The Sports Rumors

Turn the Page-Close the Chapter-Move On

“I’m not here to talk about the past. I’m here to be positive about this subject.” - Mark McGwire

Quite frankly, I’ve had enough. There are times when events or situations take place for which justice needs to be served. There are circumstances for which an intermediary is needed to settle things so that all parties feel that a fair conclusion has been reached. The Barry Bonds indictment and possible jail time is not one of those situations.

First off, let me make a few things perfectly clear. I don’t think Barry Bonds is a good human being. I wouldn’t want to be his friend or hang out. I think he’s an arrogant, moody, pompous prick to be blunt. I think that there have been numerous situations where he could have handled himself with more class than he has shown. For years, he was a rude individual to reporters from the media who were just trying to do their job and ask the star athlete questions. I’m not talking about the post steroid accusations. I’m talking about before that. I’m talking about when he wasn’t 260 pounds with a head the size of an 18 pound bowling ball. Whatever his reasons may have been for being impolite is irrelevant. The mere fact that he was unapproachable to many is irrelevant. His character and public demeanor is irrelevant.

The fact of the matter is that we cannot pick and choose who we want to persecute and go after based on their looks, attitude, nationality or race. We need to go by the specifics and the whole story. So let’s talk facts.

Fact number one says that it is moronic to think that the vast majority of baseball players during the “Steroid Era” were not using some sort of performance enhancing substances. It was called the Steroids Era for a reason; not because three guys used and the rest of the league didn’t. It is immature to think that people were not experimenting with such substances. I don’t care if you’re as straight edged as Charlie Brown. If the guys you are competing with for a roster spot are getting healthier or stronger quicker than you are because they are using, you’re going to either start using too or start filling out applications for another profession. That’s as clear as it gets.

Fact number two says that baseball knew about this all along and they turned a blind eye to it. Baseball ratings were at all time highs while McGuire and Sosa battled for the single season homerun record, followed by Bonds setting it in 2003. Do you really think that baseball was going to step up and say “Wait! Everybody stop. There is some illegal stuff going on here. We need to stop with the selling of the jerseys, the high TV ratings, and the interest in the sport and make sure everything is clean and ethical.” Absolutely not. They took a chance; rolled the dice. They thought that either they can put this problem off till later, or hope that it gets swept under the rug without people finding out. They were just as arrogant and full of themselves as we accuse Bonds to be. They took you, me, and the rest of the public to be fools. And for those of you who are naïve to think that baseball didn’t know, and I know there are some of you out there, let me paint this picture for you.

Colin has a house. He’s letting Shaun crash in his basement for a year. Everything looks good from the outside and the house is decorated really nicely. The lawn is nicely kept, the driveway is freshly paved, and there are no cracks in the brick front or the windows. Picture perfect house. Colin comes down unexpectedly one day and sees Shaun slinging cocaine out the back of the basement door. Now Shaun is making tons of money because he’s the best dope dealer on the block, and Colin starts getting money out of it for staying quiet and letting him do what he needs to do. Do you think Colin is going to make a lot of noise if he’s getting an extra 10 G’s a month for not saying anything?

Same concept. Bud Selig knew. Of course he knew. His top players, the Bonds-McGuires-Sosas, were the best dope dealers on the block. Baseball was getting their cut because of the increased interest in the homerun chase. Why squeal?

And again, as bad as steroids are, I don’t have a problem if baseball addresses it as a mistake and comes forward along with Bonds as being the enabler of the problem. But to sit there and get the government involved and put together four years of investigation to go after your dope boy? That’s wrong. For Bud Selig to turn his back on Bonds for the past several years is wrong. For everyone to make Barry Bonds as the scapegoat of the entire problem while Giambi, Sosa, and McGuire quietly go about their business is wrong. The government is trying to bring justice to this whole situation but the ironic part about it is the way they’re doing so is unjust. Taking Barry Bonds and making him the poster boy for steroids and what was wrong with baseball is not only unfair, but immoral.

