Forget Bonds. Here's the real steroids issue
May 25, 2006, St. Helena Star
If there is one thing I confess to, it is being a creature of habit. What is that habit, you ask?
Well, for starters I scour the sports sections of regional and national newspapers to see if I find something that catches my interest.
About a week ago, I took a gander at the Web site of the Petaluma Argus-Courier, which is a weekly newspaper in -- you guessed it -- Petaluma. I found a column by sports editor John Jackson. I have never met Mr. Jackson, but his column caught my attention.
The column was headlined "Real challenge is keeping kids off steroids." After reading it, I just wanted to say, "Thank you for being a voice of reason." In Jackson's case, the column hits close to home as former Casa Grande High athlete Rob Garibaldi committed suicide at least in part as a result of steroid use.
Meanwhile, the Houston Chronicle recently reported that Plano West High School athlete Taylor Hooton took his life in what his parents believe is an incident connected to steroid use.
In case you've been hiding in an igloo at the North Pole for the past few years, steroids have been a hot topic, with several current and former Major League baseball players being linked to alleged use. The names include but are not limited to Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Jose Canseco and Rafael Palmeiro.
Bonds, the San Francisco Giants slugger, remains atop the headlines on the topic because he's the only active player among those mentioned. Bonds, of course, also dominates the news because he recently matched Babe Ruth's mark of 714 career home runs and is in pursuit of Hank Aaron's all-time home run record of 755.
But many of the people on their high moral ground about steroid use have been hypocritical when voicing their displeasure about athletes using the substance. After all, they had no problem cheering when balls were flying over the fence at record pace eight years ago. Now, they are bent out of shape. Something just doesn't wash here.
In fact, the commonly believed theory is that the spirited home run record chase between McGwire and Sosa in 1998 saved baseball after many fans were disgruntled following the 1994 strike, in which there was no World Series.
Before I go any further, I'm going to make one thing perfectly clear: I do not condone steroid use. While I do not have children, I would strongly discourage my child from using them -- which brings me to my next point.
Do you honestly think that going round and round discussing how many home runs do or do not stem from steroid use is going to solve the "real" issue at hand here? Those who think that way are delusional at best, and ignorant at worst.
For starters, figuring exactly how much steroid use helps a baseball player hit home runs is pure speculation until someone does a scientific study that proves the impact of the drugs. Not that I plan to do so, but I could start taking steroids today and bulk up like Charles Atlas. It might help me lift an SUV off the ground, but because of my lack of baseball prowess it won't make me hit those 90 mile per hour fastballs at Scandia any better. There is much more to hitting a baseball than brute strength.
Notice how people don't talk about those baseball players who used steroids but amounted to very little. Does the name Alex Sanchez ring a bell?
The real issue is not athletes cheating to achieve more success, which could translate into making more millions of dollars. Athletes at nearly every level were involved in some form of cheating long before Bonds every supposedly used steroids.
Those forms of cheating include but are not limited to stealing signals from other teams, pitchers doctoring baseballs (i.e. Gaylord Perry's spitball and Mike Scott's sandpaper), Fred Biletnikoff and Lester Hayes using "Stick um" to help catch footballs, Karl Malone using a leg kick to push away rivals when going for a jumpshot or a rebound. The list could go on but I don't think this newspaper has enough space.
One reason for the uproar over Bonds is that he might break the career home run record.
But, at the rate his body is breaking down, it's not a given that he'll break Aaron's record anyhow. If he does, so what? Regardless of sport, who are we to say which record is any more important than the other?
It's time the holy roller hypocrites to realize that we can't do anything about the professional athletes who have used steroids.
Who we need to think about is high school or college athletes, and to put the fear of God into them about using the substances. Never mind how many of the home runs Bonds, McGwire, Sosa, or Canseco hit are linked to steroids.
The point of emphasis that these people are conveniently neglecting is that, yes, steroids make you strong, but they can also have debilitating effects later in life such as growth stunting, hair loss, impotence and heart disease, strokes and death. They can also cause mental problems like mood swings and depression.
Look no future than former NFL defensive tackle Lyle Alzado, whose steroid use allowed him to reach greater heights as a player. In an interview conducted on NFL Films, Alzado was quoted as saying, "I honestly don't think there's a person on this Earth who can kick my ...."
Several years later, Alzado went from being a stud defensive tackle for the Raiders to a shriveled and debilitated 170-pounder who eventually lost his life.
Former Major Leaguer Ken Caminiti also comes to mind. Caminiti's death a couple of years ago was in part linked to alcohol and drug abuse, but steroids were also involved.
The gist of what I'm saying here is that it's time to stop going round and round about whether steroids helped certain current or former baseball players.
How about preaching to kids that steroids are a menace to society?
The message should be that while steroids might help propel athletes to achieve greater heights and attain millions of dollars, they can also lead to suffering the same fate as Lyle Alzado and Ken Caminiti.
