2008 Woodie Awards
Baseball fans wonder: will steroids overshadow season?
By: Leslie Gaber
Issue date: 2/8/08 Section: Sports
There's a lot going on in Washington D.C. these days. Our country is in the midst of a controversial war with no end in immediate sight and an upcoming presidential election promising drastic changes. Yet one of Congress' largest debates right now is over the issue of steroids in Major League Baseball.
Next week, renowned pitcher Roger Clemens will testify before a U.S. House committee that he has never used steroids. His former trainer, Brian McNamee, will testify in the public hearing that he injected Clemens and teammate Andy Petitte with steroids on multiple occasions. Obviously, one of them will not be telling the truth.
Between the teary Mark McGwire, finger-pointing Rafael Palmeiro, sleazy book-selling Jose Canseco and defiant, possibly prison-bound Barry Bonds, known and suspected steroid-users have made fools of themselves in every way possible. Yet Roger Clemens, although he has dealt with his fair share of controversy, seems to stand out from the rest. Here is a seven-time Cy Young award winner, a future Hall of Famer, and an all-around respectable guy. Or so we thought.
While the majority of baseball fans would like to believe Clemens, it is getting more difficult to do so. It is a sad fact of the times that when a player has an above-average season, their integrity is immediately called into question. Few people saw Clemens's downfall coming. And even though he has not yet been proven guilty, his very association with the scandal seems like the final nail in the coffin of the entire era. The problem is obviously more widespread than many originally thought.
This is the post-Canseco, Bonds and McGwire world in which we baseball fans must trust. And in the aftermath of the Steroids Era, it's hard to figure out how we begin to trust again. Yes, MLB Commissioner Bud Selig has implemented drug-testing policies for all players, but these tests cannot detect all performance-enhancing substances. And, we have seen that some fringe players are still willing to take the chance. The majority of them (we think) have been caught, suspended and fined.
Next week, renowned pitcher Roger Clemens will testify before a U.S. House committee that he has never used steroids. His former trainer, Brian McNamee, will testify in the public hearing that he injected Clemens and teammate Andy Petitte with steroids on multiple occasions. Obviously, one of them will not be telling the truth.
Between the teary Mark McGwire, finger-pointing Rafael Palmeiro, sleazy book-selling Jose Canseco and defiant, possibly prison-bound Barry Bonds, known and suspected steroid-users have made fools of themselves in every way possible. Yet Roger Clemens, although he has dealt with his fair share of controversy, seems to stand out from the rest. Here is a seven-time Cy Young award winner, a future Hall of Famer, and an all-around respectable guy. Or so we thought.
While the majority of baseball fans would like to believe Clemens, it is getting more difficult to do so. It is a sad fact of the times that when a player has an above-average season, their integrity is immediately called into question. Few people saw Clemens's downfall coming. And even though he has not yet been proven guilty, his very association with the scandal seems like the final nail in the coffin of the entire era. The problem is obviously more widespread than many originally thought.
This is the post-Canseco, Bonds and McGwire world in which we baseball fans must trust. And in the aftermath of the Steroids Era, it's hard to figure out how we begin to trust again. Yes, MLB Commissioner Bud Selig has implemented drug-testing policies for all players, but these tests cannot detect all performance-enhancing substances. And, we have seen that some fringe players are still willing to take the chance. The majority of them (we think) have been caught, suspended and fined.
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