So, lies are justified? You’ll have a great time with teen-aged children.
Others are welcome to feel differently, but to me, there is a wide difference between the sort of lies that AFiBD describes and the lies that were told in the wake of the Taubman incident. The Taubman thing got corrected, appropriate apologies were made and hopefully accepted, the book is closed on that unfortunate incident as far as I'm concerned.
I don't know that anyone is arguing that lying is justified, but if a pitcher whose shoulder is bothering him comes off the mound and tells the press, No, I felt great out there, well, I'm not ready to crucify him.
I have no great love for Beltran and no great love for the Mets, but his saying he knew nothing about it might mean just that he never asked for or received any of the information being offered. If it was happening, the whole team surely knew about it. But what are they supposed to say now? Yes, I knew, and I was scandalized! I mean, come on. These guys have surely all watched The First 48. Just keep quiet and there's only so much anyone can do.
Anyway, the banging noise is plainly audible to me through regular computer speakers, and clear as day if you wear headphones. The Astros were clearly using technology to steal signs in 2017. They were clearly not the only team to be doing so. I'm not sure what the statute of limitations is on something like that, and I don't know how useful it would be to litigate the misbehavior of any team from several seasons ago. I would hope that the league would just re-iterate its current policy regarding the use of technology to steal signs, and it might be useful to express what a minimum penalty for a violation might look like, loss of a first round pick, you know, whatever it might be.