Sports Redux: Pats Fans: Feel The Schadenfreude
Kells Closing
Photo of the Day, February 8, 2010: Alewife Station
Scott Brown: 41st Vote or Campaign Prop?
Sports Redux: "Bad Luck, Story of My Season, Nothing Can Go Right"
The probable source of all that is wrong with baseball today.
Sure, Boston in general and Boston baseball in particular have a proud history of hating just about anything that isn't white and pasty, but those days are behind us, right? Well, no.
In today's column, Ryan breaks down the baseball steroids controversy in terms that even Tom Yawkey can understand:
Would you not agree with the following?
- All sluggers are suspect.
- All Caribbean-based sluggers are doubly suspect.
- All Dominican sluggers should be booked and read their Miranda rights.
Sadly, that’s where we are.
It’s clear that there has been a more casual attitude toward the use of PEDs by Caribbean-based players, and it’s undeniable that PEDs are easily available down there, especially in the Dominican Republic, which has become an irreplaceable source of baseball talent.
He goes on to acquit gritty David Eckstein from using steroids because, well, he's white and he sucks at baseball.
We think Ryan might be on to something, and we've sent our Bostonist interns to Santo Domingo to dig up the birth certificates of Lenny Dykstra, Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds, Paul LoDuca, Roger Clemens, Rick Ankiel, and Éric Serge Gagné. We're also tracking down the entry visa of Mitchell Report source Kirk Randomski to get to the bottom of steroid distribution schemes down south. And, we'll be calling Caribbean-based health organization BALCO for comment. We'll get to the bottom of this.
But, seriously. Bostonist knows where we are, and where we are is sad. Would you not agree with the following?
- All journalists are probably drunk bigots.
- All Boston sports journalists are doubly suspect.
- All Boston sports journalists with Irish ancestry should have breathalyzers installed on their computers.
We think you know where we're heading with this. So, is Bob Ryan one of those dudes with a lifetime job guarantee? Because, if so, we sort of take back anything nice we've said about the Boston Newspaper Guild.
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Ooh, I thought of two more stealth-Dominicans: Jason Giambi and Andy Pettite.
? I don't get it? Petit Dominican?
Nice touch with the Gagne accents.
So, the Globe is so hard-up that now they are turning to what are essentially shock tactics, making vile statements in order to boost page views? I wish I hadn't clicked through so I didn't give Ryan one more ad impression.
Nice touch with the Gagne accents.
I also like that his middle name is "Serge."
The thing about the graph I quoted is that it's completely a non sequitur. It doesn't add anything to Ryan's (basically inane) argument, and an editor could have cut it in its entirety without changing the piece at all. But nobody did, and old racist grandpa writing is what we, the reader, get stuck with.
Sharp article from Rick! There's some adept satire here, too. And I would endorse Caroline's comment:
So, the Globe is so hard-up that now they are turning to what are essentially shock tactics, making vile statements in order to boost page views?
As Ryan himself says, "Sadly, that's where we are." There seems to be some obvious psychological projection in that statement. Blaming Dominican players for performance enhancement when that is obviously what he is doing himself: uttering racist garbage in order to enhance his performance.
Ryan completely forgets that the decades-long exclusion of black players from the game was a much bigger form of performance enhancement than steroids has ever been. Far more white players got to the big leagues because of the color line than because of any steroid use. And their opponents were obviously weaker as well. I can't imagine Babe Ruth et al hitting their numbers against a fair opposition.
This is what these stupid baseball "purists" forget: if we need to play it that way, Babe Ruth et al should be the first to have their stats with an asterisk. The purists are idiots. Well, except those who argue against the DH. They have a point.
It's sad that Ryan, who according to Howard Bryant's excellent book on racism at the Sox was at least moderate in his views (he noted a lot of racism at Celtics games, for instance), has resorted to this garbage. Isn't it funny how he ends by suggesting that we offer a "white" plaque for morally spotless players? There is so much color-based thinking in his view of the world that he probably needs some self-examination.
We are at the point now where every highly productive player is suspect. I'm hardly the first to say that.
Bob Ryan shouldn't have limited his focus to DR natives, obviously. The comments I read - I didn't read them all - in response to his column on boston.com didn't pick up on the Dominican issue. Despite that, I hope Ryan would realize he made a mistake because you have to wonder how his previous controversy with Jason Kidd's wife factors in now to any possible punishment.
I'd be reluctant, Mac, to suggest Ryan is racist a "color-based" thinker. The color-coded plaque system is more a cheap rip-off of our terror alert system than anything else. I'm sure covering the NBA during the '70's presented Ryan with the opportunity to interact with people with a different skin color and I wonder if he could have thrived like he did with a "color-based" world view.
A tangential thought: The misconception that the Celtics are/were a racist organization always surprises me.
A tangential thought: The misconception that the Celtics are/were a racist organization always surprises me.
Bryant's book that Mac mentions does a good job of investigating that misconception. I think the "racism" Mac refers to in his comment is racism in the bleachers, not the front office.
A tangential thought was my way of saying "I know Mac didn't say anything like this but I felt like sharing it any way". Sorry for the mix up.
Actually, I have a reference for you (thanks Google Books):
p. 145
"Bob Ryan recalled the depressing feeling of covering the Celtics at Boston Garden with the knowledge that regardless of how well Bird played, the truly raucous applause always came when Kevin McHale, the white power forward, blocked the shot of a superstar black player."
dang.