PED use in sports is it really Cheating?

[Wang Chung]

So I was going through ESPN yesterday on my phone when I pulled up this article:

Why have only some players linked to PEDs been banished from baseball?
Originally Published: February 22, 2014
By Howard Bryant | ESPN The Magazine

MAYBE IT IS over for Alex Rodriguez even though he has dropped his lawsuit against baseball. Maybe he'll return in a year, meekly, end his career and then be discarded for good by major league baseball. He wouldn't be the first to be shunned, nor would it be undeserved after he dissolved whatever goodwill he had accrued in the game.

Still, there's something troubling about the justice here. When discussing race, most Americans cannot handle the topic without a blankie and a rattle nearby, so it must be said immediately that, yes, there have been PED users of all backgrounds -- from Gary Sheffield to Manny Ramirez to Andy Pettitte -- who were allowed to come back and play and earn their millions. Likewise, black, white and Latino players have equally found the Hall of Fame locked to them for PED transgressions.

But who survives the steroids era in retirement -- who is allowed a future in the game -- has been the most subjective and troubling remnant of those dishonest decades. Thus far, the determining factors of redemption have been race, power and personality. The top-level nonwhite players associated with PEDs -- Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmeiro -- are out of baseball. The white players -- Mark McGwire, Roger Clemens, Jason Giambi and Matt Williams -- survived BALCO, the feds, the Mitchell report and Congress and have been allowed a second act. Three managers who benefited from the power of PEDs -- Bobby Cox, Joe Torre and Tony La Russa -- will be inducted into the Hall of Fame this summer. The good guys of all races, the guys who win the reputation contest, will be the ones to enter Cooperstown.

Williams, the first player of the steroids era to challenge Roger Maris' home run record, was named in the Mitchell report for buying thousands of dollars' worth of steroids and HGH to supposedly fight injury. He is now the manager of the Nationals. Giambi admitted steroids use to a federal grand jury during the BALCO investigation. In 2012 he interviewed for the Rockies' managerial job. He didn't get it, so he carries on as a DH for the Indians. Clemens, who is also named in the Mitchell report and embarrassed himself and the game with a sordid association with Brian McNamee, is a special assistant with the Astros, offering assessments of their newest prospect, Tracy McGrady.

McGwire owns the golden ticket. No one in the game did more damage to baseball's image than Big Mac did in St. Louis. The blown kiss and heart-thump shout-outs to the Maris family were one big fraud. McGwire may never enter Cooperstown, but La Russa made sure the game's doors remained open to him, engineering his return to the Cardinals as a hitting coach in 2009. McGwire took the same job with the Dodgers three years later and is now beginning his second season with the team.

At Henry Aaron's 80th birthday reception in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 7, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder offered a message to the hundreds in attendance. He said that for anyone who believes in integrity, the number 755 is still "the real home run record." Everyone cheered, affirming that Bonds is to remain a villain, ostracized from the game. The same day as Holder's comments, The Washington Post posted an extensive profile on Williams, who was granted his redemption; he referred to his PED use merely as "not my finest hour."

A kinder, more contrite Bonds might be the Dodgers' hitting coach. A less loathsome Sosa might be Mr. Cub for the new millennium. Had Palmeiro said to the congressional panel investigating PED use, "I'm not here to talk about the past," instead of that fatal finger wag, maybe he'd be working for Peter Angelos, an area code away from Williams.

No matter the race, nice matters. Texas manager Ron Washington tested positive for cocaine and survived, winning consecutive AL pennants. What cannot be so easily finessed is who is allowed clemency and who is banished for the same offense. Selective justice is the ultimate price of the steroids era -- a reminder to stay in line and to have powerful friends. And as Alex Rodriguez has now discovered, perhaps too late, selective justice means no justice at all.

Basically this African American is saying it a race thing. Look Race has nothing to do with this bullcrap.


Do I think these guys did wrong. NO. They saved baseball. McGuire and Sosa alone saved baseball. Did they have a policy and procedure against PED's nope. I think that they should be allowed into the HOF just like all the other cheaters and Performance enhancers were. Like the Amphetamine guys and the spitballers and greasers of the ball. We have so many guys in the HOF who have cheated to help them stick around to help them play better so these guys did nothing wrong either. No rules about it no one looking their way and the league happy that people decided to come back and watch after the Strike.

Should their stats be marked nope. I think they keep them all and lets get race out of it.



What do you think is it really cheating? Was Lance Armstrong really a cheater if they can't find anyone on the Tour de France to give the medal too until the pass 20?

 

[Postman Dave]

Of course it's cheating, it's giving yourself an unnatural advantage and therefore creating an uneven and unfair playing field.

If everyone took them as common place then it wouldn't be an issue because the playing field is even. Not sure I really understand the argument being presented here, maybe because I don't watch Baseball though.

 

[Fuji Vice]

Not sure I really understand the argument being presented here, maybe because I don't watch Baseball though.

The main argument is that baseball is coming down hard on these guys now, even though they were willing to turn a blind eye to it in the past. It's really no different than Vince saying steroids are bad now, but not giving two shits about it years ago.

In regards to this particular situation, baseball was in a really bad spot after the lockout of 1994 and fans were wary of getting back into it. Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa (admitted PED users) had a big home run chase in 1998 which really helped draw people back in and since then the sport hasn't looked back. Should they be chastised because they cheated at the time but helped to save the game? I can see the argument from both sides, but as you say, cheating is still cheating. There really isn't any gray area there as far as I'm concerned.

Not sure why there's an argument about them being allowed into the HoF, they are, provided the writers vote them in. That may not happen but there's no outright ban on any player except Pete Rose (which is another completely stupid story). I also disagree with Wang's original point that it's a race thing. This article doesn't make it seem like a race-related thing to me at all, the author is simply stating that nice guys have a better shot of repairing their image than assholes do. That seems pretty obvious to me.

 

[Wang Chung]

I also disagree with Wang's original point that it's a race thing. This article doesn't make it seem like a race-related thing to me at all, the author is simply stating that nice guys have a better shot of repairing their image than assholes do. That seems pretty obvious to me.

I read that article and got the race issue. Notice how he said Bonds couldn't do anything but Mcguire can come back. Just my interpretation to the article.


using facial recognition on my galaxy s4

 

[Fuji Vice]

I read that article and got the race issue. Notice how he said Bonds couldn't do anything but Mcguire can come back. Just my interpretation to the article.

Well, to be fair, it's not like Bonds, Palmeiro or Sosa NEED to be working in baseball. I guess I can see his point but saying that those three aren't working is kind of weak, particularly when he then goes on to mention a black manager who was busted for doing cocaine but kept his job.

 

[Wang Chung]

I don't think any of them really need to work in baseball but I think they want to stay connected.

using facial recognition on my galaxy s4