By Bryce Ashland

I’ll start with the cold, hard, very-quickly-scanned-for-verification facts: Pete Rose is the only person alive that is banned from baseball for life.

His ban is one of the most tired, played-out, talked about baseball arguments of multiple generations of the sport’s biggest fans. The questions are many.

By Kjunstorm from Laguna Niguel, CA, US., via Wikimedia Commons

Should he be banned? If the ban was lifted, should he be allowed to go up for voting into the Hall of Fame? Mark McGwire isn’t banned, but with recent Hall voting, it’s unlikely he’ll ever see the inside of Cooperstown except if guided by a docent.

Would it hurt baseball if the ban was lifted and Pete got into the Hall?

I don’t have the answers to these questions, but I can opine all I want.

Here’s the way I see it.  Mr. Rose was a legend on the field, but after the ban, the only title he has held is Baddest Guy Who Used-to-be in Baseball.  The Worst of the Worst.  Mr. Blacklist.  And what does that get him?  A nice coat?  A bronze bust?  No.  It gets him publicity.  Almost unlimited publicity.  Sure, it’s usually negative, but “any publicity is good publicity,” says the wise old… publicist.

“So what,” you say.  You’d rather be in the Hall, I know.  But does Peter Rose really want to be in the Hall?  Of that, I’m not so sure.

Pete is our resident expert in cheating at baseball (though he didn’t actually cheat).  And in this day and age there is a lot of cheating in baseball with all of the PED shennanigans.

Whenever anyone gets suspended or is suspected of PEDs, the media looks for a sound bite, but the guys who have experience in the PED scandal are all mum about the whole thing. They’re hoping not to draw any more attention to themselves in hopes that everyone will forget and they can get into the Hall at some point.

So the press goes to Pete Rose.  He doesn’t hesitate to talk. Rose seems to be taking any and all interviewers.  He’s throwing out gems like, “I picked the wrong vice.” An inappropriate comment, but honest nonetheless.

I mean, he DIDN’T cheat.  He didn’t affect the outcome of games.  And the players these days ARE cheating and ARE affecting games.  And they are getting suspensions.  Pete got banned.

But I digress.  The point is, Pete loves the attention.  He’s obviously a self-centered person.  When asked about his thoughts on the other guys getting suspended, he makes a comment about himself.

Would anyone want to talk to Pete Rose if he hadn’t been banned?  No.  Would anyone want to talk to Pete Rose if he had been reinstated?  No.  And who would Pete Rose be if he was in the Hall?  He would be just another old guy in a museum of baseball players.  One of many.  Normal.  And that is the last thing Pete Rose wants to be.

Oh, he’s still the greatest hitter of all time (though there’s a current player still out there taking aim at that title), but when would anyone want to talk to Pete if that was all he was?  Whenever someone got close to his hits record?  How often does THAT happen?  Considering the guy in second place died 52 years ago, it obviously doesn’t happen often.

If Pete was just another guy in the Hall, he’d be a nobody compared to what he is now.  As much as Pete goes on the press circuit and writes books and says he’s sorry and wants to be reinstated, deep down inside, I think he hopes this charade goes on and on and on.

I, for one, am getting tired of it.  And I think the best thing for everyone is to ban Pete from being banned.  Take away his status.  Reinstate the guy, and induct him as fast as humanly possible.

Bryce Ashland is a long-time friend of fansmanship. He lives in Orange County, CA with his wife and three children. He is almost as fast as Owen.

For the past fifteen years of my life — nearly as long as I can remember — the only constant in my life other than my family has been the enjoyment from sports. In fact, most of the friends I have maintained over this time period are individuals who don’t have a problem watching Sportscenter on repeat, to the point where you memorize what Neil Everrett and Stan Verrett will say on an upcoming segment. The competitive nature of sports makes them some of the most unpredictable events in the world; there isn’t a better feeling than hearing the phrase “game 7” or waking up on the morning of a rivalry game. With that being said, when there is love, there is hate; these are the five things in sports that grind my gears the most:

5.  The NCAA’s recent actions

College sports would not be where they are in today’s society without the NCAA; however, over the last few years the NCAA has made a number of questionable decisions regarding the punishments they have given to the universities under their control. I’m not questioning whether or not these universities deserve the punishment, but rather the inconsistency regarding the terms of these punishments that are causing fans to question the integrity of the NCAA.

