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Thursday, September 30, 2010
History is written by the LOUDEST victors
In this case, Bryant and Costas and historian Ken Burns:
There is nothing wrong with being anti-steroids. I think we can all agree that illegal use of steroids is bad. What struck me though is what Bryant and Costas were saying about the era. Both men repeatedly said some variation of “the fans were outraged and turned off by the scandal.”
Upon hearing this I found it at odds with the facts at hand. After a violent drop in 1995 in response to the strike/lockout attendance grew steadily through 2007.
To suggest that fans were being turned off by the issue requires that one explains why 5,000 more people attended the average game in 2007 than in 1998 or why attendance was higher than it had ever been in the history of the game.
Certainly to suggest that the steroid scandal did not impact the game would be silly. People were upset about and people did want to believe the game was clean. Saying that fans were turned off in a meaningful way is simply incorrect.
It is a natural human trait to put forth our own opinions of a situation as the general viewpoint. I am not so naïve as to suggest that fans share my viewpoint on the matter. I am well aware that I am less bothered than most fans.
It is demonstrably untrue that people were turning away from the game in any material number. For Costas and Bryant to say otherwise is just an error borne of projecting their own opinions onto the opinion of the many.
Everyone’s version of the truth has some lie to it. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have competing versions of truth, which should be singular.
The only singular truth we have is that steroids was being used, and that fans kept coming.
Whether that means the steroids prevented even more fans from coming, you can debate, and maybe Costas is saying that even bigger attendance records could have been made. Or, you can say that steroids MADE fans to come to the ballpark, that even as allegations swirled around Bonds, Giants road attendance was near the top in the league.
See? There’s truth everywhere.
Ken Burns highlights whatever truth he chooses to highlight, because he has the loudest camera around.
(Note: I haven’t seen the series yet. I’ll see how one-sided or not his historical report actually is.)
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