A-Roid Fallout
It’s a shame for every baseball fan that the player considered the greatest in America admits that he used performance-enhancing drugs. He lied before saying straight out “no, I have not used PEDs.” His pay stubs will amount to around a half billion dollars over 18 years that he “cheated” to get.
Here’s my issue: at the time there was no penalty. Testing was inconsistent and nobody cared about the results. Mac and Sosa revitalized the sport in ‘98 and I don’t recall any testing results publicized. Bonds jumped like 50 pounds of muscle in like 5 years and was named in the top 3 for ‘Century’s Greatest Moments’ video. Ken Caminiti admitted using steroids during his MVP 1996 season. Yet this only scratches the surface.
The Mitchell report was devastating for many players. Yet it was so narrow in its scope. The feds seized positive reports in 2003 with 104 players and yet the only one exposed is Alex Rodriguez. The information of the results was leaked to the public illegally. And 6 years after-the-fact. I don’t care what happened with all the players using drugs. It happened over a decade and it is impossible to adequately monitor what really happened, who all used it, who cheated. Jamie Moyer is 45 and pitching strong, how do we know he’s not taking steroids? David Ortiz has some things to say, he makes Jason Giambi look like a pygmy. Roy Oswalt thinks ARod’s stats should be wiped, does that mean every stat from every player from the last 20 years should be erased?
The steroids scandal is one of the worst problems in the history of sports. There is really nothing to compare. Bonds, Clemens, and Rodriguez, three of the greatest baseball players ever are guilty. McGwire and Palmeiro will both likely miss the Hall of Fame because of it. The post-strike decade 1994-2004 is one that will forever in infamy be remembered as the Steroids Era. And the hero for bringing it to light: Jose Canseco.
Coming from a huge Bronx Bombers fan and not-fan of A-Rod/E-Rod/O-Rod/A-Fraud/A-Roid, this may come as a surprise: I don’t care. Disappointment, yes. Anger, frustration, hatred, offended, none of the above. ARod’s name was leaked and he admitted that it was unfortunately true. He only used for 3 years and there was no spike in his stats; it hardly made a difference at all. Why should ARod, Bonds and Clemens be the whipping boys? I’m sick of all the headlines and court dates. It was a widespread problem and the league did nothing to stop it until a couple years ago.
Performance-enhancing-drug use is a huge problem. But guess what, America is finally starting to clean up. Rules have been established, testing is taking place and violators are being punished. People should not be punished for what they did before a punishment was affixed; that’s a basic rule of democracy and the gospel and life. We don’t know and can’t really know who did and who didn’t. So shame on you, ARod, but let’s move forward and play baseball.
