Even without the steroids, Barry Bonds had the raw talent to be a Hall of Famer. This past week’s conviction on a obstruction charge could keep him from making it to Cooperstown. Perhaps it should. His records and statistics are tainted. But Bonds is merely one of many who deserve a juiced-up asterisk next to their names in the record books. Bonds’ scandal is also Major League Baseball’s shame. League officials looked the other way for years during the steroids era to keep fans coming out to ballparks. A report put together by former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell in 2007 connected dozens of baseball stars, including seven MVPs, to the use of performance-enhancing drugs in violation of federal law and baseball policy. Every MLB team had at least one player on the list.
Why didn’t the league care? Revenue tripled in the steroids era.
After the 1994 strike, a surge in home runs brought fans back to the game. During that time, allegations of steroid use were rampant. Yet, baseball waited until 2002 to ban steroids, and it wasn’t until 2004 that the sport began penalizing players who tested positive.
Yes, Bonds is a loser, but the fans, and baseball purists, have lost much along the way, too.
New day for CU journalism. Even though the University of Colorado regents voted 5-4 on Thursday to shut down the school’s journalism school, the degree program won’t be gone forever. Given the way academia works, closing the school was necessary in order to retool it. No one is sure exactly what the new program will look like but we took comfort in CU president Bruce Benson’s recommendation that a journalism degree still would be available. Even though platforms are changing, skilled and well-trained journalists are still needed in the 21st century. The state’s flagship school can play a vital role in training tomorrow’s watchdogs.
License plate WINDFL? You know things are getting desperate at the statehouse when lawmakers turn to auctioning off coveted license plate numbers and vanity plates to bring in more cash. House Bill 1216 calls for the creation of a seven-member license-plate-auction group to research expired and existing plates, determine their value, create a market and then manage the sale or auction of the plates. We here at Short Takes like the idea, especially since the cash would go to 14,000 people on a waiting list for disabled services. However, we want to put dibs on our own vanity plate. Anyone claim SHRT TKS yet? And we’re guessing House Speaker Frank McNulty might lay down some big bucks for TXCUT, and there could be a serious GOP bidding war for Douglas Bruce’s MR TABOR plates.
Short Takes is compiled by Denver Post editorial writers and expresses the view of the newspaper’s editorial board.
