I didn't want to comment on the whole McGwire steroids statement thing going on. I haven't read his statement and I haven't really done anything more than skim over any articles I've seen. From the political blogs I follow it might have been something of a controversy, there have been a lot of "histories biggest monster" jokes. Apparently one of the Big 3 network newscasters even made some kind of a statement about it.
I've never posted my thoughts on steroids before, and I should probably do a fuller explanation some day, but basically I throw it in with the opinion of "cheating" I've had ever since I was a little kid. So what, cheatings part of baseball, and as far as I can tell everybody does, and if you say you aren't that makes me just about sure that you are.
I'm sorry if that might seem cynical, but I'm pretty sure it's true. I have always believed that every hitters bat was corked, and every pitcher was doctoring the ball. Why wouldn't you? Do you know why ballplayer's pants have those ridiculously huge loops? Because when they were normal loops infielders would hook their fingers in them to slow up baserunners. And how the hell is stealing signs "cheating"? Signals intelligence is just smart. Why are there umpires at all?
I could go on, and maybe one day I will.
Anyways back to the statement. I haven't read it, and since it doesn't say as far as I can tell: "I took steroids, there were no rules against it, and you can't prove I didn't have a valid medical reason for it, so suck on it!" then I don't care, because it's a lie. That's about the most honest anybody in this situation can be. When the players association and or the MLB actually come out and make that statement then I'll be ready to believe they are ready to honestly deal with the situation. Anybody who thinks differently needs to take a long hard look at how sports, society, the law and the medical profession really views steroid use, and then justify their bubble world.
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So we're just going to ignore the effects that steroid use by professional athletes have on amateur and youth athletes? It's okay for pros to cheat, because they're adult enough to make the decision to ravage their bodies in the name of success? That causes a major problem. It makes the use of steroids a requirement for success in professional sports, thereby enticing young players to use them to "be good enough" even to compete for the limited number of positions available. That's okay for an adult that knows the risks, but some (most) kids aren't that mature.
ReplyDeleteAlso, just because a lot of people cheat, that doesn't make it okay to cheat. You say that everyone cheats as though they don't have a choice to NOT cheat. Each person individually has to choose not to cheat, but just because that sounds difficult it doesn't make it impossible. Just because the decision not to cheat is a happy, politically correct, non-cynical choice that doesn't make it impossible or wrong.
And I thought *I* was a curmudgeon.
A) You can't possibly hope to influence kids not to do something if you're not willing to have an honest open discussion with them, and not lie to them, and right now everybody is lying about steroids
ReplyDeleteB) McGwire didn't cheat in any reasonable, measurable sense of the word. A lot of people want to get all pissed so they can feel better, doesn't make it cheating
C) "Won't somebody think of the children" is a nice way for people to ignore the fact that they actually have no solutions to the problem in the first place
The fact is any kid who is trying to progress in athletics is going to have to decide at some point whether or not they are going to have to use steroids or some other kind of "cheating" to keep progressing.
I can classify all kinds of activities in amateur athletics as "cheating" to some extent - better equipment, connections, unfair competition, where are you going to stop?
Saying it's not fair and throwing your hands up in the air to complain about it isn't going to change it. It would be a lot better for everybody if we could have open and honest discussions with kids about it rather than lying to them and forcing them underground with it. Because if they think you aren't being honest they won't believe you at all.
And lastly, everybody cheats at something, everybody does it to some extent - anybody who says otherwise is lying as well