The sanctions against the University of Southern California handed down in 2010 were over the actions of one player from an entirely different generation of USC football. Nevertheless, these sanctions kept the Trojans out of a National Championship Game they deserved to be in and prevented Matt Barkley from winning the Heisman, both during the 2011 season. There’s no reason to punish players who had nothing to do with the actions in question Instead, the NCAA should have put restrictions on the players who committed the rule violation. The head of the NCAA’s Committee of Infractions at the time of the USC ruling, Paul Dee, was the Athletic director at the University of Miami , which committed a number of violations during his tenure (1993-2008), including the most recent Nevin Shapiro scandal. How can the NCAA appoint an individual to the head of their violations committee if he can’t even control his own school? Because the NCAA has proven they aren’t even competent enough to control their employees. Last month, the NCAA admitted to improper conduct by its own enforcement staff and their involvement regarding the Nevin Shapiro scandal, adding to the long list of problems with the enforcement staff.

The NCAA is an association that answers to no one; either that needs to change, or their policies need to, I’d personally be happy to see both change.

Baseball’s Hall of Fame needs to make some adjustments. By Beyond My Ken (Own work), via Wikimedia Commons

4. Major League Baseball’s Hall of Fame voting

2013 marked the first time since 1996 the Baseball Writers’ Association of America voted zero members to the Baseball Hall of Fame; subsequently, this has become one of the most fiercely discussed topics of the New Year.  After the results of this year’s voting, most of the reactions were the same; a new policy clearly needs to be adopted, specifically the 15 year limit on candidacy. There is no reason for a player who deserves membership right away, to be forced to wait 14 years before the BBWA feels the urgency to vote them in during their 15^th year, which hopefully turns out to be the case with Jack Morris. Baseball has gone through major changes over the last 20 years—the addition of the designated hitter, the wild card playoff spot and game, and the addition of multiple teams—there is absolutely no reason for the Baseball Writers to refuse changes to their voting policy and criteria.

If the Hall of Fame is a place that claims to house the history of the best players and moments the game has ever seen, then something must be done in regards to the voting problems surfacing with the steroid era players. There is absolutely no reason to keep an entire generation of players out of the eternal sanctuary for baseball lore. Other than the original ballot in 1936—with names such as Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Cy Young, and Honus Wagner—there has never been another group of players of similar importance on the same ballot. This is an era in Major League Baseball that will never be forgotten. We shouldn’t act like it didn’t exist.

3. Conference Realignment

The landscape of college sports has seen dramatic changes over the last decade because of the constant movement between conferences by schools who are influenced by the goal of landing the largest television contract possible. I have never thought of myself as a traditionalist and I’m generally open to change, just not in this case. Conference realignment has occurred for all of the wrong reasons, and it has destroyed a handful of rivalries that have been around for over 100 years. The Missouri vs. Kansas and Texas vs. Texas A&M rivalries combined for over 225 years of competition, but abruptly ended when Missouri and Texas A&M decided to bolt for the Southeastern Conference in 2012.

Then there’s my personal favorite conference, the Pac-12, which expanded from the Pac-10 with the additions of Utah and Colorado in 2011; teams were ultimately split into two divisions as a result. Subsequently, my Oregon State Beavers have been forced to leave USC off the schedule for the past two seasons. After growing up in Southern California, there has been nothing more fun than talking smack to my friends about how the Beavers put a smack down on the Trojans or Bruins.

However, the effects of these changes don’t stop with football. The Big East conference, historically dominant in basketball, has been the primary victim of these changes with the loss of schools such as Georgetown, Connecticut, Syracuse and Villanova, just to name a few. This is a conference that sent a record 11 schools to the NCAA tournament in 2011, had a six-overtime game in the conference tournament in 2009, and most recently had a four overtime game a few weeks ago; the loss of this conference’s original core is one of the biggest travesties the sports modern era. Nevertheless, it is nice to see the Basketball dominant Catholic schools from the Big East take a stand for themselves in declaring their independence before the conference they helped create is torn apart from the outside because of football’s monetary interests.

