Ignorance in the Face of Ignominy
With another cheating scandal plaguing baseball, ignorance may prove to be the best solution. Not unlike Roger Goodell's strategy with the NFL.
First, there were steroids. Now, there is a combination of sign-stealing and trashcan misuse. To put it lightly: another team, another group of players, another scandal is currently plaguing baseball and its teams. In an attempt to hush the hullaballoo and sweep it under the rug, commissioner, Rob Manfred, quickly outed the culprits involved—AJ Hinch, Jeff Luhnow, Alex Cora, and Carlos Beltrán—and they were subsequently fired.
For how long? Who knows. Pete Rose is looking at himself saying, “I’m still eternally banned from baseball? Oh, f**k off. This is nonsense.”
To be clear, Pete Rose didn’t actually say that. At least, not to anyone on the record. But he has made his case known as he filed for an appeal to be reinstated to Major League Baseball and cited the Houston Astros’ sign-stealing scandal as reasoning.
To sum up his lawyers’ argument: If they’re not banned for life, why should Pete Rose be?
Along with the lovable gambler Pete Rose searching for answers, there is clear disillusionment growing amongst baseball. As Rob Manfred ignores the pleas from his players and others—like LeBron James for that matter—for a better solution that includes punishing more players involved, holding out and maintaining a hush-hush attitude has proved worthwhile before.
Eventually, the dust settles and the conglomerate entity regains its chokehold on the players to appease the billionaire owners and things go back to normal. Manfred’s job is to appease the owners. Not the fans. Not the players. The owners.
And he has the perfect model to continue his hush-hush rebrand of baseball: the NFL.
Goodell reminds us of his power
Remember when Colin Kaepernick starting kneeling during the national anthem? In his words, he was silently protesting the police brutality towards minority groups and inequality in the United States. It was a tall task and, certainly, a noble one, which was responded with love but also derided with hate and criticism, especially by President Trump. Some may argue that it divided our nation and the fans of the NFL. Personally, I like to think that it pointed out the division that was already happening behind closed doors.
Despite the rift it caused, it was necessary. In fact, it pointed out the hypocrisy in the highly regarded “American dream,” a long lost ideal that only those with privilege could actually use. It outed those that were whispering words of bigotry because they felt compelled to attack Kaepernick. For Kaepernick, it was a courageous thing to do. For the NFL’s commissioner, Roger Goodell, it was a dumpster fire.
Goodell’s track record isn’t the finest. He’s misled us in the Ray Rice case and also punished others by superseding the process as he did with Tom Brady and Deflategate. There was the CTE fiasco, which was settled after numerous disputes, but only settled because Goodell’s hand was forced. For a manger that’s meant to take in evidence and put out fair and equal rulings, he sure seems as if he’s just throwing darts at a board and seeing what sticks.
The Kaepernick display was another one where he’d be tried.
Again, though, we must remember that Goodell is here to appease the owners just like Manfred. Not the fans. Not the players. Only the owners. When Kaepernick’s display threatened the owners’ way of life by way of diminishing ratings, what was our poor, stupified commissioner to do? Bring those ratings back up was the only answer.
How would he do that?
Well, if the “problem” suddenly doesn’t have a stage to kneel on, then what better way to rid the NFL of its “problem?” Goodell eventually issued a declaration: Either come and stand for the anthem or wait in the locker room. The owners approved of the rule. The NFLPA wasn’t even notified of the vote.
After the 2016 season, Kaepernick declared himself for free agency and since then has not been picked up by a team, leaving Kapernick to believe he was being blackballed by the league.
Kaepernick, of course, filed his grievance against the NFL asserting collusion among the owners and the NFL wasn’t proven to be guilty, but they weren’t proven innocent, either. Instead, Kaepernick was paid an undisclosed amount by the NFL as the issue was settled outside of a trial.
This past season, Kaepernick was offered a try-out, but it was suspicious, to say the least; it was conducted on a Saturday during the season when teams are preparing for Sunday games and Kaepernick’s team was unaware of it until a few days beforehand. Kaepernick pulled a few moves of his own, which may have jeopardized the try-out, but he already assumed that it was a farce anyhow. Kaepernick was not back in the league, again.
Throughout the clamoring from fans, talking heads, and players, Goodell has remained relatively quiet amid the slander. And, like magic, it worked. T.V. ratings rose again, fans protested less, and suddenly things were back to the billionaires’ likings.
There are other reasons to point out the spike, too: legalized gambling in certain states, exciting new players, etc. Nevertheless, taking away the table on which Kaepernick stood undeniably rectified the situation for the owners and Goodell. As well, despite the commotion, Goodell saved face and continued onward, business as usual.
As long as they own Goodell, then the league is at their bidding whether we like it or not. As they say in gambling, the house always wins. In the NFL, the house is headlined by these owners and, in the end, they’ll always win.
Using Goodell as a lesson for Manfred
As I pointed out earlier, Manfred is in the middle of an extreme scandal in baseball. There is evidence that the Astros (and perhaps others) used technology to steal the signs of the pitcher and relay them to the team. It is quite similar to the power the steroids players had as they lorded the league only a couple of decades ago. Yet, this may prove to be even more catastrophic as there is a huge competitive edge when you know what type of pitch is coming up next.
The calamity coming from players is that the players that are involved are going unscathed and unpunished. Truly, Manfred would have to dig deep to find out which were and were not involved and it would rely on testimony alone, which doesn’t have an obstruction of justice rule. To take this troubling scandal to the highest court would take months of procedural work, which would devalue the game—one that is becoming less and less notable on the national scale.
Manfred’s job is what? To make the owners happy. And a prolonged indictment against the Houston Astros won’t make anyone any money. Hell, the owners might even argue that this crackpot disaster might drive up the ratings as we await to see which Astros’ player gets beaned first.
Taking a lesson straight from the laughingstock goat, Goodell, Manfred can stay quiet and await the day that everything returns to normal. If there’s any rush by a skittish owner, he only has to point to the NFL, who escaped scrutiny by taking away the stage and then acting as if they did nothing.
Just like the NFL, the MLB house is headlined with billionaire owners, who built their machine with the cogs of entertaining players. If those players start becoming unruly, they can simply be silenced through banishment. Kaepernick is our shining example. Every paycheck comes with a stench of stipulations and greediness attached to it and that, folks, is why the house will always, always win.
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