A-Roid Scandal
So much going on right now that I decided to talk about drugs and sports. Obviously the first thing that comes to most people’s mind is the whole ARod fiasco with him admitting to using performance enhancing drugs from 2001 to 2003, while playing for the Texas Rangers. First of all, I hope that he is no longer on anything and that his admission was full disclosure.
In the era from the late ninety’s through mid 2000’s, the baseball culture was in shambles. All baseball wanted to do was hit homeruns. Remember the baseball changed to be tighter wrapped to bounce off the bat faster. Remember that Stadiums being built were smaller and “hitter’s parks”. Remember that the era of stolen bases and sacrfice hits were declining faster than ever. Baseball lost is strategy, to its muscle. So how could steriods not be passed out like Pez?
Is it a disgrace that the only stats that matter in sports are all tainted due to the enhancement of an entire generation of ball players? How do we compare them to the all time greats of yesteryears when we watch those legends play? There is no doubt in my mind that we will not be able to verify those who never used versus those whose roid habits were as prevelant as those who used to do chewing tabacco.
I applaud A Rod in his decision to just admit to the reports and hopefully all of baseball can realize that there is more to this national past time, there is honor in the numbers. And now there is an asterisk for over a decade of baseball.
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February 12th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
When the news of this scandal broke, I have to admit I wasn’t too surprised. Baseball has dug itself into a deep trench that will take a lot of work to get out of. Although I do not condone A-Rod and what he did, I completely understand why he did it. Baseball created this world for themselves and are the ones to blame for the entire steroid scandal. They created this perfect picture where everything revolved around big hits and large numbers. No longer do we see the classic game where a stolen base would make or break a game. There is no strategy or thinking involved today. Its all about getting the guy that can hit the ball the hardest and who can throw the fastest. I think for baseball to set things straight and get back to the way it was, they need to focus more on the game and less on the numbers.
Another thing that irks me is that no one is stepping up and admitting to anything, until being accused. I feel that for people to start rebuilding, the names involved in the scandal need to be released or the people who tested positive need to admit to it before their names are called out. These are sad times for baseball, and unfortunately with the current leadership, I’m not too sure they can recover from this.