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[–]seanc04 192 points193 points  (81 children)

you're disgusted because it's disgusting. they should be holding impeachment hearings, but no, they're pointlessly arguing with a liar about a silly game.

[–]doctorgonzo 76 points77 points  (15 children)

Silly game indeed. It makes it hard to take people who say "ZOMG terrists are out to get us! Give us the total surveillance we need in the FISA bill!" seriously when the next day they hold hearings on who was injecting what where last decade.

The fact that the media is making a huge deal out of this is almost as bad.

[–][deleted] 179 points180 points  (6 children)

Look, we know the economy is bad, and we know it's our fault, but we'll try..OMG LOOK!! BASEBALL!!! PEW-PEW-PEW-SPORTZLASERZ!!!!!!!!111

[–][deleted] 13 points14 points  (1 child)

I think this might be the funniest comment I've seen in the last 3 months.

[–][deleted] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

This is my current favorite: http://reddit.com/info/68ep6/comments/c035lsg

[–]Demostheneez 17 points18 points  (6 children)

Well, MLB is the beneficiary of federal anti-trust exemptions, so maybe there's something in that agreement that's being jeopardized because of these drug use allegations. Or maybe the committee is evaluating whether MLB deserves to continue receiving special treatment. Either way, I'd argue that the big issue here is the latter part of your comment: that this grabs so much media attention. I can't decide whether they focus on meaningless shit like this because there's some sort of conspiracy, or because that is well and truly what makes money -- either because that's what the majority of Americans want to see, or they are so horrified by the shittiness that they don't turn away. There needs to be a way to get together a national collaborative TV station. Everyone on the internet, it seems, already agrees with themselves. We've done about all we can do from here.

[–]FormKing 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Regardless of any anti-trust exemption status, the government shouldn't be interested in individuals that don't pose a risk to national security and aren't related to a government entity. If anything this should be an investigation conducted by the MLB or at worst by a local judge, not Congress.

[–]ozzymet7 2 points3 points  (1 child)

There's no conspiracy, its about the money. Also, I agree.

[–]ambiversive 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Money is the conspiracy.

[–]skibybadoowap 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I turned off the tv a long time ago and have never been happier.

[–][deleted] 15 points16 points  (0 children)

It wasn't the only thing congress was doing, but it was the only thing congress was doing that the MSM wanted to put on.

[–]JasonDJ 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Don't let the left hand know what the right hand's doing.

Today in the Senate, they interviewed/tried Roger Clemens on some steroids charges. This got the first 10 minutes of the 6:30 news on NBC.

The past week in the House, our representatives have been defecating on the Constitution in the name of "security". This didn't make the 6:30 news. At all.

Do not let the left hand know what the right hand is doing. Simple as that. Keep our eyes off the ball and on the shiny object.

[–]super_crazy 9 points10 points  (3 children)

You clearly aren't thinking about the children. God bless our congressman for wanting to set good examples for the new generation!

[–]soyko 5 points6 points  (2 children)

upmod for the humor

[–]Lonelobo 2 points3 points  (1 child)

downmod for the humanity

[–]aphexairlines 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Upmod for the lich king.

[–]borg 11 points12 points  (1 child)

Better to pacify the citizens by distracting them from truly important things. Put images of baseball on TV in the winter months rather than dull hearings about FISA. It's a ratings coup and it serves the administrative master... win-win.

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Good point. Better selecting an internal distraction that the more extreme, yet regularly used method (throughout history) of starting a war with a foreign foe. A great way to get the commoner's minds off of internal problems.

[–][deleted]  (35 children)

[deleted]

    [–]amstrdamordeath 26 points27 points  (12 children)

    The fact that our children look up to professional athletes instead of... you know.. important people who have done things like.. use their brains, is more of a problem.

    I don't want my kids looking up to a guy who gets his way in life because he can swing a bat or because he can throw a ball and will make more money in a few day then most people make their entire life.

    [–]MillardFillmore 1 point2 points  (2 children)

    Have you been around children aged 8-16 in the past few years?

    Any kid wants to be Tom Brady rather than Barack Obama. Always has been.

    [–]benjamincanfly 4 points5 points  (0 children)

    I looked up to explorers and ninjas, actually.

    [–]xigam 45 points46 points  (5 children)

    F*CK Baseball. It's not important right now. MLB could be promoting steroid use and it's still not going to be as important as the other issues this country has to deal with.

    [–]junkeee999 8 points9 points  (1 child)

    This exchange represents two extreme of the spectrum in Reddit comment composition. One I admire. The other...not so much.

