For What It's Worth... March 14th, 2005
I had a choice to make about an hour ago. Either take two ibuprofen, lie down for a little while and hope that my splitting migraine headache would fix itself, or take two ibuprofen, sit on my couch and fill out NCAA brackets. Of course, my other option was to drive right past my house this afternoon instead of actually going home and just continue six miles down the road to my old High School where the World Series trophy is being shown.
Now, I can’t think of anything better than touching the Commissioner’s Trophy, and maybe even taking a picture with it. But the last thing I want to do is drive to a building that I hated when I was forced to go there, only to stand in line for two hours for nothing more than a chance to see the display for a fleeting second, all the while being subjected to the people of this city that I try to avoid every other day of my life.
In the end, it wasn’t much of a choice. Guess I’ll have to wait until my first Fenway pilgrimage of the year...
So... there’s actually a lot for me to try and write about this week, from steroids to March Madness. That’s why I’m breaking this down into two posts; one today, one tomorrow.
In order to truly get my point across in today’s post, I’m going to start a new running theme for posts. It’s called “For What It’s Worth”. Most of the stuff I write on here is just the rambling (and gambling) thoughts of one idiot with nothing better to do than write 3000 words about a poker tournament or a bunch of Quick Thoughts about nothing at all. When I actually try to sit down and focus on one topic, I often get led astray, kind of like I am right now. That’s why I’m starting this theme. Hopefully I will be able to take a topic every so often and actually say something worthwhile about it.
And what better topic to start with than Major League Baseball and Steroids?
In three days, a handful of current and former Major League stars are going to be forced to testify in front of the United States Congress about performance enhancing drugs. Among them is a former player hawking a “tell-all” book, a pitcher who is built more like someone using performance de-enhancing drugs, and a collection of hitters who have all put up amazing numbers through their careers, and therefore must have been cheating. More on this in a second.
Conspicuously absent is the biggest name in the discussion, Barry Bonds. Others involved in the BALCO probe have been “invited” (read: subpoenaed). Bonds was not. No biggie – I don’t think there’s really any debate left surrounding Barry Bonds, and especially not after his Grand Jury testimony (where he admitted to using steroids, albeit “unknowingly”) leaked out.
So what can we expect from these hearings? Unlike the Grand Jury, Congress doesn’t even pretend to keep the questions and answers secret. C-Span is about to garner their highest ratings ever, because everyone wants to hear three little words:
“I did it.”
Will we hear them? Maybe once, from Jose Canseco. But the rest of the players will mostly speak in vagaries and “Lawyer-ese” – namely that they’ll be invoking their Fifth Amendment Rights. For most of us, we’ll know what that means.
As for the assumption of guilt and of cheating. Really? Anyone who juiced was a cheater? Not before 2003 they weren’t...
I’ll hold here for a moment while you collectively scream at your screens... Take your time... get it all out of your system... send me a nasty e-mail if you must... OK, feel better now? Good.
Pre-2003, Major League Baseball couldn’t have cared less whether or not players used steroids. As long as home runs flew out of parks at record rates and fans bought anything bearing the official hologram of MLB, everyone looked the other way. And in doing so, they as much as said “We Don’t Care.”
We Don’t Care about the record books.
We Don’t Care about the integrity of the game.
We Don’t Care about the health of our players.
We Don’t Care about the future.
We Don’t Care about our fans.
As fans, we talked ourselves into believing everything was OK. How many times did we say “the ball is juiced” in 1998? Or 99? Or any year from about 1986-2002? We actually talked ourselves into thinking that by winding a little piece of twine tighter we could explain away the undeniable fact that players were hitting the ball harder and farther than should be humanely possible.
I’ll admit, I did it too. I never really doubted that a few players were using, but I looked the other way. I thought that the home run chase between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa in 1998 was one of the best things I had ever seen. I can distinctly remember getting angry at a former High School teacher who dared to suggest that both players were on the juice. And yet, I think I always knew.
So do we start handing out asterisks like candy at Halloween? Do we turn our heads yet again and say “Can’t prove it – why try?” I don’t know. It’s not my decision to make. And I’m glad, because I don’t think I would want that type of responsibility. But if you held a gun to my head and said “choose”, here’s how I would handle it:
- Any records set before 2003 stand. Period. If baseball was willing to essentially endorse steroid use, then they will have to live with the consequences. The records will not be worth the paper in the books they're printed in.
- If someone ever hits more than 61 homers in a season again, they get my nod for Single-Season champ.
- If someone ever hits more than 73 in a season, he damn well better piss in a cup before he even crosses reaches first on his 74th trot...
- Barry Bonds’ chase of 714 & 755 should be handled like this: He admitted in Grand Jury testimony to using steroids in 2000 & 2002, but conveniently not in 2001. OK; I don’t buy it, but we’ll have to take his word for it. Therefore, his 73 homeruns stand as the “single-season” record (hold for laughter), and can be counted towards his All-Time chase. But his 49 in 2000 and 46 in 2002 do not. That puts him at only 608 career home runs, and probably out of the running to ever pass Ruth or Aaron. And that would satisfy me.
In the past, I’ve written that people are supposed to be innocent until proven guilty, at least in our country. And I think that still holds true here. I don’t think there’s any way to prove that Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds, Frank Thomas, Rafael Palmeiro, Pudge Rodriguez, or anyone else actually used steroids short of hearing him say those three magic words. I don’t care that Jose Canseco is willing to sell out everyone he’s ever met in order to turn a buck. I don’t presume guilt.
But sometimes, ya gotta wonder...
Tomorrow I will put up my NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament breakdown, as well as the information on how you can challenge me directly. I have reserved a league on ESPN’s Tournament Challenge (free to join), where you can all prove how much smarter than me you are.
Tomorrow is also the night of my first Fantasy Baseball Draft. Ahhh, it’s Spring!
Lata.
posted by Big D @ 6:36 PM
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