If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
Dwain Chambers, the controversial sprinter who once broke the rules by taking the same drug that prosecutors claimed helped Barry Bonds slam homers, has struck a mighty blow for fairness.
What are the implications of the jury decision that Barry Bonds had obstructed justice but was not found guilty of perjuring himself before a grand jury?
Bonds has already been convicted in the court of public opinion. The question is whether a jury trial was necessary to rubber-stamp that "conviction."
Imagine if two months after the New Orleans Saints beat the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLIV, the NFL announced that several Saints failed drug tests but the league wasn't sure what to do about it.
Clemens acted as if he could bully Congress the way he could intimidate hitters with fastballs. But perhaps the public revulsion toward cheaters and liars will help to make him the fall guy for a tainted era.
Many athletes are so determined to treat their bodies with substances that promise them competitive advantage, that they are easily duped by empty nostrums and medical charlatans.
History is a natural thing. The "winners" may write it, sometimes with considerable bias, but we've always allowed - and even begged for - baseball to be represented by statistics and shorthand.
The media performs a great disservice when it treats steroids as miracle drugs.When we link PEDs to McGwire, we link steroids to success that had very little to do with drugs. It's like featuring the Beatles as the center of an anti-pot campaign.
If baseball had any self-respect left, it would be too ashamed to let an admitted cheat like McGwire into their clubhouse, much less hire him as an adviser and role model for their players.
It continues to amaze me how every time the sordid tale of Mark McGwire and steroids surfaces, the bottom line in this story is continually missed. Mark McGwire did not break one single rule of baseball.
McGwire's admission will be characterized by some as a tragedy and by others as justice served. The far more difficult issue is whether the steroids really did help him reach the fences.
Here is the answer: let them in. And not just the steroid guys. Rose, Shoeless Joe, all of them. Put them all in the Hall of Fame. Except, not really. Here's what I propose: a Hall of Fame purgatory.
From a medical or scientific perspective, Floyd Mayweather is supported in his conclusion that to adequately test for banned substances, blood must be drawn randomly.
If there's still work to be done in cleaning up the sport, saying it's ancient history and blaming the messenger doesn't help.
Attempting to stop steroid use in sports is about as dumb as trying to stop drug use in general. Wasn't that tried once before? Oh yeah, it was called Prohibition. How'd that work out again?
These drugs constitute one of the most powerful classes of drugs known to medicine, and not to be entrusted to street dealers, strength coaches, gym rats or mail-order hucksters.