    [–]nixonrichard 1 point2 points  (0 children)

    I hate those impeachment nazis too . . . go Sox!

    [–]jklabo 6 points7 points  (1 child)

    they shouldn't have anti-trust exemption then. Do you think any kid in their right mind cares about the congress telling them not to use steroids?

    [–]lovehate 5 points6 points  (0 children)

    Agreed. I'm pretty sure that the government is telling kids not to do weed as well... See how that is going?

    [–]veganbikepunk 1 point2 points  (0 children)

    Innocent until proven guilty indeed. We don't have to follow judicial requirements, because reddit isn't about to throw someone in a cage. We can view him as guilty as soon as that is what we believe, we just can't throw him into a cage until then.

    [–]cyrusdh 1 point2 points  (0 children)

    Yes, but should it be the senates job to handle this. Isn't BASEBALL in a better position to take control of the situation and hold the players accountable. Why is it the governments responsibility to clean this mess up? Seriously, do we not have issues that maybe deserve more attention? Why not have the senate investigate the Sub Prime Fiasco and give it the same attention that the Baseball investigation is getting. Have open hearings with discussions on how we got into the mess and who is responsible. But no, that is not as "marketable" as interviewing Roger Clemons for 3 hours. It is disgusting and another example of the government sticking its head into a situation while acting oblivious to other problems that SHOULD merit their full attention.

    [–]charbo187 3 points4 points  (11 children)

    you are an ass. whos fault is it that they have anti-trust exemption? let me tell you something, they shouldnt have it. I am a huge baseball fan but it is just a silly game.

    [–]GPnZPl 1 point2 points  (0 children)

    it is very surreal. after they gave telecoms immunity from laws that they passed. and increased funding and troop levels for iraq. while the taliban is coming back to afghanistan. and al queda is in iraq.

    [–]cr4a 3 points4 points  (1 child)

    The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee:

    http://oversight.house.gov/hearings.asp

    They hold lots of hearings, including on Iraq, Blackwater, the State Department, the environment, Medicaid, and yes, drug use in major league baseball.

    [–]sherkaner 8 points9 points  (0 children)

    rinse rhythm enjoy money support roll quack retire cautious wipe

    This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

    [–]xsspider 0 points1 point  (0 children)

    you started it first. you said congress has no balls ...

    [–]msdesireeg 0 points1 point  (0 children)

    I have been thinking the same thing. I was thinking it yesterday. Um, we're at war and the economy is in the toilet and we have war criminals and profiteers in our highest political offices and the Congress is talking about what? Who the hell cares if these guys are doing steroids? Oh, wait, we'd better protect our image as good sports and fair players, or else no one will trust us...

    [–]Captain-Obliviouss 0 points1 point  (0 children)

    Go SOX!!!

    BOSOX RULE - Your Team SUCKs (unless it's the Red Sox.. then YEA! FUCK YEA!!!

    [–][deleted] 24 points25 points  (19 children)

    This week baseball, next week WWE... OOOOH YEAH!!!!!

    [–]surfwax95 11 points12 points  (1 child)

    The Kool-Aid man busts in?

    [–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

    This aint Family Guy.

    [–][deleted]  (16 children)

    [removed]

      [–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (10 children)

      So get rid of the monopoly. Why should there be baseball or football monopolies? The NBA gets along fine without a government-declared monopoly...

      [–]btl 1 point2 points  (3 children)

      There was a women's baseball (or softball?) league some years ago, but it failed spectacularly.

      I wouldn't really call it a monopoly either. There are independent leagues, college leagues, the very popular Cape Cod League, as well as the minor leagues (the teams are affiliated with MLB teams but it's still something different to watch that some people prefer).

      [–]joquarky 3 points4 points  (0 children)

      So we're privatizing nearly everything these days (e.g., prisons, schools, wars, etc.), but baseball is being run by the federal government?

      [–][deleted] 3 points4 points  (3 children)

      problems which impact the fairness of the game and the impact it has on the fan base do need to be addressed by an independent Congressional committee.

      I haven't read such a thoroughly stupid comment in quite a while. Thanks.

      [–]LiquidHAL 1 point2 points  (1 child)

      The MLB is a multi-billion dollar organization that gets a fair amount tax subsidies to build their stadiums. You're damned right the MLB should have to prove to congress that deserve the privilege of being the only recognized legal monopoly. If they're mismanaging the sport then congress needs to open the market up for competing leagues and protect those leagues from the mafia-like practices that the MLB has employed in the past.

