'Roid Rage
Lots of debate over the shocking revelation that Jason Giambi used steroids. (And while I've always thought Barry Bonds is an idiot, does anyone believe his "oops, didn't know" testimony? He's now an idiot and a liar.)
I want to be extremely clear on this: I wish that no professional athlete ever used steroids, particulary players in the sport that I hold most dear. However, I'm having a difficult time mustering up any real outrage over the whole affair, other than a "that's sports today" shrug. The reason? I enjoy the hell out most baseball games, and that doesn't change over the fact that many of today's players are hulking ogres. The simple joys of the game--the beauty of a well-turned double play, the diving catch to halt a rally, I could go on but won't--don't change. Plus, while using steroids is perhaps cheating in a moral sense, baseball only recently outlawed the shit, so these players (tools though they may be for using such harmful substances) weren't breaking the rules of the game. Baseball has coddled real cheaters its entire existence: Scuffed baseballs, corked bats, spitballs, sharpened spikes, stealing signs. Those are all considered gamesmanship that, in instances like corking, get players a little slap on the wrist while the powers-that-be secretly wink that these transgressions are part of the fabric and history of the game.
I'm also going to draw an extremely iffy parallel here, but it's my blog and I'll do that if I want to. Is an actor's performance any less Oscar-worthy if he's coked to the gills? Is a rock 'n' roller's incendiary live show any less thrilling if he's drunk off his ass? Of course not. Now, they're also not competitions, either, but if you take a point of view that it's all entertainment, then perhaps it's not so iffy.
I get asked by friends (and my wife, who would be more upset if she found out Eric Karros was gay than if Sosa was on the juice) all the time, "What if Sammy took steroids?" You know what? I'd feel sorry for him, that he felt like, despite his obvious talent, he had to take a drug to get an edge he likely already had. But other than that, I've enjoyed the hell out of Sosa's exploits for a Cubs team that has largely been pathetic during his tenure (and, contrary to some opinions, that's not a direct correlation). Him being found to have taken 'roids won't change that. I'm more upset that he deserted his teammates on the last day of the season and that there's increasing evidence that he's quite simply a bad dude.
I'm rambling now. My point is that I just can't get worked up over the steroids issue. I don't know why. Perhaps it's some failing on my part.
When do pitchers and catchers report?
I want to be extremely clear on this: I wish that no professional athlete ever used steroids, particulary players in the sport that I hold most dear. However, I'm having a difficult time mustering up any real outrage over the whole affair, other than a "that's sports today" shrug. The reason? I enjoy the hell out most baseball games, and that doesn't change over the fact that many of today's players are hulking ogres. The simple joys of the game--the beauty of a well-turned double play, the diving catch to halt a rally, I could go on but won't--don't change. Plus, while using steroids is perhaps cheating in a moral sense, baseball only recently outlawed the shit, so these players (tools though they may be for using such harmful substances) weren't breaking the rules of the game. Baseball has coddled real cheaters its entire existence: Scuffed baseballs, corked bats, spitballs, sharpened spikes, stealing signs. Those are all considered gamesmanship that, in instances like corking, get players a little slap on the wrist while the powers-that-be secretly wink that these transgressions are part of the fabric and history of the game.
I'm also going to draw an extremely iffy parallel here, but it's my blog and I'll do that if I want to. Is an actor's performance any less Oscar-worthy if he's coked to the gills? Is a rock 'n' roller's incendiary live show any less thrilling if he's drunk off his ass? Of course not. Now, they're also not competitions, either, but if you take a point of view that it's all entertainment, then perhaps it's not so iffy.
I get asked by friends (and my wife, who would be more upset if she found out Eric Karros was gay than if Sosa was on the juice) all the time, "What if Sammy took steroids?" You know what? I'd feel sorry for him, that he felt like, despite his obvious talent, he had to take a drug to get an edge he likely already had. But other than that, I've enjoyed the hell out of Sosa's exploits for a Cubs team that has largely been pathetic during his tenure (and, contrary to some opinions, that's not a direct correlation). Him being found to have taken 'roids won't change that. I'm more upset that he deserted his teammates on the last day of the season and that there's increasing evidence that he's quite simply a bad dude.
I'm rambling now. My point is that I just can't get worked up over the steroids issue. I don't know why. Perhaps it's some failing on my part.
When do pitchers and catchers report?
posted by MH at
9:56 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home