previous co-leader of that sad stat.
Begs the question: If you cheat and win the WS, does anybody watch?
Shame on the Giants*.
Do we have to abandon all those saves that Gagne had, too?
When there are rule violations in high school or college, the governing bodies go after the individual player and the team they play for. Games, awards, and titles can be forfeited, taken back, or vacated. Why are we so tough on the amateur athletes and their teams, but then so light on professionals?
The PED penalties that are in place right now hurt the individual player but not the team. The team and organization still profit and benefit from having a cheater in their midst. The steroid user helps the team's record while he can. More people buy tickets, souvineers, concessions, and the team gets into the playoff race. Once the cheater is found out, only he is penalized. The team goes on with the current momentum and standing they had while having the cheater play.
Can you imagine how strict each organization would be on testing their own players if the MLB policed themselves like the NCAA? Imposing fines on clubs that break rules. Post season bans. Forfeiting games.
I know this will probably never happen. But I have to believe after this World Series and the dark cloud around it, changes should be looked at.
@PPR: Yep, I'm going to post on the low ratings tomorrow. Seems to me that no one cares when the Giants are in the WS.
You stay dry and safe btw.
@DB: I'm getting the Gagne grief as well. But Gagne never received a suspension; Manny was the only Dodgers suspension.
The Giants have had THREE suspensions: Eliezer Alfonso, Guillermo Mota, and Melky Cabrera. They have also had five players test positive, which is tied for third in MLB.
I don't think the Giants are going to abandon all of Bonds' HR.
Okay, I accelerated the television ratings post to this afternoon. Enjoy the carnage.
Stay classy, SF
http://bit.ly/Tsrxrd
I will not abandon any of my comments made on this site while on the booze.
Contrarily, I am quite proud of them.
Maybe there should be some kind of penalty to a team if a player (who has played a great deal of the season) is found using steriods. Perhaps a deletion of 10 wins into losses would work?
Agree with all..24 indicted players since Bonds, here on 9th anniversary. Since Game of Shadows Giànts appear to be continuing their tradition with 6 key PED players in 2010,12,14 making the difference . Sire all teams have PED players thanks largely to Giànts . As u say players are punished, if caught, but not teams ,ie Giànts , who continually signing PED players >>> http://wheredidyougojoedimaggio.downloadebooks.me
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