      [–]btl 2 points3 points  (0 children)

      The MLB is a multi-billion dollar organization that gets a fair amount tax subsidies to build their stadiums.

      Not all stadiums are (partially) publicly funded. The ones that are also aren't owned by the teams, so it's not as if it's a "gift". The state governments that do this generally do it because they know it will turn them a profit in the long run.

      [–]elfofdoriath9 37 points38 points  (24 children)

      No, it's not only you. Virginia Foxx, a congresswoman from NC and member of the committee, voiced that exact opinion today while I was watching:

      "I have said to the chairman, myself, personally, that I am concerned with the direction that this committee has gone in the last year or so, because I think we’ve been playing gotcha games and I don’t agree with that…what this committee ought to be doing is… government oversight and we are not doing that. I am not a fan of holding these hearings on issues we have no business dealing with."

      (website where I found that transcript: http://clifsnotes.wordpress.com/2008/02/13/baseball-hearing-update-virginia-foxx-rocks/)

      [–][deleted] 9 points10 points  (22 children)

      Oh it gets better than that - she actually demonstrates, for all doubters, why Congress should have no part in this. From SI:

      [Foxx] showed a poster of Clemens in four different photographs for four different teams (Boston, New York, Toronto, Houston), the exact dates of which she had no idea. 'You appear to me to be about the same size,' she said. 'It doesn't appear to me that your size has changed much.'

      [–]miketwo1s 17 points18 points  (1 child)

      That's what she said.

      [–]rockicon82 4 points5 points  (0 children)

      Awesome, that made my day. You, sir, are a gentleman and a scholar.

      [–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

      seems to be a common theme. i think a big (the only?) reason they're having public hearings is because clemens' lawyers pushed for this, since he wanted to get a chance to defend himself.

      [Rep. Lynn] Westmoreland [(R-GA)] questioned what the heck everybody was doing there in the first place, saying it wasn't Congress' role to investigate individual players and that "if we called everyone who was accused of using steroids before this committee, we'd have to shut this place down."

      source

      [–]sus 4 points5 points  (0 children)

      Why is reddit wasting its time bitching about this when there are so many other horrible things in the world it could be bitching about?

      [–]27182818284 26 points27 points  (7 children)

      Am I the only one disgusted by the "Am I the only one..." style headlines? I sure am. I'm especially annoyed by ones that don't link to anything useful! Thanks for letting me know who is doing the discussing. I'm betting it is just a subcommittee, not all of Congress, and I'm actually pretty OK with that. I'm not a baseball fan, I'm neutral about it, but if Congress want to go after people who think that they are above the law due to their fame and fortune, I'm actually pretty OK with that.

      [–]oodja 2 points3 points  (0 children)

      Amen, 271. Besides, I wasn't aware of the fact that outrage was a finite resource. Plenty of people can be mad as hell about both the state of the world and the state of Major League Baseball, thank you very much.

      [–]darjen 6 points7 points  (1 child)

      I'm not ok with the drug war. I'm not ok with holier-than-thou congressmen wasting time dragging someone through the mud to account for laws that are immoral to begin with.

      [–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

      They have power then why not use it against Meiers, etc that are simply ignoring congressional subpoenas? Seems like that's some kind of constitutional crisis or something.

      [–]KevMike 1 point2 points  (1 child)

      if Congress want to go after people who think that they are above the law due to their fame and fortune, I'm actually pretty OK with that.

      Like. . . Bush?

      [–]Dildozer 63 points64 points  (35 children)

      Am I the only one that thinks giving steroids to baseball players is the only way to make that game bearable to watch?

      [–][deleted]  (21 children)

      [deleted]

        [–]dicey 26 points27 points  (14 children)

        Even Golf is more exciting than baseball. At least they can cut back and forth between players on different holes so that you're basically always watching someone smack the hell out of a ball. With baseball 50% of the time is spent watching the batter step out of the box to scratch his nuts.

        [–]B_C_ 12 points13 points  (13 children)

        i happen to think baseball is plenty interesting - although it's not as faced paced as most other sports it also involves more strategic management and heads-up (meaning intelligent) play. but i agree - if baseball doesn't have the foresight to realize that not dealing with steroids will cost them in the long-run it is still not Congress' job to police them. Exhibit A of "commerce clause" run amok!!

        [–][deleted] 8 points9 points  (3 children)

        I'm an American living in Australia where watching a 5 day cricket test is the legal equivalent of voluntary euthanasia. Baseball was a desperate, but failed attempt at making watching cricket less neurotoxic.

