Essentially yes. Manfred didn't even want to get involved at first, but the snitch forced his hand. Now all he wants is to wrap the scandal up in an Astros-colored blanket, and toss it in the river. Allowing the Astros reputation to be dragged through the mud is just his way of deflecting blame from all the other teams that cheated. David Stern showed him the way during the Donaghy fiasco.
Probably will along with all the other teams who didn't get snitched out. If Fiers continues to be a hero despite being a pedophile what can you expect.
Of course. Hurting one of the darling franchises would be 'bad' for the sport. Redheaded Houston will be the scapegoat for all evil.
First step to going old school: Ban all use of cell phones in the stadium, all wifi, and all hardwired connections leading anywhere near the dugout or locker room. Also put a hefty delay on the broadcast. Return the game to its pure only-baseball-and-hot-dogs form. Everyone will love that. OR...as @RayRay10 and many others have said, use some very simple, proven technology to create direct, encrypted connections between the coach, pitcher, and catcher and be done with it, you incompetent luddite turds. And while you're at it, put some cheap cameras on the outfield walls, so you can actually tell if someone cleared the fence or not. Idiots.
See, I'd argue that flopping, especially this sort of egregious crap, is way worse cheating than anything the Astros did or could have done. It's one of the most effective and blatant ways of controlling a basketball game and illegitimately screwing over your opponents. But floppers like LeBron, Ginobli, Derek Fisher, etc. only get lightly lambasted on the internet and often are called "smart defenders" by a lot of the media. I suspect there's been more "outrage" and time devoted to trying to skin the Astros alive in the past few months than there's been in entire sports media over the entire history of NBA flopping.
The Angels sure have a problem with employees providing players with illegal substances. But, eh, not worth making a big deal about it. It's not like anyone died or anything...
I'ma need Bay area resident, @CheezeyBoy22, to quit his day job, apply for a ball boy position for the A's and put some wet dog doodoo in ol mikeys pine tar jar in between innings of his starts. Can we count on you cheezy? You would make us all proud. #FortheH
While we are on the topic of flopping in basketball...Khawi Leonard, that guy "yells" every single time he puts the ball on the floor on his way to the basket. One of the most under the radar annoying things (and also "flopping"/"cheating").
Just a little levity: Church softball season started today. We get in the the dugout, and of one of our guys notices there's no trash can: "Uh oh, how are we gonna bang out signs to each other?" Me, who plays right center: "Aww, man, I forgot my cameras." We didn't need them. Won 25-3. Best opening to the season we've had.
An old buddy of mine convinced his church softball team to name themselves the LAGNAF's. The church played the whole season not knowing what it meant. One of the funniest guys I've known. Cool dude, wish I could catch up with him.
I thought this was a good article comparing sign stealing and steroids. I've always felt that steroids was much worse, despite most of the comments from players stating steroids were worse. https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id...era-peds-hurt-players-more-sign-stealing-does