2. The Media

Three things I would love to never hear discussed on television again: Brett Favre coming back to football; ‘Tebowmania;’ the next person in line to sue Lance Armstrong. I’m sure most people who tune into ESPN or any other sports media network on a daily basis would agree with me when I say enough with the repeated material.  Please do not flood my television with useless stories that lead to the same conversations every day. Focus on stories that are worth mentioning—this does not include Tim Tebow running through the rain with his shirt off.

I could really care less about the personal situations or problems that various athletes manage to get themselves into; does a sports fan really care how many times Pac-Man Jones manages to land in prison? If we want these individuals to act as role models for the youth, then the media needs to highlight the dozens of things athletes do every day to help people in need, rather than the things they do wrong. I see more ‘top stories’ about Gronkowski getting drunk than I do about the 350+ established charitable foundations started by sports figures.  ESPN’s “Make A Wish” series is a perfect example of athletes doing charitable work; albeit, the episodes may be a bit scripted and romanticized, but they are still working with professional athletes in all sports to make a difference in an individual’s life. With Social Media playing a huge role in today’s society, popular sports media needs to understand how much they influence the younger generations.

1. The University of Oregon

The University of Oregon’s sudden rise as one of the elite programs in College Football would not have been possible if their athletic program was not funded and utilized by Nike’s popular culture marketing campaign. Through the hundred million dollar donations of Uncle Knight, the Oregon Ducks football team started their ‘build and they will come’ recruitment strategy last decade and haven’t looked back since. Through this strategy, building and promoting revolutionary facilities is at the center of Oregon’s sales pitch to recruits; this has led to four straight BCS bowl game appearances. Some of the more recent ‘donations’ include an atrocious basketball court and a football training facility that will cost an estimated $60 million-plus. The Oregon athletic department is one of a handful of athletic departments in the country that is self-sufficient in operating without university help, I wonder why?

It’s easy to say I am merely jealous of the support the Ducks receive from Nike, but that could not be farther from the truth—in fact the school I support receives a substantial amount from this corporate behemoth as well. What grinds my gears is the pompous attitude from the bandwagoning fans who think the Ducks belong on the Mount Rushmore of College Football. Most of the recently-turned Duck fans have never even attended the University of Oregon or gone to a game there, but popular culture has told them to become infatuated with the ‘swag’ that pulses from their obnoxious jerseys every week. It has been a lot of fun watching their Heisman hopefuls and National title intentions crash and burn the last few years through memorable loses.

I guess it would be worth mentioning my status as a fourth-year student at Oregon State University is likely the source for every ounce of self-centered hatred inside of me that gets directed towards those hippies down south. But at the end of the day, being at the epicenter of one of the longest standing rivalries in college sports has been the single greatest experience of my life.

Go Beavers.

He was a 13-time All Star, the 1999 National League Most Valuable Player, and two-time World Series Champion. From the late 80’s through the end of his career, Larkin was a franchise cornerstone and one of the top 10-15 players in the league.

My beef is this: what was there to think about over the past three years? Larkin retired in 2004 and was on the Hall of Fame ballot in 2010. He didn’t make the cut, receiving only slightly over 50 percent of votes his first year on the ballot.

In 2011, he was on the ballot again. While his percentage rose into the 60’s, he still wasn’t at the 75 percent he needed to get in.

This year, however, something changed. Larkin’s statistics didn’t. His 2,340 career hits were still on the board. His .295 batting average still sparkled.

I know some writers like to keep the title of “First Ballot Hall of Famer” for guys who are special — Gwynn and Ripken, for example.

Even using this argument, there is no way that more than 25 percent of writers should have failed to vote for Larkin the second time around. If they are going to split the Hall of Fame up in their minds into more than two categories (“First Ballot” and “Other”), then why have a Hall of Fame at all?

If those “categories” are important enough to Hall of Fame voters, why have everyone’s bust in the same room? Why not include a list of players who, for instance, made 5 or more All-Star teams and then rank them on a relative 1-10 scale. This way, we would know who the best of the best was… .

Arguments about relative placement of Hall of Fame baseball players are the ravings of insane baseball nerds — guys who think that voting Larkin into the HOF on the first ballot is somehow an affront to “First Ballot” guys like Ripken or Jeter.