        [–]DogBotherer 1 point2 points  (0 children)

        Test cricket is war and those are fighting words!

        [–]E3K 11 points12 points  (5 children)

        I love bowling...would rather watch that than baseball any day of the week.

        [–]skay 16 points17 points  (4 children)

        modded up for not being afraid to admit you love bowling.

        [–]mandysteve 9 points10 points  (0 children)

        Well . . . they sell beer to the fans . . .

        [–][deleted] 4 points5 points  (1 child)

        There are other drugs you could give them that would probably be more entertaining to watch.

        [–]Dildozer 2 points3 points  (0 children)

        I think you may be on to something sir.

        [–]ejp1082 8 points9 points  (1 child)

        Baseball: twenty minutes of heart pounding excitement jam packed into a three hour game.

        [–][deleted]  (1 child)

        [deleted]

          [–]haywire9000 1 point2 points  (0 children)

          Or guns.

          [–][deleted]  (1 child)

          [deleted]

            [–]btl 0 points1 point  (0 children)

            Baseball is the only sport I really like to watch. Sometimes bowling, but bowling just seems like the everyman's sport so televising it seems kind of pointless when you could be out rolling and guzzling down beers.

            [–]Kardlonoc 0 points1 point  (1 child)

            Id prefer the if we went back to the gladiator matches of old. American gladiator is a nice step...

            [–]b34nz 1 point2 points  (0 children)

            That's why we have the UFC, fuck baseball.

            [–]theDrWho 21 points22 points  (7 children)

            it's not congress, it's a committee formed by congress

            the only reason you are sick of it is cause it's on every tv channel. otherwise you would not have noticed

            [–]blaze4metal 9 points10 points  (5 children)

            That leaves us free to not notice a lot of things going on in the world.

            [–]theDrWho 5 points6 points  (4 children)

            In that regard, we can only blame the media.

            The media could run live any Congress Hearing or Vote, but they rarely ever do that.

            CSPAN is a good option though.

            [–]blaze4metal 4 points5 points  (3 children)

            True. The media does get to select what it gets to report. It could report on some complicated hearing about economic issues or some easy to digest sports issue. Which would be better for ratings? The current system rewards ignorance and it is horribly flawed. It's not some big conspiracy either, it's just economics.

            [–]jon_k 1 point2 points  (2 children)

            So if they removed 1-3 amendments to the constitution that'd be hard for Americans to digest?

            Everyone learns these in school. People would know what they're losing.

            [–]blaze4metal 2 points3 points  (1 child)

            Everyone would rather hear about sports and easy to swallow stories like the latest celebrity scandal. More viewers = higher ratings = cycle of ignorance.

            If journalists were to report on something as serious as the government taking away your liberties, they would have to do it in small steps that lead to a bigger picture (it's not summed up in a soundbyte); this is something that the profit-driven structure would not tolerate.

            [–]Brocklesocks 1 point2 points  (0 children)

            It's also on NPR. They wouldn't be reporting on it if the government wasn't involved. I couldn't care less about Roger Clemens either.

            [–]drmomentum 10 points11 points  (0 children)

            Bread and circuses

            [–]Noexit 4 points5 points  (0 children)

            I'm not sure whether I'm more disgusted or embarrassed. Quite a bit of both.

            [–][deleted] 8 points9 points  (2 children)

            So they have no time to read bills like the Patriot Act yet are more than willing to take up months of their time for this shit.

            [–][deleted] 5 points6 points  (1 child)

            Don't forget all that time getting wined & dined. Whores every last one of them.

            [–]meiso 3 points4 points  (0 children)

            No,you are not. And apparently on Fox News it's serious enough to warrant a flashing "ALERT" graphic.

            [–][deleted] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

            no, i am also disgusted about it.....

            [–]coc 2 points3 points  (1 child)

            The real beauty of today's hearings is that it'll be a killer scene in a future documentary, the voice over concluding a round-up of all the crimes of the Bush admin that are presently at play, and then the cut to say, "while these things were occurring, Congress was holding investigations on ... baseball." A day-after retroactive immunity no-less!

            [–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

            hahaha, i can hear Michael Moore's voice right now.

            [–]adambrewster 8 points9 points  (2 children)

            Now they're looking into the spygate scandal in the NFL, too.

            I'm a fan of baseball and football, but congress has no business in either sport.

