| |
Congress
Prepares to Take on Steroids
by Jonathan
Leshanski
March 17, 2005
For
other articles on steroids or drugs in baseball please follow
this link
Bud Selig and Donald Fehr
have been playing us all along. Baseball’s drug policy is the
same that is has been right from the start – an exercise in
public relations, denial, and damage control. If you have been visiting
this site for any amount of time then you probably know my opinions
on steroids (you can find more steroid
articles by google searching on the index, archive, or fantasy archive
pages) and you also probably know what I think of the new
drug policy. It’s a sham largely perpetrated by Donald
Fehr, the head of the MLBPA Player’s Union, who allowed the
CBA (Collective bargaining Agreement) to be re-opened and a drug
policy created.
Of course the policy we got was what Donald Fehr “allowed”
- it was not negotiated since the owners had nothing on the table
to negotiate with. It was done as window dressing in an attempt
to stop legislators from looking into the dark corners of locker
rooms and to keep up the wall of silence (Open
Letter To Players about Steroids) when it came to steroid use.
In recent weeks however Congress has decided that baseball was not
being open, that the National Pastime’s rulers were deceiving
the American public and creating monsters among child athletes seeking
to imitate their idols.
Earlier this week, Commissioner Bud Selig offered to make a “quiet
investigation” into baseball’s steroid past. It’s
a past that is arguably much longer than the last 30 years but the
time for quiet investigations really has passed. It’s time
to drag baseball’s dirtiest secret out onto the biggest stage
that lawmakers possess and expose the truth. Many writers, sportscasters,
and even friends have told me that baseball should police its own
house. MLB has had the chance time and time again. But baseball
is a house divided, ruled by two forces that can’t agree or
won’t agree on anything that won’t benefit their own side.
So, we get window dressings, paper tigers, and policies that one
could drive a truck through - in addition to a sport that has continued
to sweep problems under the rug and hope the public doesn’t
notice.
The beginning of the end of that, at least when it comes to steroids,
comes today. The Congressional hearings may indeed be somewhat self
serving and they will probably allow some lawmakers to make names
for themselves. They may even dig up a lot of old dirt, but the
truth is that these hearings are not about baseball’s past
but about baseball’s future, and perhaps even the future of
professional sports. While neither the owners, nor the player’s
union can alter the CBA without consent of the other, Congress creates
laws and is able to issue sanctions. They can change the law thus
changing the game.
So, what is the point of having hearings looking into baseball’s
past? Perhaps because of the old expression - “those who ignore
history are doomed to repeat it." The investigation of baseball’s
past won’t change anything that has been accomplished and it’s
not likely that anyone will be headed to jail. No records will be
expunged. It’s not happening because congress cares all that
much about how millionaires abuse their bodies. It’s about
the fans, especially the young fans that might emulate the “heroes”
that they see on the field either of their own volition or under
the influence of a parent that sees their child’s athletic
future as a road to easy street.
It’s not just an allegation of Jose Canseco’s, but one
that has come from the mouth of many others, that steroids were
what gave them a career and made them ballplayers. It’s just
as true today though the only ones that have truly come clean have
been the Giambi brothers. That’s a powerful lure, especially
to kids who have little or nothing and come from impoverished backgrounds.
They don’t see the liver damage, or kidney disease, or remember
the young athlete that died of a heart attack 30 years too young.
What they see are the fancy cars, supermodels, and lots of money.
Even knowing the consequences it’s a trade that many kids would
choose to make. Self-destructive players are nothing new to baseball
- narcotics, alcohol, and steroids have taken their toll on ballplayers
over the years. However baseball has never taken a stand on any
issues like this - only on gambling and cheating, which they have
taken a strong stance upon. But that was before the CBA and the
Player’s Union - forces that previous commissioners like Kennesaw
Mountain Landis or Ban Johnson never had to deal with.
The games may not be the fixed games that Landis and Johnson clamped
down on, but steroids are a cheat and they threaten the integrity
of the game - not just the records. It’s the integrity of the
game that should concern us. The games need to be fair and played
on a level playing field, even the impression that one team might
be chemically enhanced, while another is clean, especially in a
World Series situation could do more damage to the sport than the
Black Sox ever did. Hopefully these hearings will force the Commissioner’s
office and the Players’ Union to stop the manipulation. It
is time to create and enforce a real drug policy and to fix our
game before it is damaged beyond repair.
Please
visit our forums to share your thoughts or comments on this subject!
|
|
