Kind of interesting story, or, theory anyway, written by Ted Robinson for MSNBC defending Bud Selig. He’s musing on an Oakland Tribune editorial that calls Selig the “Steroid Commissioner.” I’d link to that article but the Oakland Tribune still isn’t quite up to speed with this World Wide Web stuff.

Just for clarity I hope the columnist lets us know if that places Selig alongside Roger Goodell as Shawne Merriman and Rodney Harrison are glorified on Sunday. Or alongside Paul Tagliabue after Bill Romanowski’s confessions about his car trunk doubling as the country’s biggest mobile steroids store showed just how stringent drug testing can be (Romanowski passed all his tests). Or alongside David Stern, who had an official hooked on gambling.

When Goodell stands up and says his drug testing policy is wildly effective, the same media accepts his word without question. When Stern stands up and says he has investigated the NBA’s officials and the gambling was limited to one bad apple, the media accepts his word without question. When Stern and Goodell say “trust me,” they are trusted.

He’s got a good point here folks. Does anyone think steroids are 10x worse in the NFL than in baseball? For some reason people have grown to accept this about football.

I believe baseball was victimized by its own culture — one not unlike the military in which loyalty trumps all. There is no room in baseball for a whistle-blower. What the sport desperately needed was a Deep Throat. Oh, by the way, who made Deep Throat? Two reporters Woodward and Bernstein. So when I read a columnist trashing Selig, calling him the “Steroids Commissioner,” I want to ask if that writer ever tried to investigate the use of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball. I was in the game as a broadcaster and did nothing. Did this writer snoop, ask questions, or try to follow in the lead of a Woodward or Bernstein? Or is it just too comfortable to sit back and blast away after the fact?

This is sort of true. I think all professional sports probably have this to some degree. More to the point I think baseball is also somewhat victimized by its own culture of tradition. The thing that says the game is expected to stay the same for all of eternity. I’m not necessarily complaining about this, it’s one of just a few longstanding traditions in America and ought to be somewhat protected from the almighty dollar.

I like the point calling the Tribune writer out though. Obviously there was plenty to investigate in the Bay Area. A couple guys at the Tribune’s former competitor, the San Francisco Chronicle, wrote an entire book on it.

So baseball owners see attendance skyrocketing and revenues soaring. They see the greatest sports investment of our time, MLB.com, turn $30 million in seed money into $5 billion.

Whoops! Well, so much for that idea. This is the rub. Not too many owners that will turn that down anytime in the near future.

They know the business of the game has never been better and that is what the commissioner is supposed to safeguard.

Again…unfortunately (for fans) that’s the truth.