Baseball fever

Long Beach (Calif.) Press-Telegram

Spring has started. Yes, there is much to groan about. The league is investigating Barry Bonds and others accused of using performance-enhancing drugs. Baseball is now testing for amphetamines. The United States did poorly in the World Baseball Classic.

But the druggies, the juicers, the cheaters and the complainers cannot rob the hope that goes with the first of 162 games. It's the autographs obtained during batting practice, rather than on eBay. It's the chalk poured on the greenest grass. These are reasons why baseball has survived season-ending strikes, inflated salaries, congressional hearings and a silly lawsuit filed by the city of Anaheim against the Angels over a name change that did nothing more than enhance the team's marketability.

The game survived those embarrassments and will survive Bonds and Co. Tradition trumps the transgressions. ...