I would say emphatically yes. I see that some others are going in that direction: Jen Floyd Engel, in particular.
"What I dare to suggest is a war on the war on steroids. Because this fake moral outrage about the “disgraceful state of competitive sports nowadays” that serves as a running dialogue every time an athlete is busted for steroids is just about played out. The fact is almost every single argument against performance-enhancing drugs falters when viewed in light of how we live the rest of our lives."
http://www.foxsports.com/mlb/story/melky-cabrera-lance-armstrong-barry-bonds-end-the-fake-steroid-outrage-082912
I don't totally follow her argument. It seems to be that because we're 'fake' in the rest of our lives we have no basis to demand that we not be 'fake' sports competition. She admits that she used to be a steroids scold-like most annoying baseball pundits.
"We love fake. Facebook “friends,” Twinkies and double Ds not endowed by our creator.
"We love enhanced. Plump chicken breasts and airbrushed photos.
Your Mets willingly sign admitted PED users like Colon and Marlon Byrd with open arms.
Fans know that players like A-Rod were dumb enough to be caught while most players used and got away with it.
Ask your pals Madden and Harper who continuously tell us that respected baseball players and officials tell them Mike Piazza used steroids and PED's but he was sneaky enough not to be caught. There will - or have been already - players in the Hall of Fame who used.
Not even addressing that your pals, your, idols, Keith Hernandez and Dwight Gooden were cheered by fans when returning from cocaine suspensions. And they were all - as Hank Aaron said himself - on amphetamines, reds. greenies - for decades. Now go and fetch Fred and Jeff Wilpon and Lupica some coffee.
The only people hating on A-Rod are the Daily News writers, reporters, columnists and headline writers.
A main reason for that is the lame-duck paper is edited by the Wilpons and their caddy, Lupica and staffed by frauds on the Wilpon TV payroll!Mark McGwire, Mr. PED's, has been an MLB batting instructor for years, a hero to young hitters.
Your Mets willingly sign admitted PED users like Colon and Marlon Byrd with open arms.
Fans know that players like A-Rod were dumb enough to be caught while most players used and got away with it.
Ask your pals Madden and Harper who continuously tell us that respected baseball players and officials tell them Mike Piazza used steroids and PED's but he was sneaky enough not to be caught. There will - or have been already - players in the Hall of Fame who used.
Not even addressing that your pals, your, idols, Keith Hernandez and Dwight Gooden were cheered by fans when returning from cocaine suspensions. And they were all - as Hank Aaron said himself - on amphetamines, reds. greenies - for decades. Now go and fetch Fred and Jeff Wilpon and Lupica some coffee.
The only people hating on A-Rod are the Daily News writers, reporters, columnists and headline writers.
A main reason for that is the lame-duck paper is edited by the Wilpons and their caddy, Lupica and staffed by frauds on the Wilpon TV payroll!Mark McGwire, Mr. PED's, has been an MLB batting instructor for years, a hero to young hitters.
Your Mets willingly sign admitted PED users like Colon and Marlon Byrd with open arms.
Fans know that players like A-Rod were dumb enough to be caught while most players used and got away with it.
Ask your pals Madden and Harper who continuously tell us that respected baseball players and officials tell them Mike Piazza used steroids and PED's but he was sneaky enough not to be caught. There will - or have been already - players in the Hall of Fame who used.
Not even addressing that your pals, your, idols, Keith Hernandez and Dwight Gooden were cheered by fans when returning from cocaine suspensions. And they were all - as Hank Aaron said himself - on amphetamines, reds. greenies - for decades. Now go and fetch Fred and Jeff Wilpon and Lupica some coffee.
The only people hating on A-Rod are the Daily News writers, reporters, columnists and headline writers.
A main reason for that is the lame-duck paper is edited by the Wilpons and their caddy, Lupica and staffed by frauds on the Wilpon TV payroll!Mark McGwire, Mr. PED's, has been an MLB batting instructor for years, a hero to young hitters.
Your Mets willingly sign admitted PED users like Colon and Marlon Byrd with open arms.
Fans know that players like A-Rod were dumb enough to be caught while most players used and got away with it.
Ask your pals Madden and Harper who continuously tell us that respected baseball players and officials tell them Mike Piazza used steroids and PED's but he was sneaky enough not to be caught. There will - or have been already - players in the Hall of Fame who used.
