There's significant diversity playing the game. But there is virtually no diversity shaping the way the game is viewed.
That's why all the steroid hysteria is focused on the players. That's why in the years before Bonds turned to steroids to keep pace with all the "cheaters" we were sold the bogus story that juiced balls powered the home-run explosion. That's why ownership and managers never get adequately questioned and vilified for their role as the No. 1 benefactors and blind-eye proponents of steroids. That's why Tom Hicks, the owner of the Texas Rangers, would have the audacity to claim that A-Rod owes him an apology. That's why ESPN broadcaster and baseball shill Peter Gammons could be celebrated for decades as the gold standard in baseball journalism by his peers in the media. That's why Sports Illustrated's Selena Roberts has pursued A-Rod like Moby Dick, unveiled her report about his steroid use a week after the Super Bowl and has a book about A-Rod ready to be released in the coming months. That's why ESPN suspended Scott Van Pelt for calling Bud Selig a pimp. That's why Mike Lupica ran me off "The Sports Reporters" because I refused to allow him to put a black face (Bonds') on a drug epidemic that by the 1990s was clearly colorless, pervasive and initially sparked by white athletes trying to keep pace with black athletes.I'm not suggesting a colossal, racist conspiracy. I'm saying it's easy for any of us to fall victim to our biases if our thoughts are rarely questioned by people who look, think and experience life different from us.
You can e-mail Jason Whitlock at ballstate0@aol.com.
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