thoughts on a-rod
FINALLY – somebody has come clean about using steroids. I’ve previously written on a few occasions how people forgive and forget faster if everything is out on the table. I’m sure that fans won’t ever fully forgive A-Rod for his steroid use, but A-Rod has certainly put himself in a better position than the positions in which Clemens, Bonds, and McGuire have put themselves.
I also wrote several months ago about how we have to start blaming MLB, and not the players. The steroid policy that MLB set up in the late 90s and early 2000s was a bunch of crap. And you know why? Because it didn’t exist! MLB didn’t explicitly ban steroids until 2004, or about 6 years after it was painfully obvious that McGuire and Sosa were juicing, or at least on something, during their 1998 home run chase. How could Bud Selig not know that this was occuring? Instead, we watched as he laughed all the way to the bank, reaping the rewards of that season.
Because MLB wasn’t testing for so many years, of course there are going to be a large number of players looking to gain that (allowed) competitive edge. Why? Because it wasn’t against the rules, large contracts and records were up for grabs, and MLB allowed (and, by glorifying the power records, borderline encouraged) it to happen.
When banks offered sub-prime mortgages to consumers who were in no financial position to undertake them, of course the consumers are going to sign on the dotted line. Why? Because regulators allowed it to happen, and because hey, now people are able to buy a house!
When U of I works out a deal with Champaign, IL to allow 19-year-olds into the bars, of course the underage students are going to head straight for Kams’ finest Miller High Life. Why? Because they were allowed into the bar! And then the University sits back and complains about underage drinking on campus.
Do you see a trend here?
So how can MLB sit back and allow all the players to be the bad guys, when it should be pointing at itself. Yes, the players are partially to blame, but this mess would have been substantially mitigated had MLB acted sooner than it did.
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