Bud (not) Wiser

by tharr on Mar 7, 2009 11:10 AM CST

In yet another interview, Mr. Selig provides further evidence that he has sunk into the abyss of irrelevancy. "Am I sensitive about people saying we ignored this [steroids] problem?" Selig asked. "You bet I am, and it's wrong, it's just wrong." When Judge Landis and his tough stand on gambling after the Black Sox scandal was mentioned, here is the keen analytical response from Bud.

"I have two things about this, No. 1—he died. The second part of it is he didn't have labor unions to deal with. This is currently a part of labor law in America, it is a subject of collective bargaining. In all fairness, I am always sensitive about doing things, forcing things, where baseball loses, and then I've weakened the office and the legal structure."

I guess the same could be said of Lincoln’s stand against slavery, but perhaps baseball’s capo isn’t aware that baseball fans expect their leaders to put principles ahead of the business of baseball.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of SB Nation or Al Yellon, managing editor (unless it's a FanPost posted by Al). FanPost opinions are valued expressions of opinion by passionate and knowledgeable baseball fans.

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Comments

I still can't read Bud's comment.

What is it?

"That's my opinion and if you don't like it, well, I have others." ~ Groucho Marx

by Al Yellon on Mar 7, 2009 11:21 AM CST reply actions

I guess it's kind of offensive

to compare the issue of slavery to the issue of steroids.

by Josh Timmers on Mar 7, 2009 12:07 PM CST reply actions

I guess it's kind of childish

to suggest that the issues of slavery and steroids were compared.

If you like Selig's handling of the steroid issue, you'll love his choice for next Cub owner.

by tharr on Mar 7, 2009 1:53 PM CST up reply actions

bud

has principles?

linky

by tim815 on Mar 7, 2009 1:22 PM CST reply actions

bud is a clown

"I like coconuts, you can break them open and they smell like ladies lying in the sun" Widespread Panic

by Cubbie-Tim on Mar 7, 2009 2:52 PM CST reply actions

Yeah what am I missing here?

He’s not a dictator, he has to deal with the Union and all that entails, theyre both culpable

Okay, just so I understand it... in your wildest fantasy, you are in hell. And you are co-running a bed and breakfast with the devil.

by bren on Mar 7, 2009 3:17 PM CST reply actions

but to make an excuse of

I could not get the players to not use illegal drugs beasue of the Union? That is a bit of a stretch.

Easy fix would have been to tell the MLBPA they have two choices, we clean it up, or the Feds will when those using illegal substances are turned over to the police. he is making an excuse for “turning a blind eye” to the problem. I would say acting stupid, but it may not be much of an act for him.

"I like coconuts, you can break them open and they smell like ladies lying in the sun" Widespread Panic

by Cubbie-Tim on Mar 7, 2009 3:38 PM CST up reply actions

What illegal drugs?

The police will arrest users of steroids for creating fraudulent performances on the field?

The feds (both law enforcement and Congress) have been grandstanding this issue for years. They could hurt organized baseball in terms of its business monopoloies and subsidies, but to arrest players for juicing?

The real crime that was involved in Bud’s interview was his citation of his daily calls with George Will as his link to both the Cubs and what’s going on with the national economy. I know, no politics, but the whole interview, which dragged through an entire inning, made me switch to Bob Euker for audio relief.

by santo4hof on Mar 7, 2009 6:00 PM CST up reply actions

Steroids are a higher class of illegal drug than cocaine

It is an illegal drug, so screw what it is being used for, it is illegal to possess, to buy, and to use

http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/concern/steroids.html

Federal law placed anabolic steroids in Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) as of February 27, 1991. The possession or sale of anabolic steroids without a valid prescription is illegal. Simple possession of illicitly obtained anabolic steroids carries a maximum penalty of one year in prison and a minimum $1,000 fine if this is an individual’s first drug offense. The maximum penalty for trafficking is five years in prison and a fine of $250,000 if this is the individual’s first felony drug offense. If this is the second felony drug offense, the maximum period of imprisonment and the maximum fine both double. While the above listed penalties are for federal offenses, individual states have also implemented fines and penalties for illegal use of anabolic steroids.(15)

"I like coconuts, you can break them open and they smell like ladies lying in the sun" Widespread Panic

by Cubbie-Tim on Mar 7, 2009 10:57 PM CST up reply actions

The thing I don't get is....

…..what on earth does it mean to say, with regard to Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, “he died”?

Is that supposed to be, like, a comment on the transience of all things business and baseball? A jibe at the Judge? A memento mori for the fans?

Whatever, it’s a little…..odd.

