Commentary
Oregon Daily Emerald
Friday, April 8, 2005
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■ In my opinion
Baseball’s fouled soul
Now that the pope has died and
Terri Schiavo no longer provides Re
publicans a convenient case to ex
ploit, it’s time to turn to more impor
tant things, like baseball.
Opening day came on the heels of
an excellent NCAA Final Four and
featured a dominating performance
by New York Yankees ace Randy
Johnson, who routed the defending
national champion Boston Red Sox.
But while the action on the field
renews our hope every spring, the
soul of the game is hurting.
A Congressional hearing in March
involving players’ use of steroids
marked the greatest collision be
tween baseball and government
since Curt Flood brought his free
agency case to the U.S. Supreme
Court in 1972. Former player Jose
Canseco admitted to using steroids
and narked on teammates he
claimed to have injected.
Steroids tear at the fabric of the
game, which looks to its past more
than any other sport. It’s part of the
beauty of baseball that one can com
pare Albert Pujols’ 2004 season with
Mickey Mantle’s 1956 season and
determine their relative abilities with
a fair degree of accuracy.
For baseball purists, the steroid
revelations were just the latest in a
long line of events that undermine
the game. The trouble began in
1973, when the first designated hit
ter strode to the plate.
The DH foreshadowed the devel
opment of one-dimensional players
such as the reliever who pitches only
to left-handed batters between the
seventh and ninth innings during
full-moon night games on the West
Coast — barely an exaggeration. It
also provided jobs for geriatric fan
CHUCK SLOTHOWER
TAKING ISSUE
favorites like Edgar Martinez, who
last year could have been out-run by
an ambitious riding lawnmower.
The DH preceded the reign of
Commissioner Bud Selig, who has
done all he could to ruin the game
since taking over in 1992. His first
mistake was expanding into Col
orado, where the Rockies can be
guaranteed never to win a World Se
ries. No pitcher with half a brain
wants to risk his career by pitching
in a place that, due to its elevation,
inflates offense.
Selig failed to prevent players from
going on strike in 1994, resulting in
the cancellation of the World Series
for the first time since 1904. Then he
had the bright idea in 1997 of insti
tuting Interleague Play.
Many fans like it — attendance in
Interleague games exceeds that of
regular games by about 20 percent,
according to SI.com — but it results
in an unbalanced schedule. It also
destroys the uniqueness of the World
Series, which used to be the only
place American League and National
League teams faced each other in
games that mattered.
Selig has also come up short in
addressing the competitive imbal
ance in baseball. Despite revenue
sharing, which shifts money from
the wealthiest teams to the poorest,
imbalance persists.
The Yankees, blessed by a deep
pocketed owner who loves his team,
buy their way to the playoffs each
year. They paid their players more
than $184 million last year, by far the
most in baseball, according to The
(Cleveland) Plain Dealer.
Meanwhile, small market teams
function as a farm system for teams
like the Yankees. The Oakland A’s,
for instance, have lost a string of
their best players in recent years be
cause they couldn't afford them. The
list includes top-flight sluggers Mark
McGwire, Jason Giambi and Miguel
Tejada. Just this offseason, the A’s
had to let go of two ace pitchers, Tim
Hudson and Mark Mulder.
Until something drastic happens,
the Yankees and Red Sox will contin
ue to spend their way to the playoffs,
while teams like the Kansas City
Royals wistfully look on.
Part of Selig’s problem is that he
cares more about money than the
game itself. He looks at baseball
from the perspective of a former
team owner, which he is.
Selig’s other major problem is the
players’ union, the most powerful
union relative to its industry in the
country. The union stands in opposi
tion to several important reforms,
including the elimination of the
designated hitter, a truly tough
steroids policy and regulation of am
phetamines, which are widely used
in baseball.
One longs for the days of Kenesaw
Mountain Landis, baseball’s first
commissioner, who ruled the game
with an iron fist and took seriously
his charge to act in the best interests
of baseball.
chackslothower@dailyemerald.com
■ Guest commentary
Producing constructive liberalism
My parents were not impressed
with my attitude following the first
term of freshman year. I attacked
them for condoning all the problems
of the world on which I was now an
expert. There were wars I had never
heard of, countries I never knew ex
isted and animals receiving rights I
did not know even I had. I was in
shock. The world college presented
to me was nothing, I thought, like
the world in which my parents had
raised me, and I told them so.