Not even addressing that your pals, your, idols, Keith Hernandez and Dwight Gooden were cheered by fans when returning from cocaine suspensions. And they were all - as Hank Aaron said himself - on amphetamines, reds. greenies - for decades. Now go and fetch Fred and Jeff Wilpon and Lupica some coffee.
The only people hating on A-Rod are the Daily News writers, reporters, columnists and headline writers.
A main reason for that is the lame-duck paper is edited by the Wilpons and their caddy, Lupica and staffed by frauds on the Wilpon TV payroll!
"What I dare to suggest is a war on the war on steroids. Because this fake moral outrage about the “disgraceful state of competitive sports nowadays” that serves as a running dialogue every time an athlete is busted for steroids is just about played out. The fact is almost every single argument against performance-enhancing drugs falters when viewed in light of how we live the rest of our lives."
http://www.foxsports.com/mlb/story/melky-cabrera-lance-armstrong-barry-bonds-end-the-fake-steroid-outrage-082912
I don't totally follow her argument. It seems to be that because we're 'fake' in the rest of our lives we have no basis to demand that we not be 'fake' sports competition. She admits that she used to be a steroids scold-like most annoying baseball pundits.
"We love fake. Facebook “friends,” Twinkies and double Ds not endowed by our creator.
"We love enhanced. Plump chicken breasts and airbrushed photos.
We love short cuts. Weight-loss surgery, no-fault divorce and CliffsNotes."
"We love lies, too. Living in houses we cannot afford, living with debt we cannot handle and arguing — not unlike, say, Brady Anderson — this is all a result of hard work."
"So where exactly does the moral authority to sermonize on the horror that is steroids in sports come from? I played that game for a while, tearing into Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds as scoundrels. What I finally realized is steroids outrage is pious fraud. And it is time to say to hell with all of that."
My feeling is that there's nothing wrong with 'fake' or enhanced. I mean the whole point of sports competition is a battle against Zarathustra's Spirit of Gravity. I mean we don't believe in just submitting to nature so in that sense I think Ms. Engel is on the right track.
I agree it's time for a war on the 'War on Steroids' and it should be a principled opposition.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2015/01/05/baseball-hall-of-fame-election-steroid-era-barry-bonds-roger-clemens/21290463/
I have to say, there's nothing worse than baseball pundits. I much prefer the pundits of football as so many of them have a background playing or coaching in the league. The baseball pundits are all so mawkish in their denunciations of 'cheating.' That's because they've never played the game: Jose Canseco in his book, Juiced, told us that 85% of baseball players juice.
http://www.amazon.com/Juiced-Times-Rampant-Roids-Baseball/dp/0060746416/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1425914700&sr=1-1&keywords=canseco+juiced
http://www.amazon.com/Vindicated-Names-Liars-Battle-Baseball-ebook/dp/B0015DWMDY/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1425914700&sr=1-2&keywords=canseco+juiced
All the steroid scolds believe everything that Canseco wrote except that part. They want to continue to believe that steroids is something that a small deviant group of players did to sully this pristine game, I appreciate this piece by baseball writer, Bob Nightengale as most baseball writers-who unfortunately control who gets into the Hall of Fame-as he's more honest than most of his colleagues-not saying much as overall they're a very sanctimonious, phony bunch:
"Just 35% of us voted for Barry Bonds last year, far short of the required 75% necessary for induction. Yet, many more had no trouble supporting Mike Piazza (62% last year) or Jeff Bagwell (54%). Both admitted using the now-banned androstenedione, and their bodies and power also swelled to enormous proportions.
"We don't vote for Roger Clemens, but accept at face value the accomplishments of other power pitchers in that era."
"Oh, and even though Clemens spent millions in court to prove to prove he didn't commit perjury when he says he didn't use steroids, it's OK to blatantly disregard the federal criminal justice system."
"I can't wait until two years from now and watch writers snub Bonds and Clemens, but turn around and vote for catcher Pudge Rodriguez in his first appearance on the ballot. Yep, just pretend the 30 pounds he lost over the winter of 2004 was a magical weight-loss program, and not a coincidence it occurred at the exact time steroid testing with penalties was implemented."
"It's become a farce."
"There are 34 players on this year's BBWAA ballot. Just a handful were firmly linked to PED use via the the anonymous 2003 test, the Mitchell Report, federal court testimony or their own admitted use.
"Yet 30 of the 34 played the prime of their careers in the heart of the steroid era. Even if the estimates of players using PEDs made by former MVP Jose Canseco (85%) and Cy Young winner Eric Gagne (80% of his Dodgers teammates) are well on the high side, we'd be fooling ourselves to think these Hall candidates are that much cleaner than the norm."