"[I]f we get a Jumbotron, I can't pull the instant replay thing on all the rookies. Every time there's a good play, we're like, 'Oh, look at the replay,' and you get the rookies to look at the scoreboard." - Ryan Dempster, 2 January 2009

by CaughtInTheVines on Mar 7, 2009 9:26 PM CST reply actions

Yeah, I didn't understand that part, either.

"That's my opinion and if you don't like it, well, I have others." ~ Groucho Marx

by Al Yellon on Mar 8, 2009 4:00 AM CST up reply actions

That's what I thought

And it made me think anything else he had to say was just as poorly thought out, not that I needed any help with that. What a maroon.

"When they signed Fukudome, I knew they were trying to get me fired". - Ron Santo, January, 2008

by BeerCub on Mar 8, 2009 11:41 AM CDT up reply actions

Bud is a bastard

I cold, calculating, lying slimeball. He routinenly lies to the baseball public. Heck, he even lies to Congress under sworn oath. I just love how he always paints himself as handcuffed and powerless to deal with the serious problems that impact baseball. But this is the same douchebag who has no problem putting a gun to the head of cities and municipalities across the land to get gleaming new baseball stadiums built on behalf of the owners who pay his salary.

by BLou on Mar 7, 2009 9:59 PM CST reply actions

Bud is a boob

Time for a replacement to save baseball from this goof.

by Steve Sax on Mar 8, 2009 8:06 AM CDT reply actions

i vote Al

"I like coconuts, you can break them open and they smell like ladies lying in the sun" Widespread Panic

by Cubbie-Tim on Mar 8, 2009 3:10 PM CDT up reply actions

I accept!

"That's my opinion and if you don't like it, well, I have others." ~ Groucho Marx

by Al Yellon on Mar 8, 2009 3:36 PM CDT up reply actions

your first move

Peavy must be sent to the cubs for a low A player or SD is hit with a three billion fine?

"I like coconuts, you can break them open and they smell like ladies lying in the sun" Widespread Panic

by Cubbie-Tim on Mar 8, 2009 3:52 PM CDT up reply actions

And the Cubs get to have only their fans at all Cubs games in San Diego.

"That's my opinion and if you don't like it, well, I have others." ~ Groucho Marx

by Al Yellon on Mar 8, 2009 4:00 PM CDT up reply actions

can motion to add

US Cell, Houston and Milwaukee to that list?

"I like coconuts, you can break them open and they smell like ladies lying in the sun" Widespread Panic

by Cubbie-Tim on Mar 8, 2009 4:06 PM CDT up reply actions

Al for president!

by Steve Sax on Mar 8, 2009 8:44 PM CDT up reply actions

I think I'd rather be commissioner.

"That's my opinion and if you don't like it, well, I have others." ~ Groucho Marx

by Al Yellon on Mar 9, 2009 4:21 AM CDT up reply actions

less pressure from Congress if you are President Al

"I like coconuts, you can break them open and they smell like ladies lying in the sun" Widespread Panic

by Cubbie-Tim on Mar 9, 2009 7:40 AM CDT up reply actions

LOL

Maybe so. I’d still rather be commissioner.

"That's my opinion and if you don't like it, well, I have others." ~ Groucho Marx

by Al Yellon on Mar 9, 2009 8:46 AM CDT up reply actions

Today's...

… Rick Telander column has an excellent summary of this issue and who’s to blame (and there’s enough to go around):

I don’t care that Donald Fehr and Gene Orza of the players union are scum from the edge of a stinking sewer pond. Those two are hopeless, immoral lackeys who would vote against forensic tests for hitmen holding smoking Uzis with dead bodies all around.

But, Bud, that does not make you anything other than the see-no-evil management guy you are.

In his own defense, Selig recounted a conversation he had recently with Arizona Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin, who has been in baseball for nearly three decades:

‘’I never heard anything. I never saw anything. Maybe that makes me a dummy, but I’m telling you that.’’

Maybe that makes me a dummy.

Ya think?

Bob Melvin, you never noticed the way Luis Gonzalez kinda swelled up like a toad in 2001 and hit 57 home runs with 142 RBI for the D-backs, and then in your first year managing him, 2005, he hit only 24 dingers and 79 RBI?

Never saw that?

Melvin and Selig, you are peas in a pod.

I especially like the description of Fehr and Orza as “hopeless, immoral lackeys”. So true.

