The Steroid Era's Newest Ripple
I have to admit. I did not see Alex Rodriguez coming. I was one of the naive ones who thought that we were on the way out of the Steroids Era, not still knee-deep in it (The Steroids Era is like the financial crisis. Just when you think we're out, the market goes down another 400 points because some new bank you thought was immune goes down with the rest). I thought that when Alex Rodriguez passed Barry Bonds it would be a glorious day for baseball and we'd have a clean record-holder again, and the number A-Rod finished with would mean something. I was wrong. I was taken off-guard and couldn't feel stupider about it. Unfortunately, I have a new rule. When it comes to steroids, there are only two believable people, Victor Conte and Jose Canseco. They are the only ones who have been truthful in all of this and that's what's sad. Two scumbags are the only ones who can be trusted in the Steroids Era.
As to Alex Rodriguez himself, I don't care. Now that we know his numbers are tainted, I'm done with him. I don't care about his apology, which was laughable and likely filled with more half-thruths. I don't want him before Congress. I don't want 10 ESPN polls per day about him. I'm done with him. That's how I feel about all of these guys. Isn't it a sad day for the United States when we have guys like Mark McGwire, and Rafael Palmeiro testifying before Congress? Karl Rove? Pass. Roger Clemens and Brian McNamee? We'll take 'em. We're going to lay into those guys. We'll show them. When did Congress get turned into a bad episode of Judge Judy? These are baseball players. They have no place in society except as entertainers and any other positive impact we get from a player's using his money wisely and for society's benefit is icing on the cake. Expecting that to be the norm is just ridiculous. Alex Rodriguez doesn't feel sorry for letting down his fans. He feels sorry for himself and that he's in this situation.
The danger with steroids is not what it does to baseball's record books but the pressure it puts on high school ballplayers to juice. They see what it takes to excel in the game and they're not old enough or wise enough to factor in the long-term consequences. How are you going to tell a 16-year old not to do steroids when the best player on his team is doing them, the collegiate athletes are doing them, the pros are doing them, and there's not a good enough system in place to catch 99% of these guys. The ones who are smart enough to avoid leaving a paper trail are almost never caught. A teenager would have to have a strong support system to avoid the temptation of doing the steroids because of the complete lack of a deterrent.
I mentioned the record books a moment ago and I'll address the steroids implications now. Yes, if you did steroids you had a better chance of hitting home runs. But, and I know it's been brought up before, didn't Babe Ruth have it easier playing against only white guys? Didn't the players who played before the mound was lowered hit at a disadvantage? What about the hitters' parks advantage? What about Coors Field and the air that makes the ball travel 10% further if the ball is not doctored? What about being protected in the lineup by another good hitter? Would Roger Maris have hit all of those home runs if he didn't play on the 1961 Yankees? Baseball can preserve the books because one day, if and when the sport rids itself of steroids, someone will come along in the perfect circumstance and break these records once more. And if it doesn't happen? Who cares? Nobody who reads a baseball record book will mention Bonds' and McGwire's records without mentioning the word "steroids" in the same breath. Those records have implied asterisks. No need to comment further.
The main issue I have with steroids and the Congressional oversight and threatening of baseball is the hypocrisy of it all. And no, I'm not talking about how Congress has better things to do as I alluded to before. I'm talking about the fact that baseball has the second biggest steroids problem. What about football? Didn't the whole Carolina Panthers Super Bowl team come under scrutiny for rampant steroids use a few years ago? How did that whole scandal get swept under the rug? As bad as we think the problem is in baseball, have you ever seen a professional football player in person? These guys are not human. They're a shade below professional wrestlers and we're worried about Bret Boone and Brady Anderson? I'm pretty sure that if you compare the average lifespan of a baseball and football player you'll come up with predictable stats in favor of the baseball player. I know that baseball is not a violent sport absent bean balls and Nolan Ryan headlocks, but I'm talking about all of the premature deaths of football players involving heart conditions. Where do you think those come from? I could see the head trauma and breaking down of the body at a quicker pace, but the life of a football player after football has to be partially attributed to the substances these guys put in their systems.
