As most of you know by now, yesterday, the Mitchell Report was released by former Senator George Mitchell. All 30 clubs have at least one player who is using steroids or growth hormones in one form or another. 85 players were identified including 7 MVPs, 2 Cy Young Award winners and 31 All-Stars. Roger Clemons alone shows up 82 times in this 409 page report.
Welcome to the "Steroid Era".
All those record breakers...all of them, were using performance enhancing drugs. Some of them being injected 4-6 times in the buttocks by their strength and conditioning coaches.
I'm a former Yankee fan myself and 20 players...past and present were cited in this report. Remember their World Series domination during the late 90's early 00's? One now has to wonder if that streak wasn't perpetuated by the steroids those players were using.
All one had to do is look at some of the players to see the steroid use. Barry Bonds, for instance. Look at a picture of him 10 years ago and compare it to now. Besides the normal aging process, it looks like he traded in his head for another one somewhere along the way. His biceps alone near explosion. Mark McGuire...the hero of so many children was also mentioned here; even though his history has already been publicly called into question. It has even kept him out of the Hall of Fame. Rightfully so.
According to the report, "the illegal use of performance-enhancing substances poses a serious threat to the integrity of the game. Widespread use by players of such substances unfairly disadvantages the honest athletes who refuse to use them and raises questions about the validity of baseball records."
I completely agree. I'm even a little bit angry about it even if I'm not the rabid fan I once was. Now a Mets fan again, I had been trying to get back into the game with the fever I had back when I was a little girl. As most kids do, I looked up to the players and even had crushes on a few of them. (Keith Hernandez, Ron Darling, etc.) After hearing the suspicions flying around for over a year now (despite mandatory drug testing that began in 2003), I had a hard time appreciating the game like I used to. It just seemed like a big lie to me. Then finding out that only TWO of the players named told the truth and cooperated with the investigation, well...I'm about disgusted with these over-paid, juiced-up players.
All the old records should be reinstated if it's proved that the record breaker was using these performance enhancing drugs. Each of the players proved to be using them should also be barred from ever entering the Hall of Fame. (Think that's harsh? Remember Pete Rose? This is as important or even more important than his gambling which has kept him out as well.) Mitchell stated yesterday that each player will be punished accordingly on a case-by-case basis. I'm not sure what that means but it will probably amount to fines and suspensions. Whatever it is, it needs to send a message to everyone.
Over on the CBS News message board, people are strongly divided on this. Either they are as mad about it as I am, or they don't care at all. Most say that we shouldn't let our children look up to these guys as heroes but I don't agree with that. Since baseball began kids have been worshipping their favorite players. It's always been that way. What little boy didn't dream about being a famous ball player back in the days of Mickey Mantle, Joe Dimaggio and Babe Ruth? Sandy Koufax? Hank Aaron? Gary Carter? Remember the hype surrounding Mark McGuire when he was about to beat the home run record? So has it really changed today?
Some people actually blame the fans for this. If we didn't care about who won so much, we wouldn't attend as many games, put so much pressure on our teams to win, pay the higher ticket prices that fund their ever growing salaries. These things in turn put even more pressure on the players to do MORE, play BETTER, get BIGGER and they feel compelled to take the steroids in order to accomplish it. Excuse me? I thought our lives were based upon free will? The ability to judge between right and wrong? Isn't it about CHOICES?
Tell that to your son or daughter the next time you take them to a ball field. Or you sign them up for Little League. Tell them that it's OUR fault that the players use drugs. Tell them not to try so hard to be the best...because they'll just end up like their heroes...copping out. Taking the easy way to the top of the game.
