Bud Selig: Showing Up is Not a Big Deal

by Chimpanzee Rage, Deuce of Davenport

When Barry Bonds breaks the hallowed MLB career home run record there will probably be nary an empty seat in the ballpark. One person, however, probably won't be there. Commissioner of Major League Baseball, Bud Selig. From what I can gather, there are a lot of people upset at this. ESPN, no stranger to blowing up minor stories, has even devoted segments on their Sportscenter and other various programs to this very topic. My question is, why? How does it matter that the commissioner is in attendance for this event?

Does anyone remember if Bud was at Camden Yards when Cal broke the Iron-Man record? Does anyone recall the joyous look on Bud's face when Mark McGuire broke the single season home run record? He even stated he wasn't there when Clemens got his 300th win and he congratulated Trevor Hoffman by phone when he became the MLB saves leader. He runs the league, he isn't the league cheerleader.

People say that this will be an admission by Bud that the record is tainted, I disagree. I think its more of an admission by Bud that he really doesn't like Barry Bonds, like most of America, because he's a surly, uncharismatic, egomaniac. I think he doesn't want to fake a smile every night for a couple weeks until the record is broken...that or maybe he has more important things to do with his time like, say, run a professional baseball league instead of going to the ballpark every night. The guy is no spring chicken, he'll have to be out late every night to do this and still put in a full work day the next day.

Its not like anyone actually knows when this record is going to fall anyway. Is it reasonable for people to expect Allan Huber "Bud" Selig Jr. of Milwaukee, Wisconsin to suddenly become the world's biggest San Francisco Giants fan? His old team, the Brewers, is doing great. Do you really think he wants to sit at every Giants game for the next couple weeks, watching them lose 7 out of 10 games when he could be watching the Brewers compete for first place in the National League? Does he really want to watch a player he probably dislikes, limp around the outfield to catch a can of corn and later violently swing at every pitch in an attempt to make history at the expense of his own stats and his team?

I don't even want to see that. If I want to watch a team lose 70% of their games and struggle to hit home runs I've got my Nationals to follow.