Why We Really Care About Steroids

[Arlo]

The steroid debate seems to be omnipresent these days, overshadowing all other aspects of the game we love. Yet why do we care so much about steroids? The latest Point of View article takes a look at one possibility.

Feel free to post your own opinions about steroids below!

[wrveres]

disapointed that my Barry Article never got any play here

[Mookie4ever]

It's an interesting thesis Arlo - but I don't buy it.

For some time now all but the most casual of fans have acknowledged that baseball, and all big league sports, are the domain of highly skilled, highly conditioned athletes. The days of Rick Rueschel and other fat-ass sportsmen are gone. Even Sabathia, tubby though he is, is quite an athlete. They all have to work hard on their strength and conditioning in order to stand a chance in the highly competitive world of pro sports.

TV revenue has made the big leagues big money too. Athletes look for every edge that they can get because 5 more HR could mean an extra $1M come contract time, or it might mean the differece between a big league contract and obscurity in the minors.

The question is why was Barry singled out?

The public and media are quick to disregard stories about steroid use that they don't like. Dozens of US Olympic athletes failed drug tests but were allowed by the USOC to participate in the Olympics anyways. Olypmpic gold medalist Jerome Young failed a drug test. This is cheating endorsed by a public body but the story had no legs in the US because nobody wanted the guilt associated with nationally endorsed cheating.

Barry is such a big story because he is a jerk and the public and media have finally found a target for their pent up outrage over cheating in sport.

[Nomar4prez]

Personally, the reason I am so against steroids IS b/c its illegal and because it is against the games rules. If someone can find a loophole in a rule, and exploit it, I have no problem with that, but when someone's blatently breaks a rule, that just ticks me off. For example, I'm not upset that McGwire used Andro b/c it was legal, in and out of baseball, but if someone is caught for it in the coming years, then I have a problem with that.

I truly believe that 90-95 percent of the players do not use steroids. I also understand that 90-95 percent of the players do use performance enhancing drugs and "uppers." Thats part of the game, and should be. People should have the right to do with their bodies what they want, as long as they don't gain an unfair advantage against the rest of the players.

[BobbyRoberto]

Nomar4prez wrote:

Personally, the reason I am so against steroids IS b/c its illegal and because it is against the games rules. If someone can find a loophole in a rule, and exploit it, I have no problem with that, but when someone's blatently breaks a rule, that just ticks me off. For example, I'm not upset that McGwire used Andro b/c it was legal, in and out of baseball, but if someone is caught for it in the coming years, then I have a problem with that.

I truly believe that 90-95 percent of the players do not use steroids. I also understand that 90-95 percent of the players do use performance enhancing drugs and "uppers." Thats part of the game, and should be. People should have the right to do with their bodies what they want, as long as they don't gain an unfair advantage against the rest of the players.

Let's remember that baseball didn't have a steroid-testing program until last season, so any numbers put up before that should not be subject to an asterisk (despite what Sports Illustrated says). We haven't gone back and put asterisks on pitchers statistics achieved before the spitball was outlawed and I don't hear people wanting to put an asterisk beside the numbers put up by "greenie"-popping players of the 70's and 80's.

I think Congress should worry about more important things than steroids in baseball. Don't they have more important things to concern themselves with? And it's ludicrous that they are holding up the NFL as a model that MLB should follow. Raise your hand if you think the NFL is steroid-free.

Three great players, Bonds, Giambi, and Sheffield, have taken the most heat so far this spring, but Randy Velarde and Marvin Benard were also named with Bonds, Giambi and Sheffield, and I don't see people complaining about them. If steroids helped Benard hit .197 last year or Velarde hit .226 in 2002, well, they can't be that performance-enhancing.