You’re All So Dirty!

Steroids have steered our perception in the wrong direction. And by our, I mean ev-er-y-one, from fans, to athletes, to Congress.

It all started in the summer of ’98 when McGwire and Sosa pounded record setting home runs over the fence on almost a daily basis. It brought baseball back from the '94-'95 strike shortened seasons and gave people a reason to watch again.

Then Barry Bonds broke their records,and in came the Mitchell Report, and the scandals, and the testings, and the statements in court. By the way, doesn’t our government have better things to worry about?

Now instead of admiring player’s peak performances we question how they arrived at their skill level to the point that Congress gets involved. And the answer is almost always some type of illegal performance enhancer.

Raul Ibanez, 37, is having the best season of his career and a fellow blogger questioned where the newly found talent came from. Ibanez had a little ‘roid rage episode over the accusations.

Come on Raul, don’t be so naive. This is the drug induced era of sports and when another 37 year old playing some of the best ball of his career, Manny Ramirez, just tested positive you have to expect the question to pop up.

Noticeably the only names I’ve mentioned so far are baseball players, so why does the sports industry, and the government at that, focus so much attention on just the juiced up baseball guys? I guess it's just tradition because baseball is America's pastime.

But, there are plenty of football players who have tested positive and if they haven’t at least look like they should be testing positive. Then there’s LeBron James who’s a freak of nature at 6’9”, 250 lbs., can jump, run fast, and doesn’t get tired. And that’s not even going into the bicyclist and body builders.

Steroids have been around forever. A guy in his 50s told me he took steroids in high school and got them from his doctor. So why aren’t we questioning all the athletes instead of just the ones from the past two decades?

What is the difference between steroids and 5 hour energy drinks, or greenies (caffeine pills baseball players took years back), or lower mounds, or bigger sweet spots on bats, or shorter home run fences? They all enhance performance in different ways so let’s let the games begin and enjoy the iconic millionaire monsters as they entertainment us with their hard hits, home runs, and slam dunks. Who cares if they need that little extra boost to keep us entertained because they give me that little extra boost to get me through my little stressed out and work filled dull days. And shoot me up another performance enhancing coffee while you’re at it so I can focus on my next blog.