"We act as if Bonds and Clemens tried to ruin our game and everyone else on the ballot was clean."
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2015/01/05/baseball-hall-of-fame-election-steroid-era-barry-bonds-roger-clemens/21290463/
The reason for this is the writers want to convince themselves that just a small deviant group did steroids.
Nightengale says taht he'll vote for any player that deserves to be there based on the numbers if they didn't break rules that weren't in place yet-MLB had no steroid policy until 2004 so those that loaded up on roids previously should get in.
"If you're one of the privileged voters for the Hall of Fame, it's time to simply vote for the players who you believe were the best of their era."
"It just happened to be the steroid era."
"Come on, this isn't the Sistine Chapel. We've let murderers, racists, and abusers in the Hall of Fame."
"If you wanted to kick out every Hall of Fame player who ever illegally used amphetamines, you'd be able to fit the remaining players in an airplane bathroom."
"Check out the number of writers who adamantly won't vote for Bonds or Clemens, but will vote for Tim Raines, the same guy who admitted to cocaine use during his career, even snorting it during games. With apologies to Jeff Kent, Mike Mussina and Raines, all who will receive my votes in the future, here is my Hall of Fame ballot:"
"Jeff Bagwell, Craig Biggio, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, Fred McGriff, Mike Piazza, Gary Sheffield and John Smoltz."
"Go ahead, take a close look.There are more players linked or suspected of PED use than those who haven't.This is a ballot simply identifying who I believed were the best players of their era.It was the steroid era. It's time to deal with it."
So for him, the only ones he won't vote for is someone who broke the policy after it was implemented. Hmm. Could this be the A-Rod rule? I like where Nightengale is going with this but I want to see it go further. I don't see why we should punish anyone who did steroids. I don't see how it's cheating as long as anyone can do it. \
I already ruled out my belief in the 'fake' argument, that we can only celebrate those talents that the Good Lord gave us.
What gives me some hope is that the fans-and players- seem to be much more reasonable than the baseball writers-and it's driving the pundits crazy. No one seems to hate A-Rod accept Michael Kay and Mike Lupica and the front page of teh NY Post-he's Latino which is enough reason for them, they just have an excuse.
"Cheers beat boos in a landslide, when the PA man first announced Alex Rodriguez in the starting lineup. And after A-Rod made a nifty stab and throw in the third inning, the joint erupted into what you could fairly label an ovation."
"The stands at Steinbrenner Field on Sunday afternoon were hardly a cauldron of contempt for this drug cheat -- more like a support group, offering encouragement as the poor fella tried to play third base for the first time in 18 months."
"The real-deal vibes below the surface here are no less charitable. Early in the morning, a longtime Yankees person was leaning on the dugout railing, chatting in a near-empty stadium. “These guys (in the clubhouse) don’t care,” he was saying about A-Rod. “It’s been a quiet camp. No drama.”
"The early but clear A-Rod lesson this spring is that if he can play, he will not be a pariah. Not among colleagues, and not to much of the public. As demonstrated by teammates indifferent to scandal, and fans willing to be dazzled by the pretty white sphere sailing across a diamond, this story will fade, if the man has any decent baseball left in him."
http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/baseballinsider/alex-rodriguez-not-pariah-cynical-se-blog-entry-1.2142233
The writer, Andy Martino, seems uneasy with this. He complains that no one is treating a 'drug cheat' like a pariah. Yeah right-so does Martino see, say treat Tim Raines-cocaine-or Mike Piazza-who also quite possibly did steroids-as pariahs?
America, it's time for us to move on. As for the baseball writers, I resent how they're able to keep great players out of the Hall of Fame. I think fans should also get a chance to vote-and maybe a group of players should also get a vote: we'd have it determined jointly between fans, players, and writers rather than giving all the weight to writers.
P.S. More proof the fans get it: there are some excellent comments at the bottom of Martino's piece. A-Rod hatred is just the obsession of the baseball punditry, not fans, not players, and not the managers. We will see if A-Rod has any more baseball in him. I hope he does, if for no other reason than it's mud in the eye of Mike Lupica and friends.
When I was growing up I played and enjoyed sports almost everyday but never to the point that I was willing to put in the time and effort to truly excel. I was not willing to sacrifice to get to the top. But professionals are willing to sacrifice. They know that using these enhancements will likely lessen their lifespan but they are willing to do so to enhance their careers. I made sacrifices to take care of my family, not chemicals but hours working. Maybe there should be no drug policy beyond use what you wish at your own risk as long as it is proscribed by a medical professional.