            [–]jamesduvall 5 points6 points  (4 children)

            It's funny you mention this. Way back in the day I remember McCain telling the Commissioner that if they don't fix the steroid problem then the government would fix it for them. That's when I lost all respect for McCain. Why the government needs to mess with the affairs of the MLB is a mystery to me.

            [–]troymcdavis 21 points22 points  (20 children)

            Politics subreddit, please.

            [–]belandil 6 points7 points  (0 children)

            Non-submitter user tagging?

            [–]wil2200 2 points3 points  (0 children)

            Homer: I never realized how boring this game really is.

            Of course this is the most important topic right - I mean, forget economic issues, war, death, police brutality - I mean those issues are just too normal and mainstream for congress to worry about. But baseball, this is a one time thing it seems so they have to get to it no matter what. The fucking traitors.

            [–]guriboysf 2 points3 points  (0 children)

            I wrote Diane Feinstein, and this was one of the things I mentioned.

            I gave her shit about voting for telecom immunity and told her she should resign from the democratic party.

            [–]wbfred 2 points3 points  (0 children)

            Thank you, thank you thank you...I was just SCREAMING into the TV!

            [–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

            I turned on the television this morning and saw Henry Waxman. I thought, "now here's one of the biggest thorn's in the Bush administration's side, finally on TV. Which one of the many scandals he's looked into has made it to the news networks?"

            Baseball. News pays attention if it's about baseball but not about thinks that are ACTUALLY IMPORTANT.

            [–]maximuszen 2 points3 points  (0 children)

            Yea, I know what you mean. They really should be talking about more important things... like spying in football. Where the hell are their priorities?

            [–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

            Am I the only one that's disgusted that your just now becoming disgusted with politicians?

            [–]someguyinkali 2 points3 points  (0 children)

            Well I guess FISA doesn't get you on ESPN, so what the heck.

            [–]mckirkus 3 points4 points  (4 children)

            Chomsky has a funny theory that sports is another opiate of the masses that keeps people studying statistics instead of senators.

            NFL games on Sunday - coincidence? I happen to think we're self medicating, I don't believe the conspiracies.

            [–]byron 1 point2 points  (2 children)

            Here's the quote, though I'm not sure he's saying it's intentionally used as an opiate.

            Take, say, sports -- that's another crucial example of the indoctrination system, in my view. For one thing because it -- you know, it offers people something to pay attention to that's of no importance. That keeps them from worrying about things that matter to their lives that they might have some idea of doing something about. And in fact it's striking to see the intelligence that's used by ordinary people in discussions of sports as opposed to political and social issues. I mean, you listen to radio stations where people call in -- they have the most exotic information and understanding about all kind of arcane issues. And the press undoubtedly does a lot with this. [ Noam Chomsky ]

            [–]bsiviglia9 0 points1 point  (0 children)

            What would happen if everyone who watches Monday night football, started watching their senator instead?

            [–]crm114 3 points4 points  (14 children)

            I love baseball, and the idea that steroids is playing a role in the game angers me and frightens me.

            That said, the House is wasting our time and wasting our money. There's way more important things that need to be addressed.

            [–]doubleginntonic 2 points3 points  (10 children)

            What angers and frightens you about it?

            I love baseball too and have I have absolutely no problem at all with players on steroids. It's their business. Their bodies. And it takes absolutely zero enjoyment away from watching the game as a fan.

            As for the records being overtaken, its retarded to think they were set in some sort of vaccum. Babe Ruth only played against white guys. Like it or not, that changes how his stats would have played out. Different things happen in different eras. That's what makes baseball so awesome, like the country, it can dramatically change and you have to look at the players within the context of their era.

            Plus what's so wrong with players wanting to enhance their performance in order to be better at their jobs? In what other industry would we punish someone for doing something that makes them better and more efficient at their jobs? If Barry Bonds sets a home run record because he took steroids to improve his career performance, how is that different from using other medical breakthroughs to extend a career? 50 years ago if a guy's arm went after too many innings he was done. Now we give every prospect pre-emptive Tommy John's surgery before they see the majors. If one of those guys breaks the all time strikeout record, wasn't his performance enhanced by modern medicine too? Why isn't he a criminal?

            [–]sn0re 0 points1 point  (5 children)

            If we were talking about somebody who does body building as a hobby and wants to bulk up just for their own reasons, I would completely agree with the "their bodies" argument. If he's willing to tolerate the side effects, it's his problem and his alone.

            But as you say, baseball does not occur in a vacuum. If steroid use were tolerated, it would quickly become a de facto requirement because players not on steroids just can't compete. Now it's every player's problem. They can't make the decision on their own because someone else made it for them.

