Thoughts on A-Rod and Steroids

Imagine you're at work one day, sitting at your desk pouring over a spreadsheet with various cash flow models. You're tired, pulling long days with a hard-ass boss breathing down your neck. While at lunch a co-worker comes up to you tells you about this substance that some other guys at work have been taking. It helps them get through the long-hours with incredible ease, relaxes their eyes muscles so they don't develop strain staring at the computer screen, enhances concentration so all of your models are more accurate. That last round of promotions; all of the people on the list were using. The guy who got the biggest bonus? Him too. And further more nobody cares if you use; in fact, there's tacit approval from the people on high. Under those circumstances; where there is seemingly no downside but a tremendous upside, what do you do?

I just want to contrast Michael Phelps and Alex Rodriguez for a second. First, a few admissions. I think marijuana should be legalized; I don't think it's harmful to society, certainly not any more harmful than cigarettes or alcohol. And I also think that there should be testing for steroids in sports, and that players caught using steroids are subject to whatever penalties the organization comes up with. If there were tests and clear rules before 2004, then there wouldn't be a problem.

But there wasn't any testing regime in baseball before 2004. And marijuane still is illegal. You mean to tell me that it's okay for someone to use an illegal drug for recreation but it's not okay for someone to use an illegal drug to make them better at their job? What kind of sense does that make? Now, there are plenty of reporters out there who are going hard at both Michael Phelps and Alex Rodriguez- most of them are tired old blowhards who love to talk about how great the old days of baseball were (like the coked-out 80's or speed-junky 60's). But there are other people, people I'd categorize as more liberal in some respects, who are cool with Michael Phelps smoking weed at a party but are getting all self-righteous because Alex Rodriguez somehow ruined the sanctity of the sport. They want it both ways I suppose. Part of it is that most of the commentators have smoked weed before, know that it's not some nefarious substance that's undermining our national morals, and thus can sympathize with Michael Phelps. Most people who have commented on the subject have not taken steroids; I'm sure they see it as the rich getting richer in some respect. Shoot, I see it as the rich getting richer. But we're being more than a little disingenuous if absolve Michael Phelps completely while piling extra hard on Alex Rodriguez.

I think it's pretty safe to say that baseball (as well as track, football, and pretty much all athletics) had a steroid culture. It wasn't just a couple of rogue players; there were 104 players on that list, or a quarter of the people who qualified for the batting or ERA titles, 9% of the people on 40 man rosters. And those were just the people who tested positive on the test date. Certainly, the amount of people using steroids solely to recover from injuries was higher still. There was no actual testing until 2004; no specific rule against it's use in baseball. There were all the incentives in the world to use it and virtually none not to. Yeah, it's illegal- that doesn't stop people from smoking weed or snorting coke. And what were the chances of getting caught? If something has all kinds of benefits and few forseeable downsides.. well, I mean people smoke crack just to get high, what makes you think someone won't inject some stanazol to make more money?

I guess that most of the outrage stems from the fact that somehow the achievement of Alex Rodriguez has somehow been dampened. I can see that, we want to believe that athletic achievement is completely derived through hardwork and dedication. When people realize that many (most?) athletes use some kind of chemical enhancement it makes them cynical. But does anyone honestly believe that Alex Rodriguez is not a tremendous baseball player, one of the very best of his or anyones generation? Does anyone think that the only thing that made him a great player was using steroids? If the use of performance-enhancing drugs was as ubiquitous as I believe (and circumstantial evidence suggests) then I think that A-Rod's achievements relative to his peers is pretty much where the numbers suggest. Roided up pitchers vs. roided up hitters competing with roided up minor leagues for jobs. All with the tacit approval of ownership.

One final note. Gene Orza needs to fall on his sword as quickly as possible. How could the players union possibly let all of this come out? The tests should have been destroyed as soon as next years testing determination was made. Orza wanted to fight the subpoena that the Feds had for the BALCO players records (Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi, etc.) which left the door open for all of the records being subpoenaed if the Feds so wished. And god-damn does our government leak like a broken faucet, sealed grand jury testimony, anonymous test results, it's all getting out there if it's connected to a high-profile baseball fan. Now if they'd only leak about important things- like say the oh-so-important "state secrets" in the Biyam Mohamed case, where the Obama adminstration is using Bush style tactics to dismiss an entire case connected to the torture and rendition of the previous administration. More on that later. The players union, after talking to their members, might want to preemptively release the other 103 names on the list instead of letting all of the star players get leaked first, followed by a bunch of no-names who will get even further lost in the crowd. Then maybe people will finally understand that it's not just the guys chasing records who are using, but the bench players too. I mean, if Neifi Perez; this NEIFI PEREZ, was on the juice, how helpful could it have been?