Steroids - it's about to go DOWN!

[JMW IV]

courtesy of the Baltimore Sun

Other Voices
Scores of steroid abusers face judgment of Selig, fans

    August 24, 2007


Commentary

Many major leaguers are squirming like fish on a hot dock, having learned that Kirk Radomski, the ex-New York Mets clubhouse attendant who admitted selling steroids to ballplayers over a 10-year period, has implicated them all to the Mitchell investigation. It won't be long: One way or another, the names will be made public and the culture of the syringe will finally be exposed for its sleazy ethos.

The obvious question, of course, is what commissioner Bud Selig intends to do with the guilty players. Baseball's image has already suffered, and the commissioner walks a fine line between punishment and outright destruction of the game. A more poignant question, however, is what the public will do with these revelations.

It's one thing to bash Barry Bonds, a despicable man who clearly cheated his way to the all-time home run record. But what happens when you find out your favorite player is on Radomski's list? Then what?

Do you join the army of Bay Area sycophants who think Bonds has been framed and decide steroid use isn't that awful, after all? Or do you take the more courageous stand and renounce juicing and all that goes with it -- even the star you've been rooting for all these years? It's no easy choice because we're about to learn just how prevalent steroids were from the early 1990s on.

We might well discover that every major milestone in a 15-year window has been soiled -- or just plain spoiled -- by players who were artificially strengthened by steroids. Not just personal achievements, but entire pennant races won and lost because certain teams had more steroid users than the others. We could find out that "stand-up" players who've been honest and forthright about everything else, taking responsibility for the errors they've made or the home runs they've surrendered, were hiding a darker truth: They were cheating you, the public, all along.

If Radomski has given an accurate account of who's who and what's what in the steroid world, we're all in for a lousy September. According to SI.com, people are going to be "very surprised" by how much information Mitchell has gleaned. The former Mets employee is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to distributing steroids, and recently met with Mitchell to repeat to baseball's chief investigator what he told the feds.

Radomski's testimony will be everyone's nightmare: Selig's, the players', yours and mine. The commissioner might've hoped the worst of the steroids era was over after Bonds passed Hank Aaron. And the guilty players might've believed they'd escape punishment from the game's elders, too, after Jason Giambi was given amnesty for cooperating with Mitchell. Indeed, it looked like baseball was ready to move on.

But not now, not if Radomski's list is as juicy as some people are saying it is. So what do you do about your love of the game? Do you admit you've been victimized by what amounts to fraud? Do you summon enough moral outrage to see your favorite player on TV and say, "There goes a low-life?" Do you have the courage to boo that player at the ballpark?

Make no mistake, how the steroids era will be remembered depends largely on the public that pumps billions of dollars into the game through ticket sales, advertising and TV contracts. Selig and his public relations machine are nervously awaiting your response; they gauge attendance figures, network ratings, even Internet polls, to see if their product is selling. So far, it has, brilliantly. Americans aren't just enjoying baseball, they're obsessed with it, on a pace to set an attendance record for the fourth straight season.

But the game's popularity has been based on its honesty and integrity. Until now, the steroids fallout has been confined to a few, convenient targets. Every once in a while you hear about some idiot in the minor leagues who's been caught, but the mainstream major leaguer appears clean. But that's about to change.

If there's a groundswell of revulsion, Selig will have no choice but to someday affix an asterisk upon the entire world of cheaters. Just call the 15-year window the steroid era, not unlike the dead ball era of the early 20th century. No need to remove or reverse anyone's records. Simply let it be known, by official decree, they were set against a backdrop of rampant cheating.

The revolution begins now: We're about to hear about the scores of baseball cheaters, the ones who couldn't resist the shortcut to bigger home run muscles, faster home-to-first times, improved radar gun readings. The juice turned good hitters into very good ones, allowed power hitters to become monsters. A former major leaguer once told me he took steroids a decade ago because, aside from the obvious strength enhancement, they allowed him to see the ball better.

"Every pitch looked huge," he said. "I could wait forever [before swinging] because it improved my vision. ... I saw everything. But that stuff will break down your body, there's no getting around that."

It's only a matter of time before someone pays the ultimate price. Someone will get terribly sick from the chemicals, maybe fatally. No one will be able to say he or she was surprised. We're going to learn just how many cockroaches have been hiding under the rug. But let's face it, we knew they were there all along. Only, not this many.

Whether you want to thank Kirk Radomski or curse him, there's no ignoring him. Not now. The game is on the doorstep of a much darker era.

Selig is mulling his response. So should you.

Bob Klapisch writes for The Record of Hackensack, N.J.

get ready....It's goin' DOWWWWNNNNNNN.

[nospinzone1]

hey, John, maybe I should try steroids and get rid of all my little and no so little medical problems.

[JMW IV]

hey, John, maybe I should try steroids and get rid of all my little and no so little medical problems.

eh?

I don't understand what you are getting at.