If you want to take on the steroids problem, fine take on the steroids problem. But don't do it because of cheating, or records or anything that the sport is capable of dealing with on its own if it wants to. Don't bring Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, and company to burn for the industry that dropped the ball. Yes, the players are the ones doing the substances, and fine, you can punish them for lying to the feds, but to what end? It's not going to curb the use of steroids. At best it might make players more selective of their words after they get caught. Instead of flat denials, you'll get half-hearted apologies. In the end, it's the players themselves who are suffering. If they are consenting adults making those decisions then I'm fine with it. But it's the adults in the industry who aren't taking into consideration the lives of the youths that are wrecked as a result. At the end of the day, this whole article was a waste because as we all know, chicks dig the long ball, and so do sponsors and ticket holders. Cheers to another year of the Steroids Era.
As to Alex Rodriguez himself, I don't care. Now that we know his numbers are tainted, I'm done with him. I don't care about his apology, which was laughable and likely filled with more half-thruths. I don't want him before Congress. I don't want 10 ESPN polls per day about him. I'm done with him. That's how I feel about all of these guys. Isn't it a sad day for the United States when we have guys like Mark McGwire, and Rafael Palmeiro testifying before Congress? Karl Rove? Pass. Roger Clemens and Brian McNamee? We'll take 'em. We're going to lay into those guys. We'll show them. When did Congress get turned into a bad episode of Judge Judy? These are baseball players. They have no place in society except as entertainers and any other positive impact we get from a player's using his money wisely and for society's benefit is icing on the cake. Expecting that to be the norm is just ridiculous. Alex Rodriguez doesn't feel sorry for letting down his fans. He feels sorry for himself and that he's in this situation.
The danger with steroids is not what it does to baseball's record books but the pressure it puts on high school ballplayers to juice. They see what it takes to excel in the game and they're not old enough or wise enough to factor in the long-term consequences. How are you going to tell a 16-year old not to do steroids when the best player on his team is doing them, the collegiate athletes are doing them, the pros are doing them, and there's not a good enough system in place to catch 99% of these guys. The ones who are smart enough to avoid leaving a paper trail are almost never caught. A teenager would have to have a strong support system to avoid the temptation of doing the steroids because of the complete lack of a deterrent.
I mentioned the record books a moment ago and I'll address the steroids implications now. Yes, if you did steroids you had a better chance of hitting home runs. But, and I know it's been brought up before, didn't Babe Ruth have it easier playing against only white guys? Didn't the players who played before the mound was lowered hit at a disadvantage? What about the hitters' parks advantage? What about Coors Field and the air that makes the ball travel 10% further if the ball is not doctored? What about being protected in the lineup by another good hitter? Would Roger Maris have hit all of those home runs if he didn't play on the 1961 Yankees? Baseball can preserve the books because one day, if and when the sport rids itself of steroids, someone will come along in the perfect circumstance and break these records once more. And if it doesn't happen? Who cares? Nobody who reads a baseball record book will mention Bonds' and McGwire's records without mentioning the word "steroids" in the same breath. Those records have implied asterisks. No need to comment further.
The main issue I have with steroids and the Congressional oversight and threatening of baseball is the hypocrisy of it all. And no, I'm not talking about how Congress has better things to do as I alluded to before. I'm talking about the fact that baseball has the second biggest steroids problem. What about football? Didn't the whole Carolina Panthers Super Bowl team come under scrutiny for rampant steroids use a few years ago? How did that whole scandal get swept under the rug? As bad as we think the problem is in baseball, have you ever seen a professional football player in person? These guys are not human. They're a shade below professional wrestlers and we're worried about Bret Boone and Brady Anderson? I'm pretty sure that if you compare the average lifespan of a baseball and football player you'll come up with predictable stats in favor of the baseball player. I know that baseball is not a violent sport absent bean balls and Nolan Ryan headlocks, but I'm talking about all of the premature deaths of football players involving heart conditions. Where do you think those come from? I could see the head trauma and breaking down of the body at a quicker pace, but the life of a football player after football has to be partially attributed to the substances these guys put in their systems.
If you want to take on the steroids problem, fine take on the steroids problem. But don't do it because of cheating, or records or anything that the sport is capable of dealing with on its own if it wants to. Don't bring Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, and company to burn for the industry that dropped the ball. Yes, the players are the ones doing the substances, and fine, you can punish them for lying to the feds, but to what end? It's not going to curb the use of steroids. At best it might make players more selective of their words after they get caught. Instead of flat denials, you'll get half-hearted apologies. In the end, it's the players themselves who are suffering. If they are consenting adults making those decisions then I'm fine with it. But it's the adults in the industry who aren't taking into consideration the lives of the youths that are wrecked as a result. At the end of the day, this whole article was a waste because as we all know, chicks dig the long ball, and so do sponsors and ticket holders. Cheers to another year of the Steroids Era.
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