Confessions of a Hall of Fame voter

I feel stupid.

I feel stupid because I didn't recognize the obvious signs. Perhaps I did, but I lied to myself. I didn't want to be the curmudgeon, the naysayer, the pundit, the guy everybody hates. I ignored the complete lack of logic during that magical season of 1998. I jumped on the train with everyone else and celebrated.

Now, since everyone realizes what was going on, I feel dumb. I feel dumb for fallign for it, for allowing myself to be blissfully ignorant. Of course, if the fans and other media weren't so concerned about this, I wouldn't be either. You can call me spineless. I can call myself a hall of fame voter.

You may be wondering why we're all ganging up on McGwire, a likable guy who's obvioulsy not the only great player during that era who was juiced. We're not saying anything right now about Clemens and Bonds and many, many others who have really ominous signs. Well, it's just that: we're sending a message to the public that we (now) care so much about steroids that we're willing to make a scapegoat out of the most popular guy in the past ten years. We'll deal with those other stars later.... and we'll see hwo the public reacts then.

Is this unfair? Of course it is! When have we been fair? I've ignored Andre Dawson and Jim Rice for years. Why? Because I'm a hall of fame voter. I like to think that with my priviledges, I can be a higher authority on baseball and not listen to common sense. I have my own rules, and I love the feeling of being better and smarter than everyone else, who doesn't get a vote. I don;t like feeling stupid.

And I feel stupid right now.