Is race an issue?!
Heck, this guy is white, and he
has been demonized . . .
Posted on 03/30/2005 9:30:17 AM PST by freepatriot32
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- So now we're supposed to believe that American sports -- and American society -- lost their innocence because baseball players used steroids to hit home runs.
Repeat after me, please, and say it loud: American sports have never been innocent, and America's capitalist society has a built-in set of checks and balances because we know unfettered competition for money breeds corruption.
So, Sports Illustrated, spare me the whining about the congressional hearings on steroids and baseball. Spare me the whining about the lost summer of '98 and what to do with your scrapbook.
I was a college football player at the same time as Tony Mandarich, the man Sports Illustrated lauded in April of 1989 as the "best offensive line prospect ever." The magazine plastered a shirtless Mandarich across its cover and called the 6-foot-6, 315-pound offensive tackle "The Incredible Bulk."
"Roidhead" is what we called him, the guy was so obviously juiced. But no one cared then. SI certainly didn't. It had a magazine to sell and a football player to promote.
I don't get the hypocrisy. Steroids (or performance-enhancing drugs) and football go together like peanut butter and jelly. But there's no outrage. New Orleans Saints coach Jim Haslett, an NFL linebacker in the 1980s, said last week that he juiced while a player, and he claimed the Steelers dynasty was built on steroids.
I'd bet 15 to 20 percent of the NFL Hall of Fame players during the 1970s and 1980s used steroids at some time in their career.
No one cares. I guarantee you there are more high school football players juicing than baseball players. No one cares. The government and Barry Bonds' alleged disgruntled mistress are cooking up a criminal case to send Bonds to jail before he surpasses Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron.
But the governor of Bonds' home state, California, wouldn't be governor without the benefits of steroids. Arnold Schwarzenegger, an admitted steroid user as a body-builder and another SI cover boy, became a celebrity in the 1980s thanks to steroids. It wasn't until he became a political figure that he strongly spoke against steroids.
Why the hypocrisy? Why the double standard?
It's all about a stupid record and the man who was about to break it. We can't hold a legitimate conversation about steroids and performance-enhancing drugs because America doesn't want to see Barry Bonds surpass Babe Ruth (and Hank Aaron).
That's it. It doesn't have anything to do with kids killing themselves or damaging their bodies with steroids. Kids, particularly football-playing kids, have been doing that for more than two decades. The steroid users on my college teams didn't hide it. There was no reason to. Heck, you could end up on the cover of Sports Illustrated as the best prospect ever if you used steroids correctly.
We were fine with Mark McGwire overtaking Roger Maris for the single-season record. McGwire looked the part. He was the boy-next-door type. No grandstanding reporter confronted McGwire in front of his locker and asked him to fill up a urine cup. The andro bottle in his locker didn't stop the celebration either.
Had McGwire stayed in the game and kept hitting home runs at a record rate, if he were around today to battle Bonds for Ruth's record (and, yes, I said Ruth's), I'm not sure we'd be talking about steroids today. We would be calling Jose Canseco and Ken Caminiti liars. We would be ignoring the steroid issue the way we have in football, basketball, hockey and most other sports.
We wouldn't be debating the stiffness of major league baseball's steroid penalties. We'd accept them and believe the game is moving past its problems, the same way the NFL did.
But the home-run record seems to have a special significance. Nothing's really changed. America was none too happy when Aaron surpassed Ruth. Aaron, a black man like Bonds, didn't look the part. I'm sorry. I know it makes people uncomfortable. But race is a component of the hysteria surrounding steroids now. We conveniently ignored the issue for years when we were more comfortable with the abusers.
We're uncomfortable with Bonds because he's surly, unrepentant and black. He's being chased from the game. I'm probably foolish, but I don't expect Bonds to play again. He'll hide behind injuries and try to duck out of the game ... if he's smart.
McGuire was a cheater and Bonds is a cheater(probably Sosa too).The author should go back and check Bonds' home run stats prior to the obvious steriod-induced change in his physical appearance. He never hit more than 47 in a season if I remember correctly, then suddenly, after gaining 25 lbs of muscle mass, went on his homerun tear.
I agree with Jim bunning. Throw all of their records out and ban them from the Hall of Fame. They're cheaters just as surely as if they were hitting with a corked bat.
Why the hypocrisy? Why the double standard?
No double standard. Steroids weren't illegal at the time Schwarzenegger took them.
This article makes some decent points but is filled with nonsense. For example, the significant difference between Haslett admitting to using steroids etc. and all the recent baseball players found to be using is that STEROIDS ARE NOW ILLEGAL. They were not illegal in the days he is referring to.
No, we're uncomfortable with Bonds because he's an arrogant jerk.
Jason Whitlock sees a racist behind every tree. "America" celebrated like madmen when Aaron hit #715. Yes, there were a few nutballs, but theye were there when Roger Maris, who was most decidedly white. Of course, I'm sure that America was "uncomfortable" with Maris because he was Catholic. Gotta be some victim-culture reason.
Barry Bonds is hated because he's an a-hole. There are plenty of black baseball players who are beloved by the fans, and plenty of white players with whom America is "uncomfortable". It has far more to do with the public persona of the player than it does with race. That's been the case for the better part of half a century. Join us in the 21st century, Jason. The beer is cold, the hot dogs are cheap, and nobody cares what color your skin is. I'l even buy the first round.
Good point, similar to mine
What record does Ruth hold, the greatest number of hot dogs and beers consumed during a game? Henry Aaron is getting dissed like it's going out of style these days.
"We were fine with Mark McGwire overtaking Roger Maris for the single-season record. McGwire looked the part."
We were "fine" with it only because we didn't know Mark was juicing -- he has always been a very big dude. Otoh, Bonds' body mass increased significantly in a relatively short period of