Baseball on Juice

Fire of Liberty
Now I'm going off the political/democracy promoting reservation of Fire of Liberty to focus on my least favorite sport, which is Baseball.(Football is my sport). The main reason I'm doing this is that my good friend Jason Crosby has been running a little commentary on his blog Midwest Ramblings about Barry Bonds and his cravings for steroids. I for one pretty much agree with Jason with regards to his disgust with Bonds popping pills, taking creams or drinking steroid filled shakes just to wack the hell out of a baseball because he wanted to be the HR king and raise his stature. For me he just sullies the sport and makes today's athletes look like wimps compared to giants like Babe Ruth (He ate & drank tons of beer and food, probably didn't hit the gym), Ty Cobb (Drank like a fish), Mickey Mantle (partied and drank), Ted Williams, Roberto Clemente, Willie Mays and Hank Aaron who got out there and did all they did without the help of steroids or supplements. I for one like the fact that idiots like Bonds, McGuire and Palmerio are being tarred and feathered all over the sports shows and pages because I think you can shame them enough that you'll cause a grassroots revival amongst America's young ballplayers and their parents(I'm not including the real nutty ball crazy parents- you know who you are) for great ideas like hard work, pride, fiscal fitness ,and the love of the game. If they hear more about the greats of Baseball's yesteryear who achieved all these great things without the aid of steroids you'll also see the pros of today getting as far away from Bonds favored substances and return to the natural training thus saving a sport for youngsters to admire in the future.

Now aside from this act of shaming, MLB should apply the dreaded asterisk by the baseball players record and put fines other measures within the MLB rules that put the fear of G-d in the players who go down the steroid road. (Hall of Fame bans or cash. Nothing scares them more than fame and money.) In fact columnist George Will pretty much said the same thing as I did in his most recent column (Better written than what I can say.) Check it out:

It is still unclear if there will be judicially imposed punishment in this matter. But condign punishment for a man as proud as Bonds would be administered by the court of public opinion, and exclusion from the Hall of Fame.

In any case, Bonds' records must remain part of baseball's history. His hits happened. Erase them and there will be discrepancies in baseball's bookkeeping about the records of the pitchers who gave them up. George Orwell said that in totalitarian societies, yesterday's weather could be changed by decree. Baseball, indeed America, is not like that.

Besides, the people who care about the record book -- serious fans -- will know how to read it. That may be Bonds' biggest worry.

Shame is the answer, but then again how shameful can you get to sink so low to take the juice in the first place. For me this is why I'll stick to the NFL and College Football.(It's more fun to see their scandals because it involves chicks and the idiot boosters.)