Let’s take a moment to talk about America’s pastime. No, not watching rancorous political discourse and then tweeting cognitively-biased hogwash into a bubbling pit of addle-brained zombies who couldn’t care less (although that sport is a close second). I mean baseball. The Astros’ sign stealing scandal broke during the offseason, and seemed to fade. Then came Spring Training. And it turns out the players aren’t done talking about it. “Players everywhere, from Arizona to Florida, in spring training camps dotted throughout both states, have been outspoken in ways a buttoned-up sport like this has never seen. The scathing remarks, aimed at both their peers and the man who oversees their sport, have come from household names and fringe major leaguers, each new voice empowering the other, every day producing new triggers.” ESPN: Why MLB players are speaking up about sign stealing like nothing else ever. (From the top down, truth, fairness, and a level playing field have been erased from so many American institutions. Maybe baseball players, like the rest of us, want to stop the bleeding. Sometimes it’s not enough to rub a little dirt on it.)
+ “In 40 years of covering sports, I’ve never seen athletes so mad. I’m with them. ‘Every single guy over there needs a beating,’ the Atlanta Braves outfielder Nick Markakis said. “If someone cheated me out of winning the title … I would be F*^king irate!’ LeBron James tweeted. ‘[They should] be out of baseball for the rest of their lives,’ Hank Aaron said.” Rick Reilly in The Atlantic: The Crookedest Team in Baseball History.