And again, let me reiterate so I don’t get stupid emails calling me a steroid-condoning prick; steroids and any form of cheating in a sport is not the thing to do. I don’t condone it. But enough with everyone playing the morality card as if we’re all angels who run a straight route our whole lives. The same people who are criticizing Bonds, like Chicago Sun Times beat writer Jay Marrioti, are the same ones who collectively said that Shawn Merriman of the San Diego Chargers should be the defensive player of the year even after he was suspended for half the season due to steroid use. They are the same people who quickly dismiss the notion of putting an asterisk next to the New England Patriots perfect season, even though they were caught cheating and punished for it; but definitely want an asterisk next to Bonds homerun record even though he was never caught cheating.

Do you really think that the NFL is a clean sport where 350 pound lineman can run 4.8 second 40 yard dashes, and guys can come back from a grade three knee sprain in a matter of a week or two when in reality, it’s a month long injury at minimum? You really think that NFL players can be that big and that strong naturally? Don’t kid yourself. Quit throwing the “Steroids sets a bad example for the kids” card around so freely, just so that you can justify Bonds being put behind bars of banned from the game. You know what sets a bad example for the kids? I’ll tell you.

• Gambling on a sport (MLB)
• Most popular player found guilty of dogfighting (NFL)
• Reinstating repeat marijuana-use offenders into the league (NFL)
• Steroid using player, who was found guilty of it, winning Defensive Player of the Year (NFL)
• Having starting point guards blackmail their head coach (NBA)
• Sexual harassment cases in the front office (NBA)
• Players’ posse shooting up strip clubs (NFL and NBA)
• Coaches using cameras to cheat (NFL)
• Quarterbacks getting actresses pregnant while dating other super models. (Yeah, you’re damn right I just went there. I don’t care if it’s Tom Brady or not) (NFL)

Since we’re all so conscious and adamant about what’s good for the kids and about being role models, let’s open our eyes to other things that we either ignore or put on the backburner after a few days or weeks blow by. If you’re going to walk around with a stick and discipline people, don’t slam the stick down on certain people because you don’t like them, and lightly tap others on the wrist. That’s not fair.

The steroids problem in baseball was a terrible predicament. It is something that I’m sure, in hindsight, baseball regrets having let happen. There are a lot of things not only baseball would have done differently, but Bonds, McGuire, and Sosa would have done differently as well. However, if we want to move on with the sport and have it rehabilitate itself, we need to close the chapter on that era. There were steps being taken to instill a stiffer drug testing policy. The repeat users are being weeded out. The steroids era was looking like it was put to a close and a new era, “The Post Steroids Era”, was beginning.

But just like always, the MLB in conjunction with the government have stepped in and basically hit rewind on the whole drama. Going after Bonds doesn’t solve anything now. It’s a far stretch to think a jury will find him guilty. And suppose that they do; Then what. What are you going to do? Pretend that he didn’t break the record? Once something has been broken, justly or unjustly, it’s broken. You are not going to convince me or anyone else who is into sports that Hank Aaron is still the homerun king. He’s not. You can’t undo the past.

Baseball had a great story this year with the Yankees surging back the way they did and the season finishing with the Red Sox winning their second title this decade. There are lots of great players that are on the trade block and teams will be realigning soon. There is so much to look forward to for the sport but now we’ve all gone back into the debate mode regarding steroids.

I look at this like when two divorced parents finally get back on good terms and the child is starting to feel comfortable again. There is a sense of calmness in the air giving one the impression that “hey, everything is going to be alright now.” Then, one of the parents brings up something nasty from the past and they get back to fighting. Congratulations to the MLB and the United States Government. You have managed to throw fuel on a dying fire; once again.

“I’m not here to talk about the past. I’m here to be positive about this subject.” - Mark McGwire

Who would have thought that McGwire’s famous remarks in 2005 would make the most sense in 2007.