"That's my opinion and if you don't like it, well, I have others." ~ Groucho Marx

by Al Yellon on Mar 8, 2009 11:07 AM CDT reply actions

One thing

that always bothered me about Selig was how tied into ownership he was/is. It kind of gets to my whole problem with the Commisionership in general, no matter how many fines he levies at owners, he’s still their employee, and any pretense at impartiality is ridiculous. What baseball should do is immediately replace him with someone chosen by both the ownership and players association (yeah, I know how difficult THOSE negotiations would be), and have both entities paying his salary. Until then, and only then, whatever comes out of the commisioner’s mouth has no meaning whatsoever.

by John916 on Mar 8, 2009 12:15 PM CDT reply actions

You & I and, I assume, everyone here...

… wants an independent commissioner, as Judge Landis was. Trouble is, the owners want a guy like Selig, who will be on their side. I’m not sure how you’d get the two sides to agree on a single individual AND give him the power to do what’s necessary.

"That's my opinion and if you don't like it, well, I have others." ~ Groucho Marx

by Al Yellon on Mar 8, 2009 12:47 PM CDT up reply actions

You took the words

right out of my mouth. How can you have any integrity of the Baseball Commish when he was an owner the day before? The owners, the Commissioner’s office and the player’s union ALL looked the other way. Remember when there was questions regarding the baseballs being juiced? I wonder if they all conspired to throw that disinformation out there to head off any thoughts that the players were actually juiced?

"WGN, Channel 9 Cubs Baseball, Excitingly, Importantly, Dramatically Yours." - Jack Brickhouse

by BigJohnAZ on Mar 8, 2009 3:33 PM CDT up reply actions

Maybe

If Congress is going to get involved with this (despite having more pressing issues at hand), there is always the anti-trust exemption that can be stripped away. On the players’ side, I would think they’d be a lot more amenable to someone that’s impartial to the buffoon that’s there now.

by John916 on Mar 8, 2009 1:34 PM CDT reply actions

I also wonder why

the players that are clean don’t raise a stink. Maybe there were more players than we can imagine that have taken some sort of PED and really don’t want to call attention to themselves.

"WGN, Channel 9 Cubs Baseball, Excitingly, Importantly, Dramatically Yours." - Jack Brickhouse

by BigJohnAZ on Mar 8, 2009 3:35 PM CDT reply actions

Here's why they don't.

The union has scared them into silence. Maybe now, though, with all the revelations, some of them will speak up.

"That's my opinion and if you don't like it, well, I have others." ~ Groucho Marx

by Al Yellon on Mar 8, 2009 3:36 PM CDT up reply actions

the Union seems powerful to those outside

imagine its stregnth internally.

also you call out your fellow players, and you end up sitting next to Canseco watching

"I like coconuts, you can break them open and they smell like ladies lying in the sun" Widespread Panic

by Cubbie-Tim on Mar 8, 2009 3:53 PM CDT up reply actions

Here's the problem

everyone is so worried about yesterday that they forget about tomorrow. While everyone is trying to find out who did or didnt use, these millionaire and their goons are busy coming up with new ways to get an edge.

What everyone needs to be doing is worrying about the future. Being proactive isn’t as easy as being reactive and if you are or ever been in a strong union, you will understand that statement.

I’m not taking up for Selig one bit, everyone knows he’s an idiot, but going to a strong union and making idle threats or baseless assumptions “won’t fly” very far.

I dont care who the new owner is as long as he/she/them come equipped with a Jake Peavy and a Joe Beimel!!!

by cubsluver22 on Mar 8, 2009 3:57 PM CDT reply actions

He'd dead

was the most significant response from Selig that prompted me to post his comments. Who says that when he has been asked about something they did or didn’t do? It seems the mindset of a person who is unwilling to accept any blame for their actions. Unfortunately for BS, his mind isn’t what it used to be so his knee jerk answer comes out as “he’s dead.”

Regrettably this guy is the face of baseball and he is the one who will make critical decisions regarding the sport/business in the future. To the baseball fan it defines that those decisions will be all about profitability rather than fan friendliness. But, of course, it won’t be Bud’s fault.

If you like Selig's handling of the steroid issue, you'll love his choice for next Cub owner.

by tharr on Mar 8, 2009 5:34 PM CDT reply actions

this whole who's fault thing is old.

truthfully were all to blame. we all don’t agree with steroid use but we all still keep supporting them.

I dont care who the new owner is as long as he/she/them come equipped with a Jake Peavy and a Joe Beimel!!!

by cubsluver22 on Mar 8, 2009 5:42 PM CDT reply actions

I saw him at Maryvale Saturday

He was – unbelievably – signing autographs for a few folks. I have no idea why anyone would want an autograph from him. The only commish more egregious than him is the NBA-reject of a clown “running” the NHL, Gary Bettman.

Sweet Lou for Mayor in '11.

by blackhawk24 on Mar 10, 2009 12:46 PM CDT reply actions