Just a regular rant here…Nothing to do with Telecom…..Or maybe it all does tie together in the end?
The news comes out that our beloved Sammy was on the list of names (that was supposed to be kept from the public) of players who tested positive for steroids. Why is this such a shock to anyone…..Why is this even news? Anyone who saw him as a young man with the Sox (before picture) and as a home run king with the Cubs (after picture) knows that he did steroids. My good friend John Shear once said that he went from the skinny guy on What’s Happening to someone from the WWE. The guy hit 66 home runs in a single season. I remember the days when 50 was a huge deal. Andre Dawson hit 49 and won the MVP for a losing team. Anyway I digress.
The talk has turned to how this is going to keep him out of the Hall of Fame. Everyone knew he wasn’t going to get voted in anyway because he was suspected of using. On ESPN tonight they put him in a group with Shoeless Joe and Pete Rose. In my opinion Shoeless Joe got a raw deal. Pete Rose bet on baseball as a manager. On a side note I think the person most screwed out of the Hall is Ron Santo. Anyway, steriods were not on the list of banned substances when Sammy tested positive. Players have always used whatever they could to get ahead in baseball. Spit balls, nail files, corked bats (Sammy did that too), pine tar, uppers, you name it. In every profession people will do whatever they can to get ahead. Salespeople do things to beat the competition (somtimes fairly-sometimes not). My point is steroids were not on the banned substance list at the time.
I would even go so far as to say that the magical summer of Sammy vs Mac saved baseball and brought people to the park. It was definately a resurection if not a savior. I think we can all agree that he was just doing something that by baseball rules was not illegial. Wait for it…Wait for it…Oh yeah, kind of like surcharges on telephone bills. It is not illegal….The FCC says they can do it….They never really put any rules on it. Now is time for I predict. I predict that myself and like minded people will bring this issue to the forefront. Just like the reporters did nothing through the steriod years. What happens every time companies get greedy? I have sat back long enough, now is the time for action! Help me bring the Surcharge issue to the forefront, just like it happened in baseball it can happen in telecom.