An old Mans thought

TR,

Why do you have to start a perfectly good weekend with a post like this?

Everyone here knows that baseball has not been serious about the steroid problem. Their policy has been a joke and the results proves it.

Now all of a sudden congress is pointing a little light on the problem and finally baseball is starting to do something.

We have all heard the saying that some things "Takes an act of congress to get things done". Evidently the steroids in baseball issue is one of them.

Kudos to the congress for helping to protect our game and our children.

Have a good weekend, I'm going to a NAIA playoff game in sunny, 80 degree weather. Life is good. Have a good weekend all.

TR,
I am just as confused about this as anyone else is. I don't want to get into a political debate, but for me the government is just getting into our lives where they don't belong.
I realize that something has to be done to control drugs in sports and great strides have finally been made in more testing, announcing those that have failed is helping to place a stigma on steroids.
I sometimes wonder if all of this is just to distract us for what is really going on in this world.
I threw in the towel this morning for further discussion after hearing about the Dolphins considering taking back Ricky! The man is an admitted user of illegal drugs. Nice role model! This is not a story of a kid having problems and needing help, this is a grown man, squandering away his salary when he had no intentions of playing. Should he be banned for life? I just don't know anymore!
JMO

TR many jobs require a drug test for employeement.

If a player is clean he is not gonna complaign and should want to weed out the cheaters in sports.

Real simple when sports take hard lines on issues, it gets cleaned up fast. Remember the black sox scandals, very little problem in baseball because of the hard line Landis took on it and it set an example for the future. Just look what happened to Pete Rose.

TR drug use in sports is a public health issue, Because of lax testing teenagers think they need to take them to compete at the next level.


Had a recent conversation with a parent of a college age player and she mentioned about maybe letting her kid take steriods to get an edge. After hearing of the side effects, such as organ damage and depression and players who killed themselves after trying to get off steriods it changed her mind fast.

Brush up on your history TR, When Stern took over NBA was filled with drug use and extremely bad PR, he took a very tough line and it cleaned up the sport. Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Michael Jordan helped the leagues image and growth alot.

I wasn't planning on paying to see the senate softball game any time soon, so if they want to get an edge by using illegal steroids and are willing to suffer the consequences including the legal consequences if caught using it is fine by me. Same goes for the lawyers, etc. As far as the entertainers go, if I'm at a concert and they are so drugged up they can't perform I'm going to join everyone else in booing them off the stage and then demand my money back.

On the other hand, when I PAY to go see a baseball game which is a competition combining skill, athletic ability and teamwork I expect all of the athletes to be competing on an equal playing ground and not cheating by using illegal steroids.

Don't you understand that people are going to question your motives when you continue to post things implying that you condone the use of steroids? Don't you understand that when you make posts like this you are implying that you condone the use of steroids?

I have no expectations that my son will ever play at that level but as he tries to advance in baseball he'll never use steroids if I have anything to say about it and I'd rather there weren't people trying to create an environment where steroid use was considered acceptable.

Look at how many minor leaguers are being caught using steroids. How many players may have dropped out of baseball prematurely because they were outcompeted by steroid enhanced players? It is possible that we've all been cheated out of seeing a late blooming great talent who was cut in favor of a steroid enhanced player.

I wrote about this some 20 years ago. I can't find the column, but here's a Reader's Digest version:

I have no problem with drug testing -- as long as everybody else has to take the same test, and the results are made public.

I don't trust my bosses. I don't trust the person giving me the test. I don't trust the people who made the test. I certainly don't trust the legislators advocating them.

But I figure if I can see their results, I have no trouble if they see mine.

I know I have nothing to hide. But if I have to wonder whether you do, drug testing ultimately fails.

My thoughts are that we need to stop trying to shift the blame elsewhere....music industry, etc.....and put the blame solely where it belongs, in sports.....with the MLB owners and union heads. If they had cleaned up their collective acts earlier.....the government would not be knocking on their doors right now......and news flash guys.....the majority of the American public....as in voters.....want to see sports cleaned up.....and with government intervention if necessary....and another news flash....all the MLB, NBA etc...has to do is institute an EFFECTIVE policy and Uncle Sam will go away....

To repeat....they need to get off their pontificating, royal behinds....read the public....and put into effect a policy that will stop the illegal usage of drugs.....to inflate stats and their wallets...

And if they do.......Uncle Sam will butt out....and you know it.....

There is a huge double standard. First thing is random testing for Government officials, Senators and Congressmen first. They can't balance their own checkbooks, they have their own pension plan etc. These folks CHEAT all the time. I hate steroids but it's the pot calling the kettle black!@!

wildthingking....are you saying that cheating is okay because everyone does it? Are you saying that because public officials can't balance checkbooks then baseball players can use steroids? So.....it's okay for kids to cheat in school....and it's okay for Little League officials to overlook forged birth certificates....and it's okay for youth umpires to take a little extra on the side...to make favorable calls.....well I guess we can go on and on....because what the heck.....congress and the senate can't balance their checkbooks.....

Arizonared

If I am to judged by somebody and told what I can and can not do I would hope that that person or persons would have the same integrity that the are proposing. Many do but I get rather nauseous when I have looked at government hearings on several instances over the many years and see a politician browbeat a judicial nominee or some other individual as if they are the epitomy of ethical behavior.

Dibble, the most lucid and well thought out comment you have posted. Why did you wait till the last week?

Will....I've said it before,and I'll say it again...all baseball has to do is institute an effective program....and congress will go away....promise. Fahr, by his arrogance and Selig, by his ineffectiveness brought this all on themselves. You want to be judged by those with honor....well I want a level playing field....I want "honorable" stats.....Fahr and Selig have not behaved honorably, nor many players....my hats off to congress!

quote:

I liked Sterns retort but now lets go further-- if the government is going to legistate sports what about the Entertainemnet field ( Music , Movies) and the legal field, the medical field andthe congressmen and senators.--Who is testing them for booze and drugs

Although I tend to be a tad to the libertarian side when it comes to the value of an overly proactive government,there's a unique side to this case and others like it that I can't let go of.
You see, I don't really care what you or yours do behind closed doors, or with your body, or what you put into your body, as long as you aren't creating a threat to the rest of society.

However, in my opinion that all goes out the window when you attempt to earn income by your image or when you push a product or service where kids are the market.
Don't give me the "not a role model" BS. When you're trying to sell my kids $50 UnderArmour and $80 video games with your mug, you'd best come to the show squeeky clean.
I still feel that part of the job description for playing a kids game for silly-huge sums of money carries with it an implied obligation to be responsible for your actions, particularly where they may impact young people.
If we agree that we don't want high school and younger kids assuming steroids are the means to the end, then every step necessary must be done to eliminate the use at the highest level.
If that means mandatory drug testing at whatever interval is necessary then so be it.

You can argue about the methods of testing - and the fairness of such methods. Probably forever.

But there is also the truth to deal with it.

The truth is: Steroids and many other ILLEGAL drugs are a major problem in the Major Leagues -on college campuses across America - and more recently - in our high schools.

At this point - I dont really care what is done - or by whom.

Just do something - fair or not.

Just do something - because this is a very serious problem that has not - at this point - been dealt with effectively with by MLB - The ***** Fehr and his ilk - or the NCAA.

The real key to beginning the process - IMO - is to neutralize the lawyers. Congress can do this in one quick swoop.

Fairness is no longer the issue - because Fehr - the lawyers and the players are not interested in fairness either.

It is time to empty the septic tank - the method just doesnt matter much at this point IMO.