Selig doing the right thing

I know a lot of people will disagree, but I think Bud Selig is doing the right thing by attending the Giants games when there is a chance Bonds will tie or break the all-time Home Run record. I know Bonds is a big jerk (but that's not relevant); I think there is a high chance he used steroids or HGH (but he's never been caught through testing) and I know the federal government really wants his ass (but haven't got him yet after a couple years). But the problem for Selig is that by NOT attending, he would be convicting a baseball player that is still playing and has not missed any time due to any of those problems. Selig would be making a mistake if he snubbed his nose at Bonds and at the same time allowed him to keep playing.

I've always been under the opinion that whatever credit that Selig deserves for the rise in popularity of baseball (big attendance growth, wild card good for baseball, interleague good for baseball, incredible revenues worldwide), he also deserves blame for the steroid mess. Was the attendance growth and increased popularity of baseball partially due to all the homer runs, and thus the steroid use of players? Of course. If Selig had a stronger stance against steroids back in the 90s, maybe he would have stopped players from using it to some degree, but then again, maybe the tremendous growth we've seen over the past decade would not have happened. It had seemed to me that he was trying to separate the two, and taking credit for all the good and trying to make sure he got no blame for steroids. By showing up in the possible record-tying or record-breaking games, Selig takes credit and blame for all of it. I applaud him for that.

Jayson Stark's take on ESPN.com: Selig doing exactly what the commissioner should do