Frugal wrote:MLB knew what was going on the whole time, they just ignored it and essentially created an economic incentive for people who juiced.
...But they didn't. They didn't create any incentive. Anything that was there already existed. You're entirely inventing this angle, sorry.
Frugal wrote:If MLB was getting in to an argument over testing with the players union the whole time, then you could say it wasn't their fault but that is far from what happened.
My entire point is that no one wants to admit that this sort of thing happens, and that it isn't remotely constrained to baseball, let alone a specific era in the mid-90s.
I am saying that this exact pattern happens all the time, and is happening right now. It's not always drugs either, right now there's a scandal "suddenly"
exploding in cycling with battery packs and motors, because somehow they managed to stumble across a bike that had one.
And guess what?
Even the explanatory statements are literally identical: "A friend gave it to me" "I didn't know what was in it". It's hilarious. Oh, and there have been books and statements by cyclists saying they know it's going on, just like in baseball with steroids. People in the industry coming forward and flatly saying they've sold lots of them to racers, just like baseball. And, sort of like Barry Bonds suddenly Ballooning, there is ridiculous evidence right in front of your eyes that is just ignored: the more recent thermal camera evidence and decade-old footage of inexplicable speed surges at crucial times.
But, sure it's all just the MLB's fault because of their unique contrivance and McMahon-envy.
No, duh, it's a much bigger phenomena in which no one, the players, the franchise, the leagues, the journalists, the fans just want to pretend and pretend and pretend. And when the inflection point is finally hit in which people know it's ok to NOT pretend anymore? Wah-wah-wah, it's the League's fault!
Frugal wrote:The point was that MLB was letting it happen because the strike had messed up the popularity of the sport and they needed something to get the fans back.
No, the point is that they didn't really do anything about it until Congress got involved
nearly a decade later, which makes your "point" that they specifically ignored it to restore interest after the strike ridiculous.
Not to mention how even that point is a strong back-pedal from your original statement in which you
directly blamed them for it. Now it's indirect, as you say they just passively allowed it.