www.global2.comWho wants to see Barry Bonds break Hank Aaron’s career home run record now? Then again, who doesn’t? So Barry Bonds does steroids. You call that news? According to a poll on ESPN.com, 80 percent of people “always thought he used steroids” and stated that his testimony did not change their opinion of him. And more than 93 percent of the voters said that steroid use “taints the game [of baseball].”
To be fair, we don’t really know that Bonds did steroids knowingly. All we know is that Bonds’ alleged best friend and personal trainer, Greg Anderson, was also Jason Giambi’s trainer. Giambi, the Yankee who confessed to using steroids, contended that Anderson was honest with him about the substances he supplied him. So if you wish to believe that Anderson was honest with Giambi about the steroids but dishonest with his best friend, that’s your prerogative.
The fact is, whether or not Bonds is lying is hardly the issue here, despite the fact that perjury is illegal by the U.S. Constitution. Nevertheless, the MLB makes it so easy to take steroids and get away with it-who wouldn’t? Especially when you’re asked to compete with such strong and speedy sluggers like Jason Giambi (well, last season at least) and Barry Bonds.
So many fans and reporters are condemning baseball commissioner Bud Selig for focusing too much on the future of drug use in baseball and not enough on how to punish the perpetrators. But what choice does he have?
At this point, Bonds is, for the most part, protected by the law. Anderson isn’t ratting him out, and probably never will. While people may be suspicious, no one can prove that he knew he was injecting himself with anabolic steroids and didn’t think it was a legal substance.
Giambi, on the other hand, may have more to worry about. Yankees’ owner George Steinbrenner is seeking to undo Giambi’s contract and has been in touch with the commission. His argument? The steroids almost invariably caused Giambi’s pituitary tumor, which contributed to his absence from all but 80 games and his .208 batting average in 2004. However, Giambi’s grand-jury testimony, in which he confessed to conscious use of anabolic steroids, was supposed to be confidential.
Some analysts and reporters have argued that had Giambi performed better this season, this would not be an issue. Furthermore, if Giambi is penalized, won’t Bonds need to suffer some consequences as well? It would only be fair…
But, do we really want to see the MLB punish Barry Bonds? To see the MLB make drug testing so rigid that we won’t be seeing half the amount of balls go out of the park that we see now? To see world records deemed insignificant? To risk missing out on watching history be made?
I’d like to think that we could all answer yes to all of these questions. But baseball has become so much about home run records. And they’re going to get easier to beat if Selig doesn’t do something soon.
The U.S. Olympic Committee issues two-year suspensions to any athlete who tests positive for steroids and bans them for life if it happens again. A player who tests positive in the NCAA loses eligibility for at least a year. And yet, the current steroids policies in the MLB are nothing less than absolutely ludicrous.
First of all, each player is only tested once between the start of spring training and the end of the regular season. Furthermore, the first time a baseball player tests positive for steroids, the penalty is counseling. For a second offense, he gets a 15-day suspension or a $10,000 fine; for a third offense, a 25-day suspension or a $25,000 fine; for a fourth offense, 50 days or $50,000; and it is not until the fifth positive test that a player can be suspended for a year or charged $100,000. But when you’re Barry Bonds and making $18 million each season, $100,000 is pocket change after five years.
Beyond that, there are ways around testing positive when you’re taking steroids. Some athletes use “masking agents” and others can find steroids with calculable detection periods.
My question is, why weren’t efforts underway six years ago-when Mark McGwire admitted to using Androstenedione, a dietary supplement containing steroids not yet banned by the MLB-to not only tighten policies on steroid use, but also to make the testing more precise?
Apparently, they are now. But until then, the hardest part about getting steroids is getting into the major leagues. Good luck with that.