The Dreaded List of Doom

When I was in the sixth grade, I wasn't doing so well in school. The fact that there was very little structure to my classes had something to do with this. Another factor was that I was completely undisciplined regarding my study habits. But I think that the overriding reason for my difficulties was that the teachers there, by-and-large, were so negligent that they weren't quite aware of my existence! But be that as it was, my name one day somehow did come up for discussion among them. You see, in my fifth/sixth grade section in the school, the "innovative" faculty decided to separate the unmotivated and undisciplined students from the rest of the body. These students then took all of their classes together, under strict supervision, on the stage behind the multi-purpose room (known in normal circles as the cafeteria). "The Stage", as it came to be known, was actually one of the very few positive steps that I saw anyone take in my school to proactively try to help the students hands-on. But it came to have negative connotations among the rest of the student body. One day, about halfway through the school year, one of the teachers (who had been the school's principal the year before) made an announcement. It seems that the size of the "Stage" was going to be expanded to accommodate more students. And he held in his hands a list. On this list, he said, in ominous, threatening tones, were the new "candidates for The Stage". Any students whose names were read out were to report to him after the reading. Permission forms were to be sent out for parents to sign. Then this teacher read out the dreaded list. And my name was on it! Whoopee, I thought, I'm finally being recognized for something, but this wasn't what I had in mind. In fact, I was very fearful of my parents catching wind of my difficulties in school, so I simply ignored the command to meet with the teacher and obtain the permission form. And can you guess what happened to me? Nothing! No teacher ever called my name or came up to me asking why I didn't respond to the summons. It was as if I were once again invisible to them!

This memory came back to me as I listened to all of the hullabaloo about the much-heralded list from the Mitchell Investigation's report spelling out the names of the baseball stars who were allegedly consuming illegal performance-enhancing drugs. There are two parts to this: the build-up to the list's release, and then what happens after its release. For the buildup, there was all of the melodramatic talk about how anyone named would have his career forever ruined, all of his statistics "asterisked", and so on. And now comes the second part. Does it automatically follow that these players' careers are over, or, like me with the "Stage List" will it all wash over without major repercussions? This will be interesting to find out.