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Cheating is part of baseball's culture -- it's time to stop being hypocritical.
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Sammy Sosa did steroids? Really? What a shock.
Cheaters. Liars. Criminals.
Indignant media and fans brand baseball players who used steroids with words like that.
Sammy Sosa, former Cub and of course, an Astros killer, is the latest to have his name come out from the now infamous 2003 list of players who tested positive for something.
Those names were never supposed to be public. But so what if they are? So what if we find out more people used performance enhancers?
It is a part of the culture of baseball, and in fact, sports in general.
Sosa finished his career with 609 home runs, sixth on the all-time list. He hit 42 homers and drove in 104 runs in 163 games against the Astros.
Should the Astros get some of those games back? How about the Astros pitchers getting their ERAs redone?
Oh yeah. Roger Clemens was one of those pitchers. Andy Pettitte. Cheaters, liars, criminals both.
Performance enhancing drugs simply were and are part of the game.
The Astros have had their share of cheats, liars and criminals. Besides Clemens and Pettitte, Ken Caminiti was an unfortunate soul who was a steroid user; he was troubled in many other ways, and wound up dead long before his time.
Whispers always surrounded Jeff Bagwell, and some around Craig Biggio as well. Dare bring that up in Houston, and you were crucified.
Current Astros Miguel Tejada and Ivan Rodriguez are constantly linked to performance enhancers as well.
Who knows if any of those players used? And as with Sosa, who cares?
Purists who wish to brand them cheaters and leave them out of the Hall of Fame should look at some of the players from the 1970s and 80s, many who were hyped up on Amphetamines or Cocaine.
That didn't have an impact on the game?
Steroids have been around for decades. Who knows who was on them? Who knows what other performance-enhancers existed?
It's time to quit making a big deal out of the A-Rod's and Sosas of the world.
Baseball is a game by and for cheaters. It has been from the beginning of time. Spitballers, sign-stealers, corked bats, catchers who frame pitches and slide their gloves into the strike zone -- it is all cheating. Baseball is a game built on deception, from fake throws to third, hidden ball tricks and even the art of pitching itself.
But men who push their bodies to the limits with performance enhancers and hardcore workout routines are cheaters, liars and criminals?
You don't get a Mark McGwire or Sammy Sosa body simply by shooting steroids into your butt. And they are no a magic elixir that suddenly makes you a beast. Steroids help you recover from workouts faster so you can lift more and work out more, and thus make yourself bigger. They can't make you more than what you are. They can't make you suddenly hit a ball 500 feet if you couldn't hit a curve ball in the first place.
Purists whine about the integrity of the game. Because baseball is such a numbers sport, its milestones are hallowed ground.
Get over yourselves.
How many strikeouts did Nolan Ryan get with scuffed baseballs? Is that not cheating? Yet no one dares question him.
Steroid abuse is a big problem, especially among high schoolers -- not always athletes, either, but merely young men and women trying to make themselves look better. The costs and dangers of anything like that should always be weighed, and kids should be educated. After that, there isn't much you can do except try to warn them if you suspect.
To blame it on athletes, however, is ridiculous. And it's time for the media and fans to quit raking the Sosas of the world over the coals.
Baseball media in the 1990s ignored many of the warning signs, then tried to blame Bud Selig for doing the same. Those same reporters get indignant now, and give the same defense Selig did -- "we didn't know."
Many reporters or columnists who did bring up the possibility of steroids in the 1990s or tried to investigate it were laughed at or stymied.
So let's dispel that myth now; a lot of journalists suspected. They either couldn't prove it, or in some cases didn't want to try. Others buried their heads in the sand. Owners gave big contracts and packed stadiums with fans who wanted to see home runs and big numbers.
Now the players are cheaters? Liars? Criminals?
Please. Owners, players, media and yes, even fans deserve blame, too. It is hypocritical to rip into the players now.
Regardless, baseball has a testing policy now. If you get caught, you sit out. Ask Manny Ramirez how that is going for him.
You also get suspended for corked bats. Scuffing balls.
All part of the culture of the game. All part of baseball. What McGwire, Sosa, Clemens, all of them did was not even punishable by baseball at the time.
Cheaters. Liars. Criminals.
Time to retire those words. Time to stop being indignant.
Time to stop splashing players faces all over the Internet every time something comes out.
It's time for baseball to become football. Does anyone ever mention Shawn Merriman anymore? Rodney Harrison? Julius Peppers?
They got caught, they served time. Done and done.
Baseball's fans and media need to get to the same point.
Cheaters. Liars. Criminals?
The hypocrites should look in the mirror.
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