Letters to the Editor
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Fatigue? Lack of hard facts more of an issue
The Met bat boy story failed to stimulate more press and fan consternation because it contained so few hard facts. It seems every few months the Feds (or IRS rather) will trot out some minor drug pusher/hanger-on who has some list or resource to out all those 'roided up ne'r-do-wells, yet we never get any substantial facts. The Jason Grimsley story was a perfect example. He was supposed to testify, but I've not seen any real info gleaned from his arrest.
When I can load up espn.com and find pdf's imlpicating players in some convincing fashion, then my bile will rise and I'll demand the press to hang them publicly. Until then, this, like that silly DC Madam case, seems to be a lot of nothing.
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the catch 22
King,
You've caught on to the basic contradictory nature of today's sports fan. We think our sports are awesome. And we want our sports to be clean. But we'd much rather talk about our sports awesomeness than talk about how unclean it is. Somehow we'd like it to be clean without the talking about its uncleanliness getting in the way of the talking about its awesomeness.
Unfortunately, the only way its ever going to get clean is if the media pays a lot of attention, ongoing attention, no punches pulled attention, to how dirty it is.
Oh, and also, we like to complain.
Carry on.
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Zimmer's Advice
Despite all the reasons you listed for not heeding Don Zimmer's advice, this time I have to agree with him. It's time to show Cashman the door. I would like to show a few more people the door, but I'm more than happy to start with Cash.
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I Don't Know
Why we always single out athletes.....The Beatles were trippin' when they did Lonely Hearts Club band....Edgar Allan Poe was a druggie when he wrote much of his stuff....You know Jack Nicholson would not have been to present his characters the way he did without some juice.
We don't seem to want to belittle or disqualify those achievements.
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pitching
wins baseball games, particularly playoff games. Cashman doesn't seem to know that.
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Random-ski
Sick of the drug stories? Not when it’s Palmeiro or McGwire or Bonds. It gets old when it’s a guy so random his name is Randomski.
Look, we all know that roids and greenies have been used and abused by ballplayers for a long time. I don’t need to see Keith Miller’s needle schedule from the early fall of 1991 to prove that baseball players used steriods.
Plus, in defense of the fans, steroid use in baseball has a much smaller impact on the outcome of the contest than in swimming, sprinting, cycling, football, competitive weightlifting, etc. I’m not giving away ‘get out of jail free’ cards to all baseball juiceheads, it’s just that I’m a little tired of being appalled.
Baseball is a great game with great personalities and a great history. Let’s not dedicate most of the ink to beating guys up for going with the flow fifteen years ago. Maybe Big Mac had the right idea, “let’s focus on the future and wiping out steriod use in baseball, as opposed to talking about the past.” (or something to that affect)
People shouldn’t hit their dog for taking a leak on the carpet a decade ago.
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I hate the steroids story
... and I would understand if you do. I'd much rather enjoy the beautiful clarity of sports.
But screw that, the steroid phenomenon should be the BIGGEST story in all of sports! No game, broadcast anywhere, in any sport with a taint, should fail to mention it.
And if fans get so sick of it that they turn off games -- well, maybe the various leagues would root out the corruption of their product.
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No Big Names
I was surprised as well, King, that the Radomski story wasn't beaten to death in the press like all the other steroid-related stories have been. I think Radomski's mistake was that he didn't let a couple of big names leak right from the beginning. If he had, he'd probably be signing a book deal right about now.
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Kruk
John Kruk was on Jim Rome yesterday and he was basically saying that if everyone else is doing it and there are no consequences, why would anyone not take steroids? I only caught part of it, but he seemed to imply that he didn't take them because he was concerned for his health. Rome, the complete freaking moron that he is, of course didn't ask him about the morality of cheating or breaking the law in order to swindle millions of dollars without earning it. He did seem to imply that those who were concerned with the purity of the game were naive fools.
Maybe I am, but I know that a lot of people cheat on their taxes and I could probably get away with it as well, but I don't. I know I could shoplift tons of food from the supermarket or I could label the organic lettuce as regular lettuce and save money, but I don't. It's not a fear of being caught or a concern for who else is doing what. It's about the morality of stealing or lying. I could give every student I have a B+ without reading their papers and no one would complain (and I'd get great teacher evaluations), but I feel a moral obligation to actually do what I'm paid to do.
Apparently, no one in the big leagues feels a sense of morality about this. Why haven't the Frank Robinsons and Phil Rizuttos of the Hall taken public stances on this? Why not say; if steroid users are let in, I will not come.
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What's the Difference?
Not long ago, it was routine to whisper about which movie stars had undergone cosmetic surgery. First it was kept completely secret, then it was simply taboo. Now it's accepted.
What is the difference? Our society has grown to accept physical enhancements in our media stars. Why not its athletes? It's bigger, better, more exciting. And if somebody flames out, there is a long line instant replacements. Steroids is now a non-story.
(I'm not saying this is good. I'm just the bearer of bad news.)