The Astros Cheating Scandal is Actually Insane

As I sit here on Friday night, drinking an Allagash White (first sponsorship? I'll have to get one of the two people that work here on that) I wonder what is something good to write about in sports for the inaugural fanfilter sports blog.

Right now, nothing is bigger or crazier than the Astros cheating scandal, so I am going to pull a Lebron and act like I am the absolute FIRST person addressing the issue.

With that being said, this scandal is absolutely crazy. Baseball is full of cheating and has been for a century; one can even make the argument that baseball is more corrupt than soccer. Between gambling, steroids and now this? YIKES. Not a good look for the sport.

What the Astros did was absolutely egregious on so many levels. For people who don't think stealing signs is bad or helps their team? That is comparable to Virgil van Dijk knowing what stepover Ronaldo is about to do, or Stephon Gilmore knowing which route a receiver is about to run. It helps an already superior player, become even better because they literally know what is coming.

I used to respect the hell out of guys like Correa and Altuve, even Bregman. Now Carlos Correa is coming out in spring training saying the Astros won fair and square, and that Jose deserved the MVP that season. Sorry, even a .346 batting average can't defend that.

The Astros always seemed like a team who did things the right way, which is why this is even worse. When A-Rod got caught for steroid use the zillionth time, nobody cared because everybody knew he was an asshole at that moment in time.

It's the fact that this group put on a face and deceived the entire sports world into believing something that they weren't. The winning a World Series part makes it quite bad as well. To the people who say everyone does it? Clearly not, because you see the anger in guys like Trevor Bauer or Mike Clevinger? That is 100% real, not fabricated. If other teams were doing it, you would not have league superstars from all over chiming in, and condemning it.

This is up there with the worst cases of cheating, like ever. The players should be punished too. Giving them immunity? This is a player's scandal. This is not Manchester City where their oil owners are funneling illegal money into the club. Imagine if Kevin de Bruyne was funding transfers just out of pocket? He would get destroyed; and rightfully so. So, why is the MLB protecting these players?

Just a thought. Back to my Allagash.