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Someday I’ll go to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. Probably. When I do, I’ll walk through the rooms there and look at the memorabilia and the busts of the greatest players. I’ll see Larkin’s and I’ll see Ripken’s. In my heart, I’ll know that Ripken was better. HOWEVER, the last thing on my mind will be whether Larkin or Ripken got into the Hall of Fame on the first ballot. So let me make this point – Hall of Fame voters: Stop it. I don’t know who votes and who doesn’t for the Hall of Fame. Let me repeat that.

Hall of Fame Voters: I do not know/care to know who you are. You have forgotten more about baseball than I’ll ever know, but by trivializing “when” a player gets into the Hall of Fame, you are demeaning careers that need to be honored.

A Hall of Fame player is a Hall of Fame player. Stop making the story about “when” they get in. There is no defense for Larkin not getting in last season and getting in this season. None.

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And for Larkin’s co-inductee, Ron Santo, your delay has caused a man to miss his chance to be appropriately recognized. I happen to think that if you can’t make a decision about a player after one year, then maybe that player is not someone who should go into the Hall of Fame.

Santo was on the ballot for 15 years and never received more than half of the votes, not to mention the 75 percent you need to be elected. He remained a prominent public figure and people generally liked him, but that did not mean that the success of his baseball playing career, which was very good, changed one bit.

Congratulations to Ron Santo, his family etc… but again his induction makes the point, I think, that if you don’t know whether someone is a Hall of Fame player, they just aren’t. Sorry.

When a list is made of all-time great players, placement of Pippen’s name will vary more than any other player. He won six championships, was a seven-time all star, a ten-time all defensive player, a member of the Dream Team, and was a Top-50 player of all-time.

He also won all his championships alongside Number 23 and with Phil on the bench.

In his post-Bulls and post-Jordan days, Pippen did have success. His Trail Blazers gave him his best chance at a title in 2000, but the Shaq-led Lakers were on their way to a title via an alley-oop from Kobe.

Following his first three championships, all of which came next to Shaq, Kobe critics called him the “next Pippen.” Nobody out-shined Shaq on the Lakers, and naysayers said Kobe couldn’t win a championship as the biggest star on his team. They said Kobe wasn’t a good teammate and couldn’t lead despite his remarkable talent.

For a few years in the middle of the last decade, the criticisms of Kobe seemed legit. It seemed like he might be the next Pippen — a star who never was able to do it without a brighter star. A “Robin.”

Late in Pippen’s career, as his skills declined, his place was as a mentor for a young Portland team that became known as the “Jail Blazers.”

For Kobe, it was the opposite. While his skills and mentality are clearly better than Pippen’s ever were, Kobe also proved over the past few years that he can be “the man” on a championship team. Where Pippen couldn’t rise above the chaos, Kobe willed his way to dominance.

The Pippen-Kobe comparison, or “experiment,” isn’t a great one to begin with. Kobe’s organization has made great personnel decisions while the Jail Blazers have struggled through the past decade despite some decent talent.

While Kobe put the Pippen comparisons to rest, the point is this: anytime a player is seen as “needing” other players to win and not being able to win “all by themselves,” their image is tarnished in the public eye. Writers and pundits talk about players who are dominant personalities on the court, and that is truly where players like Jordan, Kobe, and Shaq separate themselves from players like Scottie Pippen.

With players like Kobe to compare to, it’s clear what Pippen was and what he wasn’t. He was a great defender. He was an amazing second-option offensively to a player who might have been the greatest ever. He was a small-college draft pick who made it big in the NBA, but who never seemed to have the personality to change teammates’ behavior—it was always Jordan who did that on the Bulls, and Pippen couldn’t change the crash-course the Blazers were on before that plane crashed into the mountain.

Pippen was physical grace embodied. Kobe is raw drive personified.  Pippen was a key puzzle piece on six championship teams. Kobe has grown and changed his game to win five titles. Pippen was a seven-time all-star and eight-time All Defensive First-Team selection. Kobe has been to 13 All-Star Games and is a ten-time All Defensive First-Team selection.

Really though, all you need to know about where Scottie Pippen will go down in history in relation to other players is this: when it’s all said and done, Scottie Pippen will have a bust placed somewhere in the United Center. Kobe will have a full statue outside of Staples Center next to Magic Johnson, Chick Hearn, Wayne Gretzky, and Oscar De La Hoya. Enough said.