the names of Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens were checked on my ballot, in addition to four others

... I don't think he even says who the four others are. Or maybe he did and I missed it.

[1] The comments to TFA say they will post an image of the author's ballot.

NONE OF YOU ARE LIKE ME. WHY ARE YOU IN MY COOL BAR THAT USED TO BE COOL?

The banning of Pete Rose remains farcical and comically pious.

4. The Id of SugarBear Blanks Posted: December 27, 2012 at 09:58 AM (#4332839)
The banning of Pete Rose remains farcical and comically pious.

Huh? How so?

The banning of Pete Rose remains farcical and comically pious.

Because gambling on the game has never been a problem for baseball and we should all be able to look past Pete Rose's minor infractions in that light.

I am willing to look past the fact he is a terrible person (because there are plenty of those in the HOF and athletes are not role models) but he broke the rule that can't be broken. The fact he has no remorse or any sort of self awareness is just icing on the cake.

Huh? How so?

Because SBB said so. Just please leave it at that.

but he broke the rule that can't be broken.

It doesn't get more comically pious than this.

Rose is also being shunned in great part because he's an uncultured prole, a compellingly odious social trend of the last couple decades. I assume everyone understands that when celebrities "apologize" and "repent" and "show remorse," it's almost always a choreographed act -- and that Rose's "failures" to go through the act are therefore indicatitive of absolutely nothing of substance.

Rose is also being shunned in great part because he's an uncultured prole, a compellingly odious social trend of the last couple decades

Yeah, this sort of thing never happened in the good ol' days.

Rose is also being shunned in great part because he's an uncultured prole, a compellingly odious social trend of the last couple decades.

Baseball is full of uncultured proles. Other than Rose, how many are being shunned?

Rose's saintliness as a ballplayer? Is he just speaking incredibly figuratively? I don't think even the sportwriters who carried his water pre-scandal would have accepted that epithet of "saintly player" for Rose. Probably, they would have bristled at it.

Gambling has always been the biggest sin in baseball - at least since 1920. Shoeless Joe Jackson (and the rest) were found not-guilty in court but were banned none-the-less. Jackson and Eddie Cicotte were HOF cailbre players who were kicked out never to be allowed into MLB or the HOF. A clear sign is in all MLB clubhouses (from what I've read) stating what the penalty is for gambling on the game. In the early 80's both Mays and Mantle were banned from MLB due to working with a casino. This stuff was painfully obvious to all fans and players yet somehow Rose felt he didn't need to follow those rules. I find it amazing that some writers still fight for Rose even after Rose has shown he has no idea what he did that was so wrong.

Rose is also being shunned in great part because he's an uncultured prole, a compellingly odious social trend of the last couple decades. I assume everyone understands that when celebrities "apologize" and "repent" and "show remorse," it's almost always a choreographed act -- and that Rose's "failures" to go through the act are therefore indicatitive of absolutely nothing of substance.

The problem is that Rose had a ton of naive and gullible supporters, and when Rose came clean these people were embarrassed and were shown to be the fools that Rose played them for.

It wasn't going to matter _how_ he came clean, whether he went through the approved choreographed steps or not.