Spring Break
'Critic':
By David Nugent
in OpinionIssue date: 2/19/09 Section: Opinion
ccording to legend, "Shoeless" Joe Jackson of the 1919 ChicagoWhite Sox was approached by a child who said, "Say it ain't so, Joe," referring to allegations Jackson was one of the "eight men out" who took money to throw the World Series in what became known as the Black Sox Scandal. That child and many others were in stunned disbelief that a group of ballplayers could lose a World Series intentionally.
For some, baseball's latest scandal may have started out that way, even though the physical evidence was right in front of us. We watched players get bigger, some to Adonis proportions. We watched as the homerun numbers continued to increase. We invented different reasons-the ballparks were smaller; players were in better shape because they trained all year; the baseballs were wound tighter; the bats were of better quality, etc.
After survey testing was enacted in 2003, some players who seemed to balloon overnight were getting smaller again. The evidence was building something unnatural was going on. Everybody buried his head in the sand. Baseball was booming after years of damage cause by the 1994-'95 strike. The fans were happy to see all the homeruns. The players and owners were both making money hand over fist.
We had a suspicion something was happening. As more information leaked, as Congress called baseball on the carpet, we knew. That is why the latest news of the steroid involvement of baseball's golden boy should surprise no one.
After his name surfaced in media reports Feb. 7 that Sports Illustrated had linked him to steroids, Yankee third baseman Alex Rodriguez admitted he had used steroids. It seems curious Rodriguez, who was traded to the Yankees for Alfonso Sorriano before the 2004 season, admitted using steroids from 2001 through 2003 It seems more than a little curious he mysteriously stopped when he joined his current team.
It is not enough baseball's golden boy, the man who was going to restore all that was right with the national pastime, if and when he broke Barry Bonds allegedly tainted record, is now cast under the same shadow as Bonds. That is just the tip of the iceberg.
For some, baseball's latest scandal may have started out that way, even though the physical evidence was right in front of us. We watched players get bigger, some to Adonis proportions. We watched as the homerun numbers continued to increase. We invented different reasons-the ballparks were smaller; players were in better shape because they trained all year; the baseballs were wound tighter; the bats were of better quality, etc.
After survey testing was enacted in 2003, some players who seemed to balloon overnight were getting smaller again. The evidence was building something unnatural was going on. Everybody buried his head in the sand. Baseball was booming after years of damage cause by the 1994-'95 strike. The fans were happy to see all the homeruns. The players and owners were both making money hand over fist.
We had a suspicion something was happening. As more information leaked, as Congress called baseball on the carpet, we knew. That is why the latest news of the steroid involvement of baseball's golden boy should surprise no one.
After his name surfaced in media reports Feb. 7 that Sports Illustrated had linked him to steroids, Yankee third baseman Alex Rodriguez admitted he had used steroids. It seems curious Rodriguez, who was traded to the Yankees for Alfonso Sorriano before the 2004 season, admitted using steroids from 2001 through 2003 It seems more than a little curious he mysteriously stopped when he joined his current team.
It is not enough baseball's golden boy, the man who was going to restore all that was right with the national pastime, if and when he broke Barry Bonds allegedly tainted record, is now cast under the same shadow as Bonds. That is just the tip of the iceberg.
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