Baseball Writers' Criticism of Ryan Braun is Hypocritical

Where were they when. . .

Lenny Dysktra showed up at spring training twenty pounds heavier looking buffed?

When Barry Bonds' head size grew four-fold?

When Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire, sporting tight-end physiques, battled to break Roger Maris' record?

The list goes on and on.

So this morning I had to listen to Buster Olney, one of the Knights of the Keyboard, and one who totally missed questioning steroid-inflated performances, going into some depth on "Mike & Mike" about the faults in Ryan Braun's apology for using PEDs.

My first reaction was, "really, who appointed you judge and jury?"  Next was, "where the heck were you when this whole thing began, when you first began to see evidence?"  Next was, "you rode the wave, you enjoyed the heroics and the records, but you questioned nothing because you were afraid that a puffed up player might whack you or that the players' fraternity might shut you out.  Had you spoken up, the world would have reacted and revolted, and MLB could have ended this mess much, much earlier."

Gammons.

Verducci.

Stark.

Olney.

Kurkjian.

Conlin.

Others.

Hal Bodley apologized for his profession's major whiff at what could have been a huge story.  I have forgiven the miss, but I haven't forgotten.  So it strikes me as totally weird when Olney goes into some depth on this topic.  Sure, he has to cover it, but does he have to dissect it?

He's lucky that no one dissected his writing during the steroid era.  Talk about missing a ball put on a tee.  Who holds the Knights of the Keyboard accountable?

No one.

They have the best seat in the house.

They can be glorified fans.

They think they're protecting the game, but are they?  Aren't they protecting their good seat and the "in" they have with the insiders?

I'm not sure.  But the Steroid Era was disgusting, and they watched it but didn't cover it.

They were too busy elegizing those who were breaking records and cheating.

Instead of covering the real story.

I am not defending Ryan Braun.  He cheated.  But I don't really want to hear too much analysis from reporters who got away with Major League malpractice and still are around to cover the game.  That's equally bothersome.

Had they done their jobs, MLB would have cleaned itself up a while ago, so broad and loud would have been the public's disgust.  You wouldn't have had the Steroid Era, just a few steroid years.