Earlier this week the official investigative reports on the steroid scandal in Major League Baseball were released to the public. Many were surprised to see big names like Roger Clemens, Eric Gagne, and Miguel Tejada on the list of guilty players. Questions and speculation are everywhere. What do we do now?
Honestly, I'm so disgusted by all of this I don't really know where to start. Sure, we've all known that steroids have been involved in sports. You can't look at Barry Bonds now or Mark McGuire or Sammy Sosa from a few years back and not think they were on something. I guess seeing it in official writing though makes it alarmingly and painfully true.
What bothers me the most is this culture of ours that possibly created this dilemma. We want everything fast. Working for things takes too long. We live in an incredibly speedy, virtually instantaneous society. Working endlessly in the gym is simply not fast enough for most athletes... or they've been made to believe that. We're also in an age of statistics. Anything of value, apparently, is only relevant if it's measurable. The more numbers, graphs, and esoteric data - the better. No one can tell how hard you've worked at something. They can only pat you on the back when some numbers show your significance. It also seems like we're in a culture of cheating, one where liars and acts of dishonesty frequently go unpunished, even when it's so painfully obvious that a major wrong has been done.
Where does baseball go from here? I have no idea. I'm fond of saying that since we don't live in a perfect world, there are no perfect solutions. What I am sure of is that baseball is probably just reflective of a much bigger concern: How far does our American culture have to fall down before someone realizes that not only are we headed in the wrong direction, but that our flimsy ideals most likely sent us this way in the first place.
3 comments:
Nice graphic.
I heard a commentator once say, "Cheating has always been a part of baseball. Back in the deadball error where pitchers used everything from cutting lines in the baseballs with razors or using vaseline to give their sliders more drop, cheating has always been present."
It's interesting that you say this is a direct reflection of American society as baseball is considered America's pastime. Yeah it's just a slogan but for the most part it still holds true.
For me I don't like nor respect cheaters. But as I have been saying all along any record that was beaten in the last 10 years go to prove how amazing the records that have lasted this long that weren't tainted with steroids.
NO ONE will ever touch the accomplishments of Babe Ruth. The man lived on hotdogs, steak and beer. He never had a trainer or modern medecine and still managed to dominate baseball then and now.
Cheaters will be cheaters but seldom overtake the true virtue of game. Their time will pass and their memory will just be an asterix of the past.
I just finished watching the Roger Clemmons grilling by congress. What a crock that was. McNamee has no credibility whatsoever. It turns out he didn't even have a phd. Generally you have to be a licensed physician to be able to buy and administer steroids. The fact that isn't a licenesed physician should be enough motive for Clemmons crew to through the case out.
This doesn't make either party any better. I want to side with Clemmons but am not sure. Watching him answer the questions made me think of what it felt like when I watched and listened to Bill Clinton whenever he was on TV. I could never tell if he was lying or not. The question is why was I even wondering? Well there was just something fishy that didn't seem believable I guess.
Interesting to know.
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