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Steroids, Scandal, and Sports:
The MLB & the Aftermath of the Mitchell Report
In a world where athletes become role models faster than parents and educators, there is nothing more upsetting to those of us raising children than scandals involving drugs, illegal activities, and deception that is splashed across the front pages of newspapers and the home pages of news Web sites. The headlines jump out at us, eclipsing any good news we hear about sports men and women of integrity, who have a solid reputation and the stoic characters that warm our hearts and should be the main stories of each day. But they are not, because the intrigue and scandals always win out.
There have always been scandals in sports. The players are human and they make mistakes, but these issues are becoming more and more commonplace and widespread. It almost feels odd when there aren’t any news breaking tales of deceit and underhanded ways to get ahead on the scoreboards and into the history books.
In the MLB this year, there have been more headlines than there have been in quite awhile. The steroids scandals which began to blossom in 2004 with the denials of Bonds and Palmeiro that they ever used steroids in front of a grand jury has exploded in the last month with the release of the Mitchell Report, naming nearly 80 MLB players as being involved with or using performance enhancing drugs, many of them superstars in today’s standards.
This revelation turns even more eyes to the proposed asterisk on the ball that Bonds hit to get the home run record. It makes all of us doubt the sport that has been dubbed “America’s Pastime.” It makes us all wonder ... was any of it real?
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Some claim that the competitiveness of MLB today makes the use of steroids and performance enhancing drugs a necessity. That smaller players don’t have a prayer of climbing their way out of the minors without some chemical assistance. That fans didn’t come to see the scrawny guys; they want to see the out of the park home runs by the super sluggers who need a new jersey every month to accommodate their ever-growing biceps. Not me. I go to games to see raw talent. To experience the game at its finest. To “root, root, root for the home team.”
This makes us question everything we know and love about baseball. Now we’ll look twice at every home run, at every stand out performance, at each player that looks bigger than they did the previous year. We’ll wonder during the regular season what games result in legitimate wins and what playoff berths were actually hard earned and not a potentially fake performance. We’ll go back and analyze games on ESPN Classic and remember the “good ol’ days” when players were small and could still pack a powerful homer to win the game.
What’s even more heartbreaking is when it’s a member of the team that you cheer for the loudest. The recent list of Indians players, both past and present, that were included the infamous list tore at my heart. You never want to think of your team as doing anything underhanded to get ahead in the standings. But it happens. From the beloved White Sox that were accused of throwing the World Series to the present day lineup of accused players like Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, and Johnny Damon, controversies can shake up the most devoted fan base.
There are those players who admitted using them to get over injuries, but the question mark is still accompanying them whenever they take the field. It makes it difficult to defend them when the mud begins to fly. Now, everyone is covered with the muck that has been unearthed with this report.
The real question is “what now?” What do we do with this? What do we tell the young people who have these guys’ pictures on their walls and mirror their workout plans after theirs? How do we wipe clean the dust of this fallout and carry on? The answer is that we don’t know, but we will.
Somehow or other, we will join the ranks of loyal fans once again filing into the ballpark in April, donning our teams’ gear to show pride, and making the signs in the great hopes that we will make it on the big screen at the park or on TV to brag to all our friends. Baseball is a part of all of us in one way or another. So many of us have fond memories of that first game with our dads (or moms) and how that first ballpark hot dog tasted. It isn’t called “ America’s Pastime” for no reason. It’s earned the title and we will continue to uphold it.
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I’m not saying it doesn’t matter. It does. It has aroused our suspicion of something as seemingly pure as baseball and as honorable as the players who wear the uniforms. It has given some kids the idea that steroids are a necessity for success in professional sports. And above all else, it has caused a wound in the world of baseball.
But, I believe the wound will heal. Those of us who have children are mindful of the damage control that we now have to face as our young ones ask the tough questions. Players are human after all and make mistakes just like the rest of us, but I will be watching the commissioner to see what actions he takes to rectify this situation and how it will be handled. That will be the true test in the aftermath of the press conferences, the World Series, and the controversial punctuation that may or may not make its way into the Baseball Hall of Fame. It will be the deciding factor for the most loyal fans that honor the purity of the game. It will be in the forefront of our minds which each opening pitch and every time the commissioner calls a press conference. It will be there, and we will all be watching.
by Angela Moore