I don't care
Let me play devil's advocate. Much as it pains me, I have to agree with Rob Neyer on this issue. If you have a chance to enhance your ability to perform your profession -- a profession which is one of the most competitive in the entire world -- and there is no specific baseball rule against doing it, I suspect that it gets done. If it is use PEDs or lose your spot (and the millions that come with having that spot), there ain't an issue about what's gonna happen. Those who think otherwise are rather detached from reality IMO.
I'm not saying that I agree with it, but I understand why it happens and am much less perturbed by it than others appear to be. I understand it was illegal, as were the greenies that Aaron, Mays, and many other icons apparently took during the 60's and 70's, but there was no baseball rule against it. In that regard, where is the horror and chagrin about the amphetamine epidemic of the 60's and 70's and the HOFers who did them? They were illegal too. Do Mays and Aaron get kicked out of the HOF because they took amphetamines for the express purpose of enhancing their performance on the field? I doubt that would be the popular sentiment.
Perhaps I'm overly cynical, but it seems pretty clear to me that people have been cheating, or attempting to cheat, pretty well since baseball (or any other sport for that matter) began. I have heard it said that if you aren't trying to cheat, you aren't trying to win. Steroids are just the most recent in the long line of efforts to use performance enhancers, and I doubt they will be the last. For those of you who want to talk about the purity of baseball during the "golden years," I suggest that baseball was no purer then -- they just cheated differently.
As for the suggestion that Selig should do anything about McGuire's confession, that simply makes me laugh. IMO. he was as complicit in creating the current situation as was McGuire, Sosa, and any other player you want to name. So were the owners. They knew and could have cared less because McGuire and Sosa were bringing fans back into the stands and everyone was making money. So were the rest of the juiced players. If the shit hadn't hit the fan, you would never have heard Selig say a word.
McGuire cheated. So did a whole bunch of players before him, including many who are now in the HOF. I'm not sure that I'd vote for McGuire for the HOF in any event, but his usage of steroids isn't the reason for that. 'Nuff said.
Kenny Cole
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01-12-2010, 12:57 AM
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