Steroids and baseball, “The Steroid Era” these words won’t seem to go away and the arguments continue to get more and more outrageous and all-in-all ridiculous. It’s not the MLB who makes the insane claims; as we all know it’s congress and more specifically media outlets in-which the true absurdity lies. Take for instance the All-Star lineup panel discussion hosted by Harvard Law School last week; top MLB brass and agents, they seem to get it. The issue of steroids was not a priority at this meeting, why? Most fans don’t care, in-fact, most fans could care less. The true blue baseball fan loves good defense, he gets his thrill from nasty breaking-balls but for the masses it is and has always been the long ball that puts the butts in the seats. Steroids or not, most fans simply want to see the ball fall over the fence; steroids or not, they don’t care.
The NFL is the prime example of the fans nonchalant attitude towards steroids. Think about it; we have grown men at 250+lbs running faster than the speed of light, hitting harder than an explosion of gun-powder; do you really think these men are magically getting faster and stronger? We’ll go into that shortly but the truth is, they’re getting faster and stronger and the fans love it and happily choose to keep their eyes closed to the truth.
The media; this is the true culprit, this is the true voice of discontent and they simply don’t get it and it’s getting worse. Scott Carson just last week, a man who has covered baseball for nearly two decades went as far to say “With all the steroid cheats having been, for the most part exposed, the days of “chicks digging the long ball” are a thing of the past.” He went on to say the fans would again find their true love in the purest form of the game. Really? After 100 plus years of baseball fans will begin to crave a slower paced less exciting game for the first time in history? Come on; are we really that naïve or is something else going on? That’s a real question; I’m actually asking because it doesn’t make any sense.
Let’s look at some truth, some cold truth. Steroids have been a part of baseball and sports in general for years, many years; far longer than most in the media are willing to admit and years beyond what most inadequately refer to as “The Steroid Era” of baseball. Has it ever occurred to any of these illuminating genius’s that perhaps there are other factors at play? Take the “Golden Era” of baseball, the years of Ruth, Gehrig, Mantle and Mays an era when off-season training was simply vacation time, an era when nutrition and supplementation was “what’s for dinner” and supplements were “what’s for desert?” Since that time weight training has become paramount to success, following strict diets to enhance performance has become of the utmost importance for many; but this couldn’t be a factor could it, it’s all about the steroids right? Uh-huh, right.
With voting for the MLB Hall of Fame once again making headline news it’s high time for those in the media to recognize the truth, to actually do some research, examine the truth and to stop spouting off at the mouth in regards to a subject they understand as well as I understand quantum physics. The truth; steroids are a part of baseball, they are a part of sports, they are a part of America as much as anything that truly makes America great. As Chris Bell put it, “Steroids are a side effect of being American” and that’s the bottom line.
