The Chicago Black Sox and 9/11
I recently watched "Eight Men Out", an excellent film about the 1919 Chicago White Sox. This is the team that was one of the best teams of the age, but because their owner Charlie Comiskey was so cheap, threw the World Series to the Cincinnati Reds after being bought off by a gambling consortium.
What was interesting is that while some people realized something stunk about the way the White Sox played in the 1919 series, and rumors went around, the public really didn't know what had happened. The public was initially clueless about the gambling CONSPIRACY. You can imagine how a real baseball fan would be in denial about the idea that something so corrupt could have happened. In fact, the gambling fix wasn't public knowledge until a year later, in September 1920 when a grand jury was convened to look into the case.
This is somewhat reminiscent of the 9/11 commission-- where it sure looked like something was screwy with 9/11, and so a commission was called to figure out what had happened.
In the Black Sox grand jury trial, some strange things happened, and key evidence disappeared. The crooked players were actually acquitted by the grand jury. Much in the same way, the 9/11 commission assembled a "not guilty" verdict for the Bush administration and the government-- despite clear signs of lying and hints of complicity. The public, who might wish not to believe people could do something so foul, could try to believe in the grand jury verdict or the 9/11 commission.
Nonetheless, the White Sox, and baseball in general, had a generally stained reputation. Much like the Bush administration has a stained reputation now.
It wasn't until Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis handed out extremely stiff penalties-- lifetime bans from baseball-- to anyone associated in the slightest way with gambling, that the reputation of baseball recovered.
With respect to 9/11, we need a new Kenesaw Mountain Landis.
If such a thing is even possible with our system, that is.
What was interesting is that while some people realized something stunk about the way the White Sox played in the 1919 series, and rumors went around, the public really didn't know what had happened. The public was initially clueless about the gambling CONSPIRACY. You can imagine how a real baseball fan would be in denial about the idea that something so corrupt could have happened. In fact, the gambling fix wasn't public knowledge until a year later, in September 1920 when a grand jury was convened to look into the case.
This is somewhat reminiscent of the 9/11 commission-- where it sure looked like something was screwy with 9/11, and so a commission was called to figure out what had happened.
In the Black Sox grand jury trial, some strange things happened, and key evidence disappeared. The crooked players were actually acquitted by the grand jury. Much in the same way, the 9/11 commission assembled a "not guilty" verdict for the Bush administration and the government-- despite clear signs of lying and hints of complicity. The public, who might wish not to believe people could do something so foul, could try to believe in the grand jury verdict or the 9/11 commission.
Nonetheless, the White Sox, and baseball in general, had a generally stained reputation. Much like the Bush administration has a stained reputation now.
It wasn't until Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis handed out extremely stiff penalties-- lifetime bans from baseball-- to anyone associated in the slightest way with gambling, that the reputation of baseball recovered.
With respect to 9/11, we need a new Kenesaw Mountain Landis.
If such a thing is even possible with our system, that is.
posted by spooked at 4:11 PM
2 Comments:
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Spooked said:
"With respect to 9/11, we need a new Kenesaw Mountain Landis.
If such a thing is even possible with our system, that is."
History shows that "such a thing" is NOT possible here in the United Snakes.
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