Andy, Andy, Andy..How long has your head been in the sand?Andy, Andy, Andy..How long has your head been in the sand?Andy, Andy, Andy..How long has your head been in the sand?Andy, Andy, Andy..How long has your head been in the sand?
Mark McGwire, Mr. PED's, has been an MLB batting instructor for years, a hero to young hitters.Your Mets willingly sign admitted PED users like Colon and Marlon Byrd with open arms.
Fans know that players like A-Rod were dumb enough to be caught while most players used and got away with it.
Ask your pals Madden and Harper who continuously tell us that respected baseball players and officials tell them Mike Piazza used steroids and PED's but he was sneaky enough not to be caught. There will - or have been already - players in the Hall of Fame who used.
Not even addressing that your pals, your, idols, Keith Hernandez and Dwight Gooden were cheered by fans when returning from cocaine suspensions. And they were all - as Hank Aaron said himself - on amphetamines, reds. greenies - for decades. Now go and fetch Fred and Jeff Wilpon and Lupica some coffee.
The only people hating on A-Rod are the Daily News writers, reporters, columnists and headline writers.
A main reason for that is the lame-duck paper is edited by the Wilpons and their caddy, Lupica and staffed by frauds on the Wilpon TV payroll!Mark McGwire, Mr. PED's, has been an MLB batting instructor for years, a hero to young hitters.
Your Mets willingly sign admitted PED users like Colon and Marlon Byrd with open arms.
Fans know that players like A-Rod were dumb enough to be caught while most players used and got away with it.
Ask your pals Madden and Harper who continuously tell us that respected baseball players and officials tell them Mike Piazza used steroids and PED's but he was sneaky enough not to be caught. There will - or have been already - players in the Hall of Fame who used.
Not even addressing that your pals, your, idols, Keith Hernandez and Dwight Gooden were cheered by fans when returning from cocaine suspensions. And they were all - as Hank Aaron said himself - on amphetamines, reds. greenies - for decades. Now go and fetch Fred and Jeff Wilpon and Lupica some coffee.
The only people hating on A-Rod are the Daily News writers, reporters, columnists and headline writers.
A main reason for that is the lame-duck paper is edited by the Wilpons and their caddy, Lupica and staffed by frauds on the Wilpon TV payroll!Mark McGwire, Mr. PED's, has been an MLB batting instructor for years, a hero to young hitters.
Your Mets willingly sign admitted PED users like Colon and Marlon Byrd with open arms.
Fans know that players like A-Rod were dumb enough to be caught while most players used and got away with it.
Ask your pals Madden and Harper who continuously tell us that respected baseball players and officials tell them Mike Piazza used steroids and PED's but he was sneaky enough not to be caught. There will - or have been already - players in the Hall of Fame who used.
Not even addressing that your pals, your, idols, Keith Hernandez and Dwight Gooden were cheered by fans when returning from cocaine suspensions. And they were all - as Hank Aaron said himself - on amphetamines, reds. greenies - for decades. Now go and fetch Fred and Jeff Wilpon and Lupica some coffee.
The only people hating on A-Rod are the Daily News writers, reporters, columnists and headline writers.
A main reason for that is the lame-duck paper is edited by the Wilpons and their caddy, Lupica and staffed by frauds on the Wilpon TV payroll!Mark McGwire, Mr. PED's, has been an MLB batting instructor for years, a hero to young hitters.
Your Mets willingly sign admitted PED users like Colon and Marlon Byrd with open arms.
Fans know that players like A-Rod were dumb enough to be caught while most players used and got away with it.
Ask your pals Madden and Harper who continuously tell us that respected baseball players and officials tell them Mike Piazza used steroids and PED's but he was sneaky enough not to be caught. There will - or have been already - players in the Hall of Fame who used.
Not even addressing that your pals, your, idols, Keith Hernandez and Dwight Gooden were cheered by fans when returning from cocaine suspensions. And they were all - as Hank Aaron said himself - on amphetamines, reds. greenies - for decades. Now go and fetch Fred and Jeff Wilpon and Lupica some coffee.
The only people hating on A-Rod are the Daily News writers, reporters, columnists and headline writers.
A main reason for that is the lame-duck paper is edited by the Wilpons and their caddy, Lupica and staffed by frauds on the Wilpon TV payroll!
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