[cephasjames]

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

Excuse me.

No, I did not think that was right, either. Some of those individuals have gotten what they deserve for cheating, and some have not but should. My pleasure over the 2009 championship has been tainted accordingly. I never want to see this type of thing happen again.

We have to stop saying "boys will be boys" and "everybody does it" or else everything is going to go down the tubes. Right now, the focus is on the Astr*s which do not happen to be my team.

Their fans need not be ashamed of all of them; just Yuli Gurriel, Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa, Alex Bregman, and Lance McCullers Jr. If I am not mistaken, these are the remaining players from the 2017 team who presumably profited from the cheating scheme.

Will Astr*s fans be indeed ashamed of them? Of course not. That's almost excusable.

But for others to be blasé about what they did is reprehensible. It only encourages the next set of cheaters (see Spider Tack).

Now, have your rejoinder and we will be done. I have had my say and I don't go in for extended back-and-forth stuff.

I don't think I've ever heard anyone say, "Everyone does it," and mean "So let's just dismiss them all." Any time I've eve heard "Everyone does it," it's to say, "Therefore it's hard to parse out who is or isn't doing it and then determine who is or is not benefiting from it." Those are two totally different meanings to "Everyone does it." And, again, I have never heard anyone say that to be blasé about anything.

Here's a MLB pitcher coming pretty close to saying "Everyone is/was doing it" about the type of sign-stealing the Astros and Red Sox got busted for.

Chris Bassitt: ...This kind of thing. But like, Houston was not the only team doing stuff. Like there was a lot of people doing stuff. It was just un- ... I mean, fortunately, but unfortunately only one team essentially got caught doing it or was the guinea pig of it to like clean the whole entire league up.

But there was a lot going on. It was like an arms race, almost like it was like hey, this team's doing this. This team's doing that, this team's cheating here. This team's doing this. Is it happening? Still? No I think that aspect is completely gone of the game I think that's clean.

In addition to noting that every team had at least some idea of what was going on in Houston, Bassitt suggests the Astros had plenty of company when it comes to organized sign-stealing... While MLB and fans of teams other than the Astros would probably like to believe that Houston was the lone (or lone-ish) bad actor, that's a bit too tidy for reality. Bassitt's disclosures lend more evidence to the idea that it was more of a league-wide issue than a Houston issue.

The Astros, much like Bonds and Clemens, were singled out as scapegoats, not because they were the only ones doing it. They were made examples of because so many people were doing what they were doing that there was no way to punish them all. Making an example of someone is fine. But singling them out and labeling them with an asterisk as if they are unique and then punishing only them simply because they were the example is dishonest at best.

Bonds and Clemens were not unique in their era, but they are being treated as if they were. The Astros are not unique in their era, but they are being treated as if they were. Be against the cheating. I honestly haven't met a person who isn't against the cheating (I'm sure there is a minority of people out there who might be). But to single out someone who cheated in an era of cheaters and punish them as if they were the only ones who did it is wrong.