I do ‘roids. Who doesn’t like sticking a needle in their butt? I don’t do it to make myself look huge. (I don’t need any help in that department.) But I do it to win. To be the best I can be. If I don’t cheat, then I’m not trying. Right?
Wrong. There’s a distinction between numbers based purely on one’s own talent and stats generated when someone has enough juice pulsing through their body to fill the O.J. machine at Leo’s. Unfortunately, Major League Baseball seems to be the only league that doesn’t recognize this.
Home runs generate interest, interest increases ticket sales and ticket sales increase revenue. With apologies to Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Babe Ruth and others, the “just show me the money and forget all else” mentality has tarnished the game you helped fashion.
The unwillingness of the player’s union to act on this issue has become about as painful as a five-hour car ride with my parents. But finally, the only people who can make a difference besides Players’ Association head Donald Fehr, the United States Congress, have introduced legislation aimed at concluding this never-ending saga.
Sens. Jim Bunning (R., Ky.), a 1996 Baseball Hall of Fame inductee, and John McCain (R., Ariz.) are reintroducing legislation that would standardize drug testing and penalties for professional leagues. Based on the Olympic model, a first-time offender would be suspended for two years. A lifetime ban would result from a second positive test. One provision also urges leagues to erase records achieved with the help of performance enhancing drugs, according to the Associated Press.
It took enough roundabout talk from the players union before Congress finally “stepped up to the plate” and took this problem head on.
Commissioner Bud Selig has said all along that he would support such legislation if baseball and the union couldn’t come to a compromise, essentially begging Congress to take action. I can only breathe a huge sigh of relief that something substantial is finally being done to make the game truly drug-free or at least to punish those who act like they are above the rules.
I hope this legislation passes and I hope it passes soon. Baseball fans are exhausted with years of inaction and indecisiveness. This course of action is unfortunate, but necessary. No longer will people be breaking a simple baseball rule and get sent to the corner for a timeout. They will be breaking the law and will have to pay accordingly. Rightly so.
