Well
it finally happened. On Monday, Major League Baseball set a group of
PED using witches ablaze whilst tied to a stake and miraculously they
all escaped unscathed. Witches!
In
the latest episode of what has descended into a PED witch hunt,
several MLB players, most notably Alex Rodriguez, Nelson Cruz, and
Jhonny Peralta, received hefty suspensions after an investigation
into the now defunct Biogenesis anti-aging clinic concluded. Ryan
Braun, who repeatedly pleaded his innocence after testing positive
for PEDs after an MVP season, was suspended as well last week. With
all that was being reported in the media, this is hardly surpising as
all the guilty parties were suspended for 50 game with the exception
of Braun who received 65 games and Rodriguez who was in for a world
of hurt.
MLB
decided to assess Rodriguez a 211 game suspension, and it was widely
speculated that they were pursuing a lifetime ban from MLB. Wait, can
they do that?
Well
as we have found out, they can certainly try. Although Rodriguez is
appealling the decision, which will likely keep him in the Yankees
lineup for the rest of the season, its very likely he will miss most,
if not all, of next season. At the age of 38, he is essentially
facing a career death sentance.
So
why drop the hammer on A-Rod?
The
reasoning given by Major League Baseball for the lengthy suspension
is that Rodriguez attempted to cover up his use of PEDs by trying to
buy documents and pay people off so they would not talk to MLB. But
didn't all of the accused try on some level to cover up their usage
of PEDs? Didn't Ryan Braun basically accuse the man who handled his
urine sample of tampering with it? And didn't he get away with it for
a time? What about Melky Cabrera who was caught last year, and set up
a fake web site to try to cover it up? Why didn't these two in
particular get 211 games?
The
answer is plain to me: Bud Selig is trying to save face.
After
the strike shortened season of 1994, baseball was floundering. A
sport that was at the height of popularity was suddenly forgotten.
Fans were furious and looked elsewhere to get their sports fix. That
is, until the magical season of 1998 when Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa
chased Roger Maris' long held single season home run record. It was
during this season baseball became relevant again as one of the most
prominent records in all of sports was destined to be broken.
Behind
the scenes, Bud Selig had to know what was going on. He had to know
that baseball had become overrun with PEDs, but instead of doing
something about it, he stood idly by and watched baseball gain back
the popularity it lost.
Then
the Jose Cansecos of the world brought the truth to the masses and
after congressional hearings and the Mitchell Report and cries of the
fans to bring these cheaters to justice, it suddenly became more
important to appease the townspeople and burn these witches at the
stake.
Who
could resist a good ol' fashioned with hunt?
The
names started pouring in. Palmeiro .. Bonds .. Clemens .. McGwire ..
Sosa .. Pettitte .. A-Rod .. many of the most prominent players of
the previous decade, and numerous not-so prominent ones, were thrown
off the proverbial cliff. If they flew away, they were obviously
witches. If they didn't, oh well, there's no way they would have
survived the fall, so screw them.
Which
brings us to Monday. Selig saw an opportunity to change his legacy,
to erase the memory of losing a season to a strike and letting the
PED epidemic reach epic proportions and replace it with that of a
crusader who cleaned up the game of baseball once and for all. And
what better way to cement that legacy in the minds of baseball fans
than to kick a high profile, serial PED user like Alex Rodriguez out
of the game for good?
It
sets a dangerous precedent when Selig is able to do this unilaterally
by invoking the "good of the game" clause in the Collective
Bargaining Agreement. Does this mean that any player with a bad
public image can be tossed from the game for good after one violation
of the league's drug policy? Few can argue that Alex Rodriguez is a
rotten, dispicable, self-serving human being, but that is hardly a
basis for throwing an extreme penalty like a lifetime ban, or even a
211 game suspension after one proven violation of the league's drug
policy. Quite frankly, it's BS.
It's
BS, and I'm beyond sick of hearing about it. I flat out don't really
care anymore. I don't care who cheats and who doesn't, because I
honestly believe the truth is that most players cheat in one way or
another. This idealistic notion that the majority of professional
athletes are "clean" is a load of whoey. I truly believe
that it just doesn't happen. If it came out tomorrow that, despite
what Don Cherry would have you believe, a majority of NHL players
were using PEDs before they started testing for them or that they
still are, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised. The cheaters always
have the advantage because they can't test for what they don't know
about, and as long as you are ahead of the curve you're fine. Science
is an amazing thing when you get it working for you.
And
what does it mean to be "clean" anyway? Where is the line
drawn? Should these guys be banned from drinking protein shakes or
eating energy bars or any of that good stuff you can get at your
local health food store? Does that not enhance performance? Learning
that baseball players were doing steroids had about the same effect
on me as learning that WWF wrestling wasn't real. It was something I
suspected was true but didn't detract one bit from the entertainment
value I derived from watching it. In short, they can juice all they
want, I don't care. I'll still watch baseball and still enjoy it.
Is
this the end? Certainly not, and that's a shame. I can only hope that
this incident serves to take the torch out of the hand of Bud Selig
and give all these witches the right to due process when it comes
time to tie them to a stake and lay kindling at their feet.
-matt
