MMR (Tuesday Edition): Get Congress Out of Baseball

With the holiday on Monday, and me not being anywhere near a computer until 9 o'clock at night yesterday, the Monday Morning Rant had to be pushed off until Tuesday Afternoon. So, let's rant about the separation of sports and state!


Recently, the popular way for a Congressman to get his face in the papers and his name in the headlines has been to start an investigation into sports. Most famously, this has been happening in the baseball world with response to the steroid scandal surrounding many of the sport's top players. However, there has also been a recent request by Senator Arlen Specter to talk to the NFL commissioner about last season's Spygate scandal surrounding the New England Patriots. Let's look back on a little bit of recent history, shall we?

A few years ago, Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro, Sammy Sosa, and other greats were pulled in front of a Congressional panel and grilled about their past potential use of steriods. Being pulled in front of this panel ended up being a death sentence for all those involved. Congress claimed they wanted to talk to former major leaguers about what they've seen in the sport and potential ways to clean it up. They wanted to discuss how to keep kids off of steroids when they see their favorite players using them and making millions. However, it was really just a witch hunt, where these members of Congress spent all day berading these players and trying to get them to spill their guts and confess to using steroids to get ahead in the sport. It was pathetic to watch. I do not want my elected officials spending their days going on witch hunts and trying to chop down the great players of a sport. It’s not their job.

Congress went back on the attack against baseball recently when it had Roger Clemens and Brian McNamee testify to the committee about Clemens' alleged steroid use. Clemens has filed a defamation suit against McNamee for naming him as a steroid user, and Congress felt like it had to get a piece of this action. Their congressional testimony won't do anything, as Congress isn't in the middle of their defamation suit. So this was basically another way to just get their names in the paper as "the good guys fighting cheaters in our beloved sports." Ridiculous.

Senator Dianne Feinstien recently told supporters that she would do everything in her power, and even use the federal government if she had to, to block the 49ers from moving out of San Francisco. You see, the 49er franchise wants a new stadium, and San Francisco isn't working with them very productively to make sure this happens. So the Niners looked around, and found a city just south of them, Santa Clara, that had an area for a new stadium and an apparent willingness to work with the Niners to get things done. Feinstein decided this was an outrage, and will be looking to use the federal government to block an attempts to move by the team.

Not to be outdone, Senator Arlen Specter has requested a sit down with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to discuss the Spygate incident from last year. I won't rehash Spygate, but there was some controversy surrounding the league's findings and handling of the whole situation. However, the government really doesn't have much of a right, nor should it be spending its time, looking into the practices and policies of the NFL. If the NFL felt that Spygate was over, and they wanted to destroy the materials, then they have the right to do so. It's their sport. Congress really should be leaving it alone.

Congress needs to stop wasting their time looking into cheating in sports. They should let sports police themselves, and instead spend their time, oh, i dunno, keeping America safe (see THIS for a write up of what congress isn't doing) or figuring out ways to balance our budget without raising our taxes. That's governing.