Curious George and the Magic List that Killed Baseball

This is the game we all loved. This is what we played in our backyards in the spring. This was our favorite thing for so long. And now, we are losing it. We won't stand up and say, "This is our sport. This is what we grew up with, and we're going to support it through a tough time." Baseball has hurt us, and we sit here like we were never on its side. Even in 1994, we stood up for Baseball and wanted everything to be fair again, when it wasn't. Well this is the same. This is baseball naming names and realizing there were those that made the game unfair. Although, let's be honest, it's not like we saw the blossoming power hitting careers of the likes of Gary Bennett, F.P. Santangelo and Mark Carreon, and Glenallen Hill still struck out more than once every five career at-bats. They were on steroids, and they didn't have the astounding careers that Clemens or Bonds had. It's still talent. Is anyone going to deny that Bonds is more talented than Glenallen Hill?

Regardless of that, it's not right to sit in a bar or your living room and talk about how horrible our friend Baseball is, and then go to the game with your friends or family. Pretend you're not watching. Pretend you're not going to cheer. We both know better. You know that there's a large part of you that would still love to catch a foul ball or get your face on the Jumbotron. You know how it feels to be at a game. Even in the summer, when evening hits, you need the blanket that you almost left in the car. Baseball games are among the only places where it's okay to spend four dollars on a hot dog (a hot dog for cryin' out loud).

You love it still, but you're held by some obligation to the moral high ground that says you have to turn your back. You feel personally betrayed, and we here at Field and Screen understand. We just disagree. So you don't like Roger Clemens or Barry Bonds or Gary Matthews Jr. Fine. Don't like them. Everyone has players that he dislikes. But don't write off the whole sport. There's still a lot of good, there. There are those who say that the last ten years of baseball have been tarnished as a result of the Mitchell Report. The question is, how much more exciting has baseball been since the strike? We've had home run chases, astonishing rookies, great comebacks, the Colorado Rockies in the World Series, Johan Santana.

The problem that many people are missing is that this list is about the past. This list is about what DID happen, not what is GOING to happen. After all these years of being a proud baseball fan, realize the good that was there, instead of treating your favorite sport like you don't even know it exists. Realize that tough punishments are in place (three positive tests results in a lifetime ban. Would you prefer harsher than a lifetime ban? I didn't know the death penalty was on the table for the use of a drug that wasn't even banned until 2002).

This post might not apply to you. You might not be mad at Baseball, but merely the players. That's fine, be mad at the players who are guilty--and are guilty still. Don't slight those who are truly great like you're better than them because you have standards for what sports should be. This is a country that made NASCAR its most popular sport. Our standards can't be too high. If this does apply to you, Baseball is going to move on without you, and you might never be able to catch up to it after spending all that time trying to get down from your high horse.