Uh, your web poll - a lump of coal would be Bud Selig. Thank you.

& Green Phone:

Short and sweet, just the way Green Phone likes it.

Of all the people who are taking heat after the release of the Mitchell Report, which named 90 players who used performance-enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball, Bud Selig seems to be the guy who snuck out the back door.

Roger Clemens is the player receiving the majority of the criticism in the last week, but the commissioner, the person who was supposed to be standing guard for baseball's integrity, turned a blind eye to rampant drug use in order to bring fans back to stadiums after the strike in 1994. If anyone should have known that Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa were deceiving us with their chase of Roger Maris' home run record, it would be Selig. If anyone knew things were spiraling out of control but did little to curb cheating, it would be Selig. If anyone should have read every single word of the Mitchell Report before it was released, it should have been Selig. (He admitted he hadn't read the whole report at his news conference the day it was released, despite having it in hand two days prior.)

Selig let the game's records, which baseball prides itself on most, be demolished, which is sure to ignite the ultimate asterisk debate. Along with advertising revenue and ticket sales, teams play 162 games in a season to test one's skill and consistency over the long haul, making the records take on greater significance.

Selig should be the one to fall on the sword.

Record-setting attendance numbers, which is the one thing baseball has going for it right now, continue to be set with each new season, and won't stop with the ouster of Selig.

There's your coal, Commish.

Although the Gilroy Dispatch does not have any obligation to monitor this board, the Gilroy Dispatch reserves the right at all times to check this board and to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to the Gilroy Dispatch in our sole discretion and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. The Gilroy Dispatch also reserves the right to permanently block any user who violates these terms and conditions. All threats to systems or site infrastructure shall be assumed genuine in nature and will be reported to the appropriate law enforcement authorities. Submission of any comments will be considered permission to use online or in print.

© Copyright 2008 MainStreet Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Any copying, redistribution or retransmission of any of the contents of this service without the express written consent of MainStreet Media, LLC. is expressly prohibited.