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  • December 13, 2007 01:10 PM ET

The Mitchell Report should be sealed.

Conservative Voice (4-2-1) vs FoosBall (114-10-4)
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I realize the monumental effort put forth by Senator Mitchell in the compilation of the soon to be released report. However, to publicly release the report can only do harm to the fans of baseball. Don't get me wrong, I don't believe we should live in the blind and ignore what's happened. All players that have broken the rules (and in some cases the law) should be punished accordingly. But, I believe it should be handled within the league and behind closed doors. It serves no purpose to the fans or the game to "air the laundry". It does, however, provide ESPN and the like with something else to talk about. We ALL know how the media can take a hang nail and make it life threatening. I will probably lose this one and that's fine. I am not morbidly curious about who did it....we know it was done and it's being handled. Period.


If the report names names ... then why should be sealed. What is the point of MLB paying $20 Million (that is the amount I read somewhere) for a report that doesn't show who did what. A few years ago here in Canada there was A fully Open Inquiry called the "Dubin Inquiry". It investigated Drugs in Sports and was prompted after Ben Johnson was stripped of his gold medal during the 1988 Summer Olympics...
It was fully open to the public and media and didn't hide anything. There were months of testimony (from coachs and athletes) about the use of performance enhancing drugs. The final report criticized the testing policies & procedures of both the Canadian Federal Gov't & amateur sports associations. Afterwards Canada strenghtened it's drug testing policy & procedures and created an independent antidoping org., which is now responsible for national drug testing for athletes. Canada is a leader in the fight against performance enhancing drugs.


Yeah for Canada. I understand your position. Personally, I don't need to know who has done it. I know players have. The bottom line is that releasing the report is bad for the game. It will hurt fan attendance, sales, merchandising, and endorsements. More than just baseball will suffer because of it. The point of paying the $20 Million is to find out how bad it is. Granted it could just turn a blind eye and keep going. It could have implemented testing across the board of ALL players without a report years ago. Point is...what good comes from releasing the report? The MLB will institute penalties whether the report splatters names everywhere or not. The Players union can prevent the drug use. As a fan all I can do is go...or not go to a ball game...buy or not buy their stuff. What is gained from releasing the report? Nothing. It only hurts the game.


It may hurt in the short term yes... But as they say Short Term Pain means long term gain. The 1994 MLB Strike hurt the game in the short term...but it recovered. If this report names names especially the ones that are suspected... Barry Bonds, Rogers Clemens etc... sure it will be a black mark for baseball. But baseball will recover... It recovered after the Black Sox scandal, and multiple strikes... It will recover after this as well.
Sometimes go need to air the dirty laundry and take the hit... to survive long term. If some good comes out of this like a tougher drug policy ...stiffer penalties, player bans whatever... It will be in the best interest of the game.


Well you can have this one. As I stated I expected to lose not because I feel I am wrong. Quite the contrary, I know I'm right. But the curiosity and thirst for a scandal rule the day. It's yours. I have no further arguments.

Comments (4) Add A Comment

December 13, 2007  01:15 PM ET
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It should be revealed. The reason i say this is that if random people start getting suspended and there is no explanation given the fans will eb very upset. The media has made sports a very intrusive thing. We want to know everything and are upset when we don't.

I can't wait for it to be released... i'm on the edge of my chair.

December 13, 2007  02:10 PM ET
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Speculation has already ruined baseball. The report will remove doubt.

December 13, 2007  05:53 PM ET
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that's awesome "handle it behind closed doors" so you're going to randomly suspend players and ask them to pay fines without an explanation?

dude, these players should be kicked out of the sport. They set a HORRIBLE example for ANY SPORT, not just baseball. Kick them out, don't let them play ever again. and as loveithateit said, releasing names will clear the air and remove the doubt. Now i'll know who's a cheat and who's ACTUALLY good at the sport. don't just release the article, plaster their names all over the place...

 
December 13, 2007  07:13 PM ET
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Holy mother of prudence! This needs daylight, not to be sealed away in some dark corner!

I can't believe anyone would even suggest such a thing... except for maybe Barry Bonds.

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