Results tagged ‘ steroids ’
Cork is not a controlled substance
Ah, the perpetual double standard. Regular people do bad
things, they’re bad. Famous people do bad things, we should all lighten up. If
I hear one more sentence that begins Alex Rodriguez should be forgiven because…I might be
sick; if you want to forgive A-Rod, that’s fine, but don’t try to give
half-arsed justifications of steroid use.
In the past few weeks, I’ve heard everything:
1. Steroids don’t actually affect performance. Ok, Doctor, then why take
them in the first place? Would A-Rod (or Bonds) have been exemplary athletes
without them? Probably. Hand-eye coordination is key. But if one guy is
swinging the arm of Grendel at the ball, he’s going to have a different result.
2. Steroids weren’t against MLB rules at the time. Well, I’ll give
you that MLB dropped the ball on this one. However, they were against the law.
But, you know they don’t have to pay attention to that; they’re celebrities.
3. Players have always cheated. Pine Tar, Greased Balls, Corked Bats, ect. Yes,
that is true. But projecting the image that putting a little Vaseline on a ball
is ok is very different from projecting the image that it’s ok to put a
needle in you and inject (or swallow, for that matter) a controlled substance.
It’s NOT the same. The same goes for comparing this to popping uppers or drinking
a lot of coffee. It’s more like the ’80′s when guys were doing cocaine. This is
a drug. Yes, Caffeine can make you jittery and cause accelerated heart rate if
you drink too much. Steroids can have serious and permanent side
effects. They can seriously damage your muscles, including your heart. I don’t
need to go into the potential dangers because they’ve been pounded into our
heads. I read one blog that said that all steroids do is make you heal faster.
Well, then you wouldn’t need to use them if you weren’t injured. One major problem I have with doing any illegal drug (besides the illegality) is the total lack of quality control. If you believe A-Rod’s story, his cousin injected him with a drug that he got off the street in the Dominican Republic and injected him. How did he know the needle was clean? As with any injectable illegal drug, there’s always the terrifying possibility of contracting HIV. No big contract, no records, no trophies, are worth that.
4. He’s TELLING THE TRUTH NOW. This
is my favorite. He obviously isn’t going to lie again. Everyone knows that you
can only lie once. Just ask any politician. Never mind that his story has more holes in it than the
Titanic, he must be telling the truth. What possible motivation could he have
to lie about using steroids as a Yankee? I mean, besides the 28 million dollars a year they’re paying
him. Would you tell your boss that you smoke weed? No. Doesn’t mean that he has
been doing it all along, but I’m sure not going to take him at his word. Are we really that gullible?
I typed “steroids” into Google and while most of the results were from advocacy groups trying to stop steroid use, there were (as there always are) sites that advocate or justify the use of steroids as long as they’re used “properly” (e.i. so you look like this and not like this.) On one of these sites there was a video, charmingly called “Injected”, in which a man expounded that “America has worse problems than anabolic steroids”. That’s very true, sir. America does have much, much bigger problems. However, I’m not talking about the country as a whole. I’m talking about Major League Baseball and no, there aren’t many problems that are greater in the game today.
The Time of the singing of birds is come
After a week of news that ranged from utterly depressing to downright infuriating, it is with a pointedly American brand of optimism that I turn my attention to Lakeland, Florida, where Spring Training officially started for the Tigers today.
It is not only the eternal optimism of a sports fan; the conviction that this year will be successful, even if last season, or even a century’s worth of seasons, was a disappointment. That this year, your team will stay healthy and achieve at the level they’re capable of. No, it’s not just that. Not this year.
This year, the words that Ernie Harwell recited at each of his over forty opening Spring Training games seem a little more poignant:
For, lo, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the dove is heard on our land. (Song of Solomon 2:11-12)
Mr. Harwell was referring to a season without baseball, but I’m hoping that this year the winter that passes is not about improving weather, but about restoring integrity. Hopefully, the latest developments in the various steroid scandals will teach young players that if you cheat, you will get caught. Perhaps the management of the league and the teams will realize that they can no longer turn a blind eye in the interest of profit. Maybe we will be able say, happily, that an era has come to an end. That excellence will be bred from talent and skill. That players will once again be role models to our children; they’ll understand that they have a responsibility.
My hope is that we can enjoy baseball this season without squinting suspiciously at every player that excels. Yes, we should be optimistic that our game can recover. We should believe that people can be great and honest at the same time. We should cheer, sing, jump, laugh and cry. We should act like idiots in ecstasy. We should not forget that our game, like our country , can change, grow, heal, and flourish again. We should never lose hope.
So, as A-Rod prepares to attempt to win back the trust of his fans and Barry Bonds prepares for trial, we prepare for the 2009 Major League Baseball season. We prepare to look to the future.
Because that, my friends, is what we do.
Innocent Until Bud Says So
Now I know why they pay him so much. Apparently 18.5 million dollars a year makes you judge, jury and executioner. Bud Selig mentioned this afternoon that he was contemplating disciplinary action against A-Rod (I will not say A-roid, I will not say A-roid), given that, though MLB had not actually made it against the rules to use steroids yet (hey, give them a break, it only took them 10 or 15 years to acknowledge the problem) it was against the law. Never mind that Rodriguez’s name was leaked off a list that was supposed to be confidential. Never mind that the tests were to determine how many players were using in order to determine whether there should be a punishment at all. He apparently doesn’t care about any of that. He needs to do something to make it seem like he actually cares about the health of the players or the integrity of the game, so why not discipline A-Rod for something he did 6 years ago when it wasn’t against the rules? Oh, and in this same article, Ole Buddy also mentioned casually that he was thinking of reinstating Hank Aaron as the all-time Home Run leader.
What?
Last time I checked, Bonds had not been convicted of any crime. He had also not admitted to
using performance enhancing drugs. Don’t get me wrong. I believe whole-heartedly that Barry Bonds used steroids and frankly, I don’t think he would’ve surpassed Hammerin’ Hank without them, but there’s no way to prove that. He hasn’t been proven guilty in a court of law and last time I checked, in America one is innocent until proven guilty. Not only would erasing Bonds’ records probably cause rioting in San Francisco, it could very well lead to a Players’ strike. The MLBPA is already crying collusion since a man who broke the most coveted record in the game couldn’t get a job the very next season and I hate to think what would happen if they started striking records from the books.
That would be wonderful for the game, right, Buddy?
And what about Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa? After all, their fight over the single season home run record practically saved baseball after the 1994 strike. They were most likely juiced out of their minds, but it hasn’t been proven. But who needs proof? Does that mean that 61 is the number to beat?
This sounds an awful lot like Selig trying desperately to cover his own ***. The use of Steroids in baseball has been a problem for a very long time; there were half-arsed measures to curtail the problem in ’91 and ’97. You know, to curtail the problem that they didn’t know about until the testing took place in 2003. Right. Meanwhile, Goodyear blimps were playing the game and breaking records left and right. Fact is, Selig has grown fat off of the use of steroids in baseball and the only reason that he’s so “shocked” and “saddened” now is because his bluff has been called, perhaps even more than A-Rod’s. Now he’s trying to use a knee jerk over correction which will only continue the damage he’s already done to the game.
I’m really, really glad this guy isn’t the President. He makes George W. Bush look capable.
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