Subscribe Feed (RSS)I am so very tired of the whole issue of steroids in baseball. I’ve been writing about it for 10 years, at least. Don’t forget – a column I wrote in the 90s about players using steroids was cited in the Mitchell Report. Just a few thoughts:
- It’s flat-out amazing to me that steroids in baseball are still such a big deal, yet practically ignored in other sports. In the NFL, players are constantly being caught, given four-game suspensions and returning to the lineup with all forgotten. Some head off to the Pro Bowl a few games later as if nothing ever happened. And I can tell you this, after more than two decades following the NBA around — there have been MANY players I suspected of use. Obvious use. Guys who walk into training camp four months after the end of the previous season with “25 pounds of muscle” on their bodies that wasn’t there before. I suspect the NBA’s testing program for steroids is not very good.
- Professional wrestlers have been dying in astounding numbers for years now because of their constant infatuation with steroids, HGH and painkillers. The media, Congress, the Feds — none of them give a rip.
- I’ve never been a Barry Bonds fan. Can’t stand him. But I think it’s a ridiculous waste of taxpayers’ money that the federal government has been stalking him for years now. Of course he used banned substances. Any fool knows that. He’ll pay his own penalty for that. But put him in prison? Why him out of all the others? It’s a ridiculous waste of OUR money.
- I do not feel sorry for the players of the so-called steroid era who did not use steroids. You know what, none of them — not one — every said a word about what was going on. They allowed it to happen to them. If a group of non-users — hey, there must have been some very good players who didn’t use — had come forward at the time, it might have nipped the whole thing in the bud.
- The baseball players’ union is a joke. One of the main tasks unions are supposed to perform is to protect the rank and file. This union never even tried.
- As far as those players back in the 60s, 70s and 80s who are so outraged now about their records being broken by drug abusers, spare me. A lot of those players are two-faced liars. I worked in the clubhouse of a Triple-A baseball team throughout the 1960s. I covered Triple-A ball from the late 70s through the 80s. I covered major-league ball off and on throughout my writing career and let me tell you this: the use of amphetamines was rampant in baseball for many DECADES. I watched players go out on the field so amped up they were on the verge of delirium. I saw a veteran major-league player show up in Portland, open up his briefcase and reveal a cache of pills — greenies, red crosses, black beauties, etc. — that would be the envy of your local doctor.
- All athletes in all sports are looking for an edge. Baseball players, though, cheat more than most any other athletes. It’s a part of the culture, from stealing signs to throwing spitballs.
- For years now, I’ve been hearing people say, “If a player would only come clean and admit use, it would be refreshing. Why lie about it?” Well, folks — this is what A-Rod has done. Now let’s see what happens with him.
- Rodriguez is one of 104 players caught in that drug test who tested positive. Why is his the only name revealed? He’s got to feel like the only guy in the NBA who gets called for traveling.
- Don’t believe what A-Rod said about not knowing which steroids he used. I believe that’s a legal ploy. You can probably admit taking “banned substances” if you don’t reveal exactly which ones. But you start running down a list of the ones you took and you’re going to be very specific about your own violations of federal laws. I don’t know it’s fair to expect anyone to do that.
- Go ahead, feel used and abused as fans. But the fact is, those years when players used drugs were very entertaining seasons. I can’t say I didn’t enjoy watching baseball in those seasons.
Don’t we all need to move on?
Tags: Alex Rodriguez, Baseball, Dwight Jaynes, minor-league baseball, steroids
Everyone cheats- Heck, I’m cheating on my wife with an 18 year old I’m mentoring as I’m typing this.
I don’t even bothering teaching my kids right from wrong, I just show ‘em how not to get caught. Cheating, lying, making millions of dollars of money you haven’t earned, it’s all good, is what I tell them. Don’t even bother with school or working hard, you idiots, just keep waiting for that big score to land in your lap and do whatever it takes to get what you want.
Why does the country even bother with E-Plurbis-Unum on coins? It should be you’re not cheating, you’re not trying. Standards of conduct are for losers.
Thank you Dwight for being the voice of reason, yet again. If only ESPN was run by people who think like you (aka, rationally).
John,
I am glad to see that you are with me!!!
John joined the Dark Side of the Force, Welcome Aboard!
There are two reasons I believe doping should not be banned in sports.
1. It is impossible to catch dopers.
At a practical level, the science of catching dopers hasn’t kept pace with the science of doping. Even the Olympics, which has the most stringent drug tests, failed to catch Marion Jones (her guilt was uncovered by an investigative firm). I see every reason that this will remain the case in the future (after all, with the kind of money available for sportspeople at the highest level of the game, all the incentives are aligned that way).
2. It is a fallacy to think that using performance-enhancing drugs is unethical.
The main ethical argument against doping is that it distorts the level playing field that sportsmen begin with. But does that level playing field exist in the first place? Most top sportsmen, especially in sports that place a premium on strength or endurance, are born with biological qualities that normal people don’t possess. For example, Lance Armstrong’s heart is one-third larger than normal, and his aerobic capacity twice that of the average person. It gives him an advantage over a cyclist with a normal body, which hardly makes for a level playing field. That’s the story in almost every sport including swimming and Michael Phelps. If the accident of birth gives some of us certain biological advantages, is it wrong to recreate some of those same advantages using science? Why leave to chance what science can replicate? Indeed, wouldn’t taking performance-enhancing treatment actually level the playing field in terms of physical endowments, and allow more scope for a player’s skill and character to express themselves?
One of the great triumphs of our species has come from using science to enhance the quality of our lives (average lifespans rose by about 30 years in the 20th century in most developing countries). This did not affect our humanity, but gave it greater scope to express itself. Why should it be any different in sport?
Dwight, Have followed your past feelings about this subject but good to post again. as media begins process to deal with A-Rod. will be interesting to see where they run with this.
I do not like Barry Bonds either but to put him in jail is ridiculous, if they do. A-Rod lied too, Clemens, and so on. o
If you are not cheating, you are not trying.
Agreed, Dwight. Agreed.
I genuinely don’t care about this story. It’s making me hate the media more than anything else.
In Little League, I developed a ‘roid problem sitting on the bench.
Dwight, I completely agree with you. If baseball did the equivalent of a four game suspension in football, that’d be what? 40 games?
Sounds about right.
The media is milking this for the ratings.
People are tuning in to hear about it only because it’s fun to watch people squirm and make fools of themselves, not because of moral outrage.
Every hallowed record is a function of the era in which it was made. Babe Ruth had a juiced ball, weak competition, and an extremely short porch in right field.
Hank Aaron had watered down competition (through expansion and discrimination).
This era has steroids (which were not actually illegal in baseball until, what, 2004?), but the pitchers were juiced as well.
Enough already, baseball. We don’t need your stupid numbers (56, .406, 755, etc.) in order to enjoy the game.
I couldn’t disagree more. My experiences are far different from yours. The notion that “hey, everyone’s doing it so let’s just move on and forget it” is typical of washed up hack writers.
It’s cheating. It should be punished. It is an outrage and those records should be expunged forever.
You may condone wholesale cheating in pro sports, but I don’t- and never will.
I don’t condone it, and neither does MLB. If you (bp, or others who continue to be morally outraged) want to keep beating a dead horse in a vain effort to unearth exactly what happened 5 or 10 years ago, knock yourself out. Or better yet, stop following MLB or any other sport that has been tainted by steroids or other similar forms of cheating.