Thursday, January 17, 2008

The Owners are Unanimous: We Want More Bud!


I cannot believe what I am reading. Well actually, I can. Bud Selig, the slovenly looking commissioner of baseball, has been persuaded by his fellow owners that he shouldn't retire in 2009 and has re-upped his contract through 2013. I say "fellow" owners because he is one of them, and that is exactly why the owners unanimously voted to keep him on. He is a representative of them. No matter how he likes to spin it that he is a neutral observer, he is on the owners side in all matters with the players union.

While Bud can hang his hat on attendance records each of the last four years, he cannot deny that he is a major part of perhaps the low point of baseball history, the steroid/HGH scandal. The cancellation of the 1994 playoffs and World Series also went down under his watch. What about the fiasco of the All Star in his hometown of Milwaukee that ended in a tie, when he famously lifted his arms in a "I have no idea what to do" fashion? None of that matters to the owners because Bud does no wrong in their eyes.

I guess the only good thing about keeping Bud around is that he is an easy target for the media and for bloggers like me. Regardless, imagine the uproar if the NFL had replace commissioner Paul Tagliabue with say Jerry Jones and Jones was allowed to turn the Cowboys over to his son. You think the NFL would ever allow that to happen? Of course not. You think if David Stern retired, the league could be run by Jerry Buss? The whole thing is crazy and its shocking he has been on the job this long, let alone being re-upped until 2013. I guess that's what happens when you have the owners in your back pocket.

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