The Weak In Rock

If the story that ESPN ran today in which John Rocker claimed that not only MLB and the MLBPA knew about his performance enhancing drug use in 2000, but actually gave him advice on how to do it effectively then MLB can kiss their anti-trust exemption bye-bye.

I have no doubt in my mind that Congress will subpoena Rocker to testify before them, and come down on Bud Selig and the league like a proverbial ton of bricks.

As I’ve said many times, I don’t care about drug use in sports.  I find the subject tedious and overblown by lazy reporters who can’t think of anything else to write about, but considering the sheer amount of bald-faced lying that the league has done to the US government about the subject and the lack of patience for such things among legislators it won’t surprise me at all if Congress makes good on their threat from several years back to revoke the anti-trust exemption from baseball.

While I’d love to see Bud Selig and Donald Fehr twist in the wind, the economics of professional baseball make it very unlikely that MLB minus its anti-trust exemption would be a viable business in many of the cities that now have MLB teams (including Oakland).  So, this development is not a good one for fans.

On the other hand, John Rocker has been demonstrably full of shit for a long time, and this may just be his way of trying to make himself into a poor man’s Jose Canseco.

Technorati Tags: John Rocker, MLB, MLBPA, anti-trust exemption, Congress, Bud Selig, Donald Fehr, Oakland, Jose Canseco