Chris Davis Suspension Timing Awful Suspicious

[atomic]

What does CD's suspension have to do with the MASN issue. Do you honestly think that MLB suspending Davis would have any influence over PA. I said what reason would MLB have, that isn't a reason. Do you think they just did it because they were pissed? It's a stupid notion.

Also do people think Chris wasn't actually taking drugs that were subject to punishment by MLB? He admitted he was I don't see how there could be any conspiracy. And once again I have to emphasize if you were going to hurt a team by making a guy fail a drug test it wouldn't be a guy hitting .195.

[24fps]

Rule number one for the aspiring conspiracy theorist:

Never, ever, ever , EVER draw a conclusion or even provide evidence based on verifiable fact. All that's necessary is to ask a sufficiently leading question, preferably supported with vague, unconnected but nonetheless intriguing anecdotal gibberish and stand back. There are enough weak-minded people out there who are more than willing to take it from there.

[MemorialStadKid]

Rule number one for the aspiring conspiracy theorist:

Never, ever, ever , EVER draw a conclusion or even provide evidence based on verifiable fact. All that's necessary is to ask a sufficiently leading question, preferably supported with vague, unconnected but nonetheless intriguing anecdotal gibberish and stand back. There are enough weak-minded people out there who are more than willing to take it from there.

You're dancing around the fact that conspiracies do exist and positing questions regarding suspicious situations does not invalidate those who dare to ask those questions just because you give the authorities the benefit of the doubt.

Easier to do that than address any points raised here I suppose.

MSK

[Barnaby Graves]

Okay, many years ago before my writing career in Los Angeles, I used to write for the Boston Herald doing TV and Entertainment reviews. During that time I had the opportunity to meet with sports writers in Boston and folks in Baltimore, NYC, Seattle, Chicago and Los Angeles.

Many of these guys would tell me of stories from behind the scenes that the average person wouldn't know because they simply believe whatever press releases are sent by the NFL, MLB, NBA, etc.

Some of the stuff they told me was:

1) Rarely is the official press release about a situation the true story. More often than not, there's a major spin campaign going on to protect the owners, a player, an employee or someone else affiliated with a franchise. One of the stories I was told was about how everyone knew that the Dallas Cowboys of the 90s were coke-heads but they were able to keep it a secret for as long as possible before their behavior, the drug testing and the groupies' stories got to be too much. Whenever you speculate about a situation without significant evidence, it is too easy to shrug off the theory as mere tin-hat conspiracy jibber-jabber. But when you go back and look at a lot of situations that were considered "conspiracy" (like Pete Rose's gambling) then became revealed later on, it's not always the best idea to just "take their word for it."

2) There are extremely personal and petty rivalries between owners, sometimes between managers, and even between players. I was told that people regularly snitch on each other regarding drugs and personal situations - like certain players being gay (the rumors of Jeter in the gay underground of NYC) - but the teams' PR people can swoop in to shut down rumors or set up players to seem like "regular" guys. Beefs between people (because we're all human) can get ugly regardless of a person's wealth or societal status. (i.e. the machinations of Karl Rove or Ken Starr). I've been told that football players are the most gossipy and snitchy of them all because a lot of these guys are trained to think like Marines and take that mentality out into the real world and that gets them into trouble. As a result, some guys are willing to turn a dime on someone else to protect their own ass.

3) Drugs and groupies are the root cause of most of the problems these guys create for themselves. Apparently, hookers and groupies are regularly beaten up and/or sexually assaulted but most of these situations are settled financially before police get involved. I've heard of this stuff happening at the University of Maryland in the 1980s (around the time of Len Bias) and throughout the NCAA up through the majors of all sports.

So while I don't have a single shred of evidence to support my claims (which I know invalidates what I'm saying for many of you) I have the precedent of knowledge of willful omission by sports organizations in the past. So I'm not willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

Hope that makes sense.

MSK

I believe you, or at least I absolutely believe the spirit of what you're saying. But even beyond that I pretty much believe you 100%.

And yeah, like you said, it's not for evidence, this is a feel thing for me.

[MemorialStadKid]

I believe you, or at least I absolutely believe the spirit of what you're saying. But even beyond that I pretty much believe you 100%.

And yeah, like you said, it's not for evidence, this is a feel thing for me.

Thanks for taking the time to consider what I'm actually saying instead of jumping to a negative conclusion.

I fully admit I could be wrong about the Davis situation, but there's a chance we don't know the entire story. Maybe it was bad timing or maybe it was timed to have a negative impact on the O's?

I still don't understand why mere speculation generates so much outrage and snark?

MSK

[24fps]

You're dancing around the fact that conspiracies do exist and positing questions regarding suspicious situations does not invalidate those who dare to ask those questions just because you give the authorities the benefit of the doubt.

Easier to do that than address any points raised here I suppose.

MSK

Many things are possible, too many to count if your standards are sufficiently loose.

Far, far fewer things are likely.

Fewer still are true.

Don't let me affect how you spend your time.

[Barnaby Graves]

Thanks for taking the time to consider what I'm actually saying instead of jumping to a negative conclusion.

I fully admit I could be wrong about the Davis situation, but there's a chance we don't know the entire story. Maybe it was bad timing or maybe it was timed to have a negative impact on the O's?

One thing going against you is that Davis just isn't having that good of a year, and that he's previously had health exemptions from the amphetamine ban. It almost doesn't make sense to do this just because, who cares, he's batting like -0.020. It makes as much sense that he kept taking the drugs when he wasn't supposed to.

One thing going for you is that the conditional use of amphetamines in baseball allows for these situations to happen. Now it's possible to look at the issuance of these exemptions (or lack thereof) in a political light. The whole thing is garbage... baseball either needs to make it available to everyone or no one. And if you can't play well because of your attention disorder, tough titties.

I still don't understand why mere speculation generates so much outrage and snark?

MSK

A lot of conspiracy theories are just stupid but I think this makes some sense.

Consider this, though. If MLB really wanted to hurt the Orioles, they wouldn't falsify or adjust the timing of a ban of Davis, they'd do it to Cruz. And who would be suspicious?

[InsideCoroner]

I've heard something too. I've heard that Occam wants to be your friend, but there's a catch. You have to make the first move.

I've read this whole thread just now and came to this part. Bravo.

[MemorialStadKid]

Interesting.

Ray Lewis had a massive slip of the tongue regarding cover-ups in sports -

SOURCE: http://www.thescore.com/news/584226

Sometimes we forget why we're here. We're here for one reason and one reason only. We're here for domestic violence. We're here because we saw a friend of mine brutally hit his wife in an elevator. There's some things you can cover up and then there's some things you can't. Right now is a sad day for me because the reputation that I left in this organization, this isn't it. This isn't it. What was built that many of years took hard work to get that. Took a hell of a reputation to put on the line. Men's families. Men's lives. How to actually get acclimated as a pro.

Of course, there was also Penn State pedophilia, but that apparently wasn't covered up either.

MSK