It took me until last week to real
ize that the critical liberalism that
saturates this university is not exclu
sive to the University of Oregon. An
article in The Register-Guard pub
lished March 30, “Study backs liber
al faculty image,” finally supported
the general observation I made that
the majority of professors I have had
are liberal-minded. The study sur
veyed 1,643 college professors at 183
schools and found that 72 percent
considered themselves liberal.
I attribute the shock of freshman
year to my assimilation from a
generally moderate environment
into a liberal-minded one.
The Independent Women’s Forum
and the Randolph Foundation, a
right leaning support group of Amer
icans for Tax Reform, funded this
study to show how one-sided a col
lege education is in America. But
why is it that students like me are so
shocked at learning these alternative
views? Lack of exposure.
I would not argue that the “gov
ernment bashing” in my political sci
ence courses is unwarranted, but it
is an injustice to disseminate pre
dominantly liberal views in a gov
ernmental institution. As such, I can
only assume that the liberalist edu
cation serves not to oppose what is
known by the general public, but to
balance the reality of the future lead
ers of this country by revealing that
which is not commonly known by or
taught to the general public. Liberal
professors are laying the other half of
a foundation so that students can
eventually stand up straight.
The Randolph Foundation’s findings
should not be misinterpreted. Irra
tional extremism is not synonymous
with liberalism, for if it were, the
American government would not con
tinue to support higher education.
The freshman student’s impassioned
extremism is an understandable effect
of the transition into college, and it
shows the one-sidedness of what is
disseminated to the general public.
Thankfully, most students learn to ar
ticulate their passions in a way that is
more rational and systematically
thought out than the attacks made to
parents during freshman year.
The process begins simply by real
izing the futility of reaping all joy of a
conversation just to evangelize ideal
istic solutions to the world’s prob
lems. To be in any way progressive
and influential, students will integrate
liberal views into a still conservative
American government. I just hope my
grandfather was wrong when he said
that liberals are just college graduates
who have not yet made any money.
Nicholas Wilbur Lives in Eugene
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■ Out loud
“It’s less than a latte.”
— EMU Board of Directors member Yoko
Silk, discussing Ballot Measure 21 and the
$2 price tag per student it would take to pow
er the EMU with wind energy.
“He was like a person in everyone’s family
... to see a family member pass is about what
it’s like to see the pope die.”
— Justin Schneider, senior business ad
ministration major, mourning the death of
Pope John Paul II.
“I can’t say I’ve been to a meeting. I don’t
know where they’re held; I don’t know much
about them.”
— ASUO Vice Presidential candidate Chris
Haak, at Wednesday’s executive debate, an
swering a question about attendance at Pro
grams Finance Committee meetings earlier
this year.
“National identity is being subsumed by
national security identity.”
— Pacific News Service writer Roberto Lo
vato, about post-Sept. 11 paranoia shaping
U.S. policy. Lovato spoke at a symposium last
week in the Knight Law Center.
“I’d be pretty cheesed off if I was told I had
to go to Rennie’s to have a cigarette. ”
— Graduate teaching fellow Jacque Pol
lard, responding to the proposition of a cam
pus-wide smoking ban.
“The state has been disinvesting year after
year after year while the cost of education has
gone up at the expense of students.”
— ASUO President Adam Petkun, explain
ing the need for a state funding increase for
higher education.
“I started crying before I even came in the
door. ”
— Senior Lin Charpentier, about her expe
rience at “Eyes Wide Open,” a touring Iraq
War exhibit that stopped at Lane County on
Sunday and Monday.
“Overall, the students don’t have much to
say in what’s going to happen.”
— Freshman Martini Morris, on University
plans regarding the purchase of the vacant car
lot near the Williams’ bakery site.
“When we respond to a party with a beer
bong and a person next to it on the couch and
they’re passed out, I think they are making a
conscious decision at that point to consume
large amounts of alcohol.”
— Department of Public Safety officer Mike
Eppli, during Tuesday's debate with the Of
fice of Student Life regarding actions taken to
ward students with alcohol poisoning.
EDITORIAL BOARD
Jennifer Sudick Steven R. Neuman
Editor in Chief Managing Editor
Ailee Slater
Commentary Editor
Shadra Beesley
Copy Chief
Adrienne Nelson
Online Editor
CORRECTION
Wednesday’s article "25 feet” contained misattributed
information. Director of Health Education Paula Staight
said she would like to see smoking banned on campus
and said she does not support the creation of designat
ed smoking areas. Staight also said she does not want
to see large groups of smokers congregated. These state
ments were incorrectly attributed to Director of Environ
mental Health and Safety Kay Coots. Coots said she is
hopeful changes will be implemented, but did not specif
ically site the 25-foot rule change.
The Emerald regrets the error.