Steroids Scandal

Some of the big boys of baseball take the stand today to testify before members of Congress on their participation and/or knowledge of steroid use in Major League Baseball. I find it most interesting that they didn't volunteer to testify. In fact, most of them declined "an invitation" to come speak before the panel and have since been subpoenaed and will report today to Washington DC. What they say, and maybe more importantly what they don't say, will undoubtedly be all over the news for the remainder of the week. I do not necessarily think that this should be investigated to such a degree by the government, but since it is happening I want to talk a bit about it.

I hate cheaters and I think that anyone who uses steroids should be banished from the game. In fact, anyone who is found to have used steroids at any point during their career should have any records (whether it be a team record, stadium record or league record) they may hold erased from the books and forfeited. If you cheated once in your career, you probably did at another point as well. The balance of crime and punishment in baseball is ridiculous. To fine a player $10,000 for using steroids is a slap in the face of the fans and undermines the credibility of the entire sport. These player make millions every year. Why would they mind getting fined such a small amount for using performance-enhancing drugs? The payoff in results is more than worth the fines they might pay. After all, the better they play the more they will make. So it's a cyclical thing, where the beast is fed huge amounts of money that, in turn, gives it the ability to overcome and overlook the small fines that come with the illegal use.

Ban them all and let the honest players with God-given talent and trained skill play the game professionally.

A few random thoughts:
Barry Bonds claims he didn't know what "the cream" and "the juice" were while he was on them. He was simply following the "advice" of his trainer/doctor. Hey Barry, it's called personal responsibility. As a person, you are responsible for knowing what you are putting into your body, and as an athlete you should be that much more aware of it. You blew up over night and now your neck is almost larger than your head. Somehow, against all league trends and natural physical development, you have become stronger and more lethal the older you get. Where were you in your twenties? Assuming you stay in the game for two or three more years, you will break the records. You will take claim of historic markers in the game of baseball. Oh, and you will be hated by many, many people. I find you truly disgusting and an insult to all of us who have ever played the game honestly.

Jose Canseco is a media whore that is trying to get paid as much as possible during his "fifteen minutes". While I believe some of what he has said in his book, I also believe this guy is full of himself and would sell his mother to the highest bidder.

Mark McGuire is an interesting person. He admitted to having used Andro, before it was outlawed, and claimed to no longer use it afterwards. Let's give the guy the benefit of the doubt on that one. However, anytime somebody bulks up like he did in a few years and then immediately begins to shrink after he left the game makes you wonder. And the way he left just makes it that much more curious. Thanks for the fax Mac! He has spent years in hiding, which I can respect from a privacy standpoint, but it would seem natural that he would still mingle with the fans of the game from time to time and maybe even promote it in some degree. Instead he has been incognito ever since he dropped out of baseball, and that causes me to wonder about him. Let's see what he says today and then see what else comes about because of it.

Free Pete Rose. The man betted on baseball. He bet against his own team. Who cares? It takes more than one man to throw a game in baseball, and there has never been any evidence that Rose ever tried to coerce another teammate to play a certain way or played at a lower level himself during those games. The man was a hitting machine and should be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown on that alone. People have been betting on the game for years. Others player undoubtedly do it. Pete Rose was set up on the altar and sacrificed as a symbolic gesture to the world. And while the world watched and bought the show hook, line and sinker, Major League Baseball allowed its players to use steroids and become freakish, chemical-enhanced record-chasers. It's a shame that a league that is so incapable of being honest to the paying public will continue to hold to the fact that Pete Rose admitted to betting on baseball and will continue to ban him from the game and the Hall. What Pete did was wrong, but at least he was man enough to admit it. He played the game cleanly and played it well. It's well past time for Pete to take his place in Cooperstown.