Pure Baseball

[blackhawkcrazy39]

Chicago Tribune; Sports - Thursday, July 12, 2007
Charlie Smerat, "Pure Baseball? There's a Chance."

So he did it, Barry Bonds hit 755 last weekend in St. Louis. Did people get excited? Not at Busch Stadium, they didn't. In San Francisco? Maybe. But the feeling in San Fran was more the feeling an average Cubs fan feels before every new season - excitement, and denial.

"You just don't know what to believe anymore," says a local Bay-area resident, "stats really do lie."

With Bonds breaking the record, there's much more than just baseball to talk about. Other conversations arise, unwanted conversations. Conversations about steroids plague what, otherwise, should be a celebrated time in baseball history.

But celebrating Bonds' record is like cheering on a thirteen year old who aces the biggest test of the year by cheating - and making it obvious. I mean really just blatantly obvious. We're talking binoculars, mirrors, walking up to another student's desk and copying his or her answers on the spot blatant.

But with the rise of a new homerun king comes the rise of an idea that Oprah Winfrey says will "restore the game to its original beauty."

On Tuesday morning's airing of "Oprah", the long-time billionaire put out an idea that, even with the money she has, seems impossible and far-fetched.

Winfrey opened the show with a special on steroids and the effect the widely-abused drug can have on people around the world. Of course, by the end of the segment, a good 80% of the crowd was reaching for the box of Kleenex to wipe off the diverse range of fluids that leaked from their tear-stricken eyes.

As usual, Oprah did what she does best - she put a smile on everyone's face.

"I'm starting my own baseball league," she said to the roar of 3,000 screaming, middle-aged women (and a man, also middle-aged), "steroids will not be a factor in this league."

Winfrey put the crowd down just thirty seconds later when she refrained from further comment on the subject.

While the idea seems far-fetched, the idea of baseball without the lying and cheating brings a good coating of goose-bumps on my skin. It would be like looking at Pamela Anderson and not having to remember that her fake, silicone-filled body parts are nothing but the works of a great doctor. The future of baseball may be a clean one afterall.

[darkcloud4579]

Oprah is a billionaire. Just sayin'...

[blackhawkcrazy39]

Ugh, what was I thinking. This is a terrible idea! It sounded so good at first. What I wanted to do was have a league that started small and over the course of thirty years slowly started to compete with and become better than the MLB. But the idea of Oprah Winfrey being the one to start this league is a bit ... eh.

Back to the drawing board I guess ...

[Lee]

Keep it going, this is a unique idea. You could have a lot of fun with this.

[jtb]

Keep it going. It is a cool original idea.

[CatKnight]

Well, I admit Oprah made me go....eww....

But the idea itself is sound! Why couldn't a group of baseball lovers get together and found a small independent league that slowly grew as people took notice?

[Snap Wilson]

You could go the complete opposite direction and have it be Vince McMahon's baseball league. Everybody's juiced!

[blackhawkcrazy39]

Originally Posted by CatKnight

Well, I admit Oprah made me go....eww....

But the idea itself is sound! Why couldn't a group of baseball lovers get together and found a small independent league that slowly grew as people took notice?

I like this idea better, Oprah just wouldn't work. We'll have to use the group of baseball lovers.

Thanks for the support, everyone. I'll take a little more time to figure things out and plan how everything will go down before I restart this.