Hello all,
Cheaters? MLB knew full well that many 'stars' in the 90's & early 200s were juicing themselves. But MLB looked the other way since their two biggest stars at one point, McGwire & Sosa, were saving baseball with their race to the homerun record. MLB didn't care that the likes of Ken Camminety, Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire & hundreds of other players were on steroids & HGH. All it cared about was the profits coming in & the fact fans were returning to the ballpark after the 1994 cancelled season. That's why it only began to test players in 2003....not because it really wanted to, but because of pressure from Congress & baseball fans in general.
So my point is....if MLB didn't take steroids & HGH seriously, why is it considered 'cheating' by those same players whom MLB put on a pedestal at the time?
Where do you draw the line when it comes to 'cheating'? Shouldn't corrective eye surgery be considered 'cheating'? What about players playing on Red Bull? Wouldn't that be considered 'cheating' also? What about players who play for teams offering better training regimen & exercise equipment? Wouldn't this edge they have over other teams be considered 'cheating'? I could go on & on.
Whether I agree with you or not the problem here is anyone can say "SORRY" after being caught. The motivations to be sorry: future earnings, reputation, legacy, and public opinion, are extremely compelling...especially $$$. Saying sorry will never change the fact that an admitted cheater chose to do so.
We can take each case individually and take a close look at the character of the sequence of events that led to discovery and then the player's reactions. The cases with Bonds, Palmiero, Sosa, Clemens, McGwire are all different, and how it is handled after discovery has an effect. In A-Rod's case we can never forget a person who had every probability of being one of the best anyway decided to cheat. He denied, denied, denied, going on 60 minutes to tell everyone the suspicions of cheating weren't true, and only came clean when the evidence became undeniable. If he hadn't been caught he'd still be doing it, and I believe he has not come clean about how long he did it. All of that will weigh in when the time comes.
It doesn't matter how many were doing it, what the atmosphere was at the time, what mistakes or duplicity the MLB leadership and players were involved in, or what enhancements were allowed and what wasn't allowed. Everyone knew the difference, and everyone is responsible for their choices. There are no excuses for going along with everyone in the wrong.
And "Red Bull" or espresso are a long way from anabolic steroids.
maybe life takes a unexpected turn and things are not as rosey as the glasses YOU ARE looking thru.. dipstick
You mean someone may have more important things going on in their lives than the Merb sports thread. Well.....DUH! The only problem is you wouldn’t accept that if it wasn’t about one of your Yankees pals...POOPY FACE.
Thanks SK - Forbes definitely hit a home run with this ALMOST perfect list. I say "almost" because the Yankees fans should be sitting with the leafs fans in exile at the bottom of some other list. Everything else is just right, however, with Wings fans - to NO ONE'S surprise - being the best in all of hockey (thank you, thank you). Also, a well-deserved pat on the back for Sox fans - congratulations all around!
Okay, you can stay...lol.
I have to admit that A-Rod is a very talented ballplayer...and an even more talented chemistry experiment.
If you are going to take cheap shots at the Yankees I will only love you more.
excellent perspective Doc. indeed. Cheating is also a 2way street, and dont cheaters, especially admitted cheaters deserve a second chance???? for example the person who cheated on their taxes, on a exam or worse, on their spouse? are they doomed for life or should they be allowed another chance? Anyways, i believe we will one day see Arod in the Hall of Fame, and deservedly so, he made a mistake, confessed, and moved on. just like is done most of the time with my 3 examples above, it takes time for forgiveness, and Arod has years left to be forgiven and looked at in a good light.
Very considerate and human. But again, everyone knows if this subject hadn't come up because of the question of inducting A-Rod or a Yankee you’d piss on a Red Sox player rather than be considerate or human.
And how is "cheating a 2way street"? In the end the individual chooses to do it...or not do it, no matter what the influence is. Obviously, you really want to make excuses for Rodriguez.
Cheaters? MLB knew full well that many 'stars' in the 90's & early 200s were juicing themselves
‘The early 200s”? I didn’t know you are as old as I. I remember the early 200s very well. Yes, afternoons at the Roman Colosseum, the matinee criminal executions, the warm up feeding of Christians to the beasts, the gladiatorial main events. Remember the finals of 218 between Marcus Galbius and Aelius Labienus Sulla. I still say Galbius got robbed. Persians SUCK!!!
Yes you are correct...MLB and owners looked the other way. It's all about greed...it's always about greed. The almightly dollar rules, especially in the short term. Where do you draw the line...lol...MLB and the players union created the mess...let them fix it. Personally, as I stated earlier...I think the entire era should be * in the record books. Maybe we can get BALCO to put a special wing in Cooperstown...?!
'Nuff said...I could go on, but I will stop here.
Have fun,
Jman
That’s the tragedy of it. Selling the competitive integrity to the fans while being duplicitous in the whole lie.
Pffffssssst,
Merlot