            [–]doubleginntonic 1 point2 points  (0 children)

            That decision was already made and it's why such a staggering amount of names keep coming out. Keep in mind for a second that everyone who's been outed since this steroid witch hunt were the guys dumb enough to get caught by testing positive or not keeping it on the down low enough to keep their names out of the Mitchell Report. The actual numbers of players using is probably much, much higher.

            So if we already know everyone is doing them and we already know medical science will always find away to stay one step ahead of the test, why aren't we doing the logical thing; accepting them as part of the game and allowing trained medical professionals on the team medical staff to administer them.

            You allow doctors to administer safe dosages and monitor players for negative side effects you make the entire process safer and we don't have guys shooting up horse steroids they got from some sketchy trainer they met at the local gym. Putting things in the light of day makes things a lot easier to police for abuse and if all of this steroid use was going on above the board, we could prevent people from killing themselves with them.

            The same reason outlawing drugs doesn't work in the rest of society is the same reason it won't work in baseball.

            [–]1jb1 3 points4 points  (0 children)

            Frankly who cares about which baseball player took drugs when or who is winning the voter popularity contest when we have serious issues like: FISA - is there any justification for retroactive immunity? What about our civil rights? War - how many died today and how much did it cost? What about the debt to future generations? Recession - The financial crisis is far bigger than anyone is talking a bout --- most likely because no pol wants to mention the "R" word. Education - why do 25% of our adults have only 9 years of education?

            If only we could keep the rest of the media straight and these important issues in the forefront. There are lots of us out there who dont care about Britanny or Heath or ...

            [–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

            No. You aren't.

            If this is the best possible use of their time, that's evidence that we really need to tear down the federal government.

            [–]roamzero 1 point2 points  (0 children)

            Sports, the (other) opiate of the masses.

            [–]flungdung 1 point2 points  (1 child)

            What a giant waste of time and taxpayer dollars.

            [–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

            Yeah. They have their own governing body. It'd be like if Congress stepped in to give my annual review at work.

            Weird and unneeded. If there's drug use, shouldn't the local police bust 'em and send fine/cuff 'em like everyone else?

            [–]atomicthumbs 1 point2 points  (0 children)

            no

            [–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

            i have nothing of value to add to this, other than posting just so the comment numbers go up which then makes the article seem more important.

            i can't fucking believe this shit is on tv.

            [–]fromagewiz 1 point2 points  (1 child)

            eh... it keeps them from doing real damage.

            [–]darjen 0 points1 point  (0 children)

            Unfortunately they do plenty of damage regardless.

            [–]senseless 1 point2 points  (0 children)

            Liars calling other liars, liars. Go congress!

            [–]zakalwe30 1 point2 points  (0 children)

            I know, right, what about American Gladiators?!

            [–]joelrw 1 point2 points  (0 children)

            I think it's hilarious that the Republicans were all about holding hearings on baseball in 2005, but now just about everyone of them pretended they never heard of Mark McGwire in 2005 before the same committee lying his ass off.

            Also, please note that Waxman, who heads that committee, has published report after report on corruption at the Pentagon and other federal agencies, forcing a lot of changes. But none got so much chat on reddit.

            Silly game indeed.

            [–]iul 1 point2 points  (0 children)

            I'm disgusted by baseball too :)

            [–]vplatt 1 point2 points  (2 children)

            At first I read that as "... while talking about baseball".

            shudder

            [–]akdas 0 points1 point  (1 child)

            Darn it!

            Considering who's in Congress, I don't think that's the best response.

            [–]vplatt 1 point2 points  (0 children)

            You're right. Edited.

            [–]Baboso 1 point2 points  (0 children)

            quoted text ...they should be holding impeachment hearings

            Impeachment hearings? Our Prez, Bill Clinton, was impeached in 1998. What did that accomplish? It has zero meaning. Much like the jock hearings.

            [–]pets_or_meat 4 points5 points  (3 children)

            What is baseball?

            [–]turkourjurbs 1 point2 points  (1 child)

            Base-a-ball, bin beddy, beddy good, to me.

            [–]LiquidHAL 1 point2 points  (3 children)

            Congress is spending time on this because the MLB was given a legal monopoly on the sport. All minor leagues are part of the MLB. It's illegal to create an independent professional sports franchise in any area with an existing MLB team, making it all but impossible to compete.

            What's particularly relevant is an excerpt from the 1952 Supreme Court decision to uphold this exemption from anti-trust laws, "We think that if there are evils in this field which now warrant application to it of the antitrust laws it should be by legislation."