[nospinzone1]

eh?

I don't understand what you are getting at.

[nospinzone1]

ATTEMPT OF HUMOR ON MYSELF.

[The Chief]

What makes this writer think that we are going to find out all the names on this list?  If it's as potentially damaging to baseball as he makes it sound, I can't see the higher-ups at MLB wanting to wave it around in front of everyone.

[Nat of the Living Dead]

If we do find out the names on this list...tar and feather them all.

[Dave B]

hey, John, maybe I should try steroids and get rid of all my little and no so little medical problems.

Might as well try. I dont think youd have to worry about long term effects

Although I'd hate to see what you type while roid raging

[kimnat]

Steroids are strong harsh drugs.  And I'm going to speak from 1st hand knowledge here.  Prednisone is used as a drug in chemotherapy to kill cancer cells.  Not only does chemo damage/kill cancer cells, it also damages brain cells.  Think about it, these meds are not discriminate over which cells they destroy.  As such, we are currently even seeking psychiatric assistance w/ Andrew from the effects of the chemo.  And one of the rare side effects of Prednisone is permanent changes of mood.  If the person has used enough of the drug, this will occur.  So, if it can alter your mood, what else has it altered or messed up?

Although I'd hate to see what you type while roid raging

LOL!!!

[spidernat]

I hope we learn everything there is to know about it. My answer is that I don't care if it were someone well liked on my own team, I will treat him and view him the same way I have viewed Bonds, Palmeiro, Sosa, Gonzalez, McGwire, Giambi, Canseco and others. But like someone posted, I doubt they will make their findings public. They'll do their best to sweep it under the rug just as they've done for years.

[kimnat]

I hope we learn everything there is to know about it. My answer is that I don't care if it were someone well liked on my own team, I will treat him and view him the same way I have viewed Bonds, Palmeiro, Sosa, Gonzalez, McGwire, Giambi, Canseco and others. But like someone posted, I doubt they will make their findings public. They'll do their best to sweep it under the rug just as they've done for years.

QFT

[nospinzone1]

Might as well try. I dont think youd have to worry about long term effects

Although I'd hate to see what you type while roid raging

I HAD TO TRY HUMOR....SEEMS LIKE EVERY WEEK THERE IS A NEW MEDICAL ISSUE. IT TURNS OUT THAT MY PAIN FROM THE LEFT HIP ON DOWN THE ANKLE IS NOT THAT AT ALL ACCORDING TO THE MRI. IT TURNS OUT I MIGHT BE PRECANCEROUS ON SOME OTHER PART AROUND THE AREA. WILL HAVE TO CHECK IT OUT WITH A COUPLE OF OTHER DOCS.

[mikehughes]

Whys everyone whine about steroids?

I could care less who takes them, and if they give improved performance, than put everyone on em so we can 30-29 ball games

[Dave B]

Whys everyone whine about steroids?

I could care less who takes them, and if they give improved performance, than put everyone on em so we can 30-29 ball games

the only problem with that would be 7 hour games

[NatsAddict]

Whys everyone whine about steroids?

I could care less who takes them, and if they give improved performance, than put everyone on em so we can 30-29 ball games

the only problem with that would be 7 hour games

Also, baseball is stat-centric, and the steroids invalidate many of the stats.

[tomterp]

And if some players do 'roids, then the others are basically forced to do so as well to compete, even if they don't want to for very good health reasons.  It's like people buying bigger cars than you otherwise would, because they hold up better when the OTHER guy's bigger car hits yours.  Meanwhile, he's buying a bigger one cause of you. 

Where does it all end?  And the Union didn't want testing for 'roids?

[saltydad]

Whys everyone whine about steroids?

I could care less who takes them, and if they give improved performance, than put everyone on em so we can 30-29 ball games

This is abou the most ridiculous and ignorant post I have seen on this forum. I shy away from most of the raging arguments here, but to advocate use of powerful and deadly, yes-deadly drugs for what boils down to a game is absurd. Tell me you just got caught up in the moment, MikeHughes, please, or were being sarcastic.

[spidernat]

This is abou the most ridiculous and ignorant post I have seen on this forum. I shy away from most of the raging arguments here, but to advocate use of powerful and deadly, yes-deadly drugs for what boils down to a game is absurd. Tell me you just got caught up in the moment, MikeHughes, please, or were being sarcastic.

Unfortunately he wasn't joking. Mike Hughes is the leader in ridiculous and ignorant posts. On top of that he trolls on the Orioles' board.

[Nat of the Living Dead]

Whys everyone whine about steroids?

I could care less who takes them, and if they give improved performance, than put everyone on em so we can 30-29 ball games

Disgusting.

[2k6nats]

Mikehughes, please refrain from talking about steroids, as your posts are so wrong, far off, and disturbing.  You remind me of the guys on "The Good Side of Bad News".  At least those guys are funny.

[mikehughes]

So?