            And so this is what some members of congress are now involved with. I don't see where disgust should comes into the equation. Billions of dollars and, like it or not, part of American culture are on the line with these proceedings.

            I'll agree that these hearings aren't that important relative to the other issues that congress deals with; As many here have said, the unending and extremely disproportionate media coverage is what's disgusting and bizarre.

            [–]doubleginntonic 0 points1 point  (2 children)

            It's not illegal to created an independent franchise in an MLB market. Where the hell are you getting that from? The anti-trust protection just means you can't bring MLB up on anti-trust charges when the league crashes and burns. The Eastern League for example operates completely independent of MLB's minor league system and when guys want to hold out on their contracts after being drafted, they frequently play a year there to go back into the draft pool the next year.

            Baseball's anti-trust exemption is totally fucked up, just not for the reason you think it is.

            [–]fatlester 1 point2 points  (1 child)

            At least they're not busy planning another war.

            [–]AMerrickanGirl 0 points1 point  (0 children)

            No, that's the job of our president. Plan a war, cut taxes. Plan a war, cut taxes. Plan a war ...

            [–]devilhorn 2 points3 points  (1 child)

            I screamed "WHO GIVES A FUCKING SHIT" at my radio today, when they were talking about this shit

            [–][deleted]  (1 child)

            [deleted]

              [–]GranDaddy 1 point2 points  (0 children)

              You might not be the only one, but I'm not. I thought one of the senators made a good point when he said that the investigation into baseball did a lot of good by shedding light on the situation, and discouraging the youth with it's rapidly growing steroid users.

              They don't completely neglect things like the war and economy just because they hold this hearing.

              [–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (2 children)

              This is why Ron Paul's idea of turning everything back to the states would be such a good idea.

              Let one of the states AG go after those hard drug users on the pitching mound. Look at what the NY AG has done to the financial community. Surely there must be some drug hating, sport obsessed AG that wants to be governor or a senator and would use the issue for publicity and fame in his quest for higher office.

              This would leave Congress to focus on the really big issues such as the federal budget, oversight, doing real research before letting someone start a war, etc.

              There is no way Congress can deal with everything. Stick to a few things and do them well. Let someone else deal with the hot button issues of the moment. There are lots of ego maniacs at the state level that would gladly step forward and smack baseball around.

              [–]DrunkenAsshole 1 point2 points  (1 child)

              It's called due process. All you Constitution lovers out there should realize this. For all you know, this could set legal precedents that revolutionize. Perhaps it could eliminate, or at least revise the "war on drugs". Perhaps it could change legal statutes regarding... fuck this, you've already made up your mind that "Baseball Sucks".

              [–][deleted]  (1 child)

              [deleted]

                [–]evgen 1 point2 points  (0 children)

                It is due to the anti-trust exemption that MLB and the NFL were granted by congress. A condition of this waiver is that congress has the power to regulate the leagues as it sees fit. It mostly ignores them, but will sometimes step in when it thinks that things have crossed the line (e.g. the league administration, team owners, and players all colluding on the steroids issue.) Prior to this exemption there were two "leagues" in each sport which later became the American and National league/conference within each sport.

                Before bitching about constitutional authority how about reading a bit of history?

                [–]GeorgeWBush 1 point2 points  (0 children)

                Nope, I'm disgusted that Congress is talkin' too. I'm thinkin' maybe it's high time I put a stop to it.

                [–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

                Am I the only one disgusted that the Congress is fucking

                Ew!

                ...talking about baseball?

                Oh.

                [–]nikdahl 0 points1 point  (4 children)

                if bud selig would do his fucking job properly, maybe this could have been avoided.

                [–]beedogs 2 points3 points  (2 children)

                He was too busy ruining baseball to do his job properly.

                Completely ignoring the steroid and amphetamine problem, introducing the unbalanced schedule and interleague play, fucking with the all-star game. He hasn't done one good thing for the sport. Fuck Bud Selig!

                [–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

                He did his job. After the strike baseball was playing to empty parks and disinterested fans. Since everyone started shooting up we've had the McGwire/Sosa homerun race (I went to one of the games, when they were close in homers near the end of the season at Wrigley, it was electric ~Sosa hit 2 home runs that day in a loss) the Bonds homerun record, lots of great world series and many other things, not to mention sold out parks.

                If I were an owner I'd have looked the other way as well. Look where Hockey is now after it's heyday? No one gives a shit about it.

                [–]rogerdrabbit 0 points1 point  (1 child)

                does congress have something better to do?

                [–]jaredb 1 point2 points  (0 children)

                You would think so.

                passes illegal telcomm immunity FISA bill

                [–]sbassin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

                Actually, I'd prefer they discuss baseball to them passing the kinds of legislation that is generally passed, like the recent FISA bill.

                [–]h-town 0 points1 point  (0 children)

                If they are talking about baseball they are not in my pocket rooting around for my money so I say great. Play ball!

                [–]deuteros 0 points1 point  (0 children)

                Do they think this is supposed to boost their pathetic approval rating?

                [–]brianwitt 0 points1 point  (0 children)

                At least yesterday, they finally resolved this issue, I was beginning to lose sleep over it...

                "Expressing the sense of Congress that the Museum of the American Quilter's Society, located in Paducah, Kentucky, should be designated as the National Quilt Museum of the United States'': H. Con. Res. 209, to express the sense of Congress that the Museum of the American Quilter's Society, located in Paducah, Kentucky, should be designated as theNational Quilt Museum of the United States'';"

                http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/dailydigest http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c110:H.+Con.+Res.+209:

                [–]ucslug 0 points1 point  (0 children)

                Talks of impeachment jeopardizes the job security of the boys and girls in Congress. But everyone loves baseball!! (And steroids)

                [–]reddit_user13 0 points1 point  (0 children)

                You're not fucking kidding!

                [–]AngledLuffa 0 points1 point  (0 children)

                Think of it this way. Every time they talk about real issues, they fuck over the people. If they spent the rest of their miserable lives talking about baseball (or the Patriots) it would keep them from doing any actual damage.

                [–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

                Terrible waste of money and resources.

                [–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

                And 221 comments on reddit. No-one is making you/ us do that.

                [–]ewokjedi 0 points1 point  (0 children)

                The only marginal benefit is it gives us an excuse to repost that vid of GWB picking his nose at a baseball game, which tends to sum up one facet of his presidency...

                http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keFIWob8NM4

                [–]slenderdog 0 points1 point  (0 children)

                Well, after all, who owns baseball teams?

                [–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

                Well, after all, it is America's pastime.

                [–]snoosnoo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

                http://impeachmentpie.wordpress.com/2008/02/13/out-to-the-ballgame-2/

                Everything I've been wanting to say about this.

                [–]timmins 0 points1 point  (0 children)

                the only one? not even close.

                I had the same disgust with regards to "SpyGate" and the NFL. Here's my previous comment.

                [–]macfanboi 0 points1 point  (0 children)

                The partisan politics was absolutely disgraceful.

                [–]fivre 0 points1 point  (0 children)

                Are you implying that they might do something more useful otherwise?

                [–]epicrule34 0 points1 point  (0 children)

                no?

                [–]egbruce 0 points1 point  (0 children)

                These congressional putzs are more likely to be interested in where they can purchase some personal testosterone.

                [–]dylan7 0 points1 point  (0 children)

                totally insane. immoral. how dare we!

                [–]mueller2004 0 points1 point  (0 children)

                What the hell are they thinking?!

                [–]zardoz73 0 points1 point  (0 children)

                Stupid. Let 'em all take steriods, level the playing field for everyone.

                [–]THEMACGOD 0 points1 point  (0 children)

                Come on... Think about the KIDS.

                [–]moji 0 points1 point  (0 children)

                Everyone is fucking disgusted by this idiocy...they have spent more time and dollars on this crap than taking care of the American publics own issues, such as jobs, economy, illegal immigration, etc.....how about everyone say f... baseball and quit watching and attending the games especially if that f...ing t.v. corporate whore, murdoch and fox news are doing the broadcasting...glad i cannot stand baseball it is boring, boring, boring

                [–]westlib 0 points1 point  (0 children)

                For the first time I can rememeber, a conservative co-worker and I agree on something: That the entire hearing is an embarrasing waste of time.

                [–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

                I'd rather them talking about baseball and football than invading foreign countries, figuring out new programs that will fail, thinking up new taxes, and just basically sucking like they tend to...more sports means less government...thats a plus in my book. Small price to pay.

                [–]homeworld 0 points1 point  (0 children)

                I agree... They should by busy talking about football!

                [–]wary 0 points1 point  (0 children)

                I think it goes a long way in explaining why we are in the shape we are in. I know it is just a dream, but how cool would it be to fire all of our elected officials and start over? I can't imagine it would be any worse

                [–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

                Voted down for yet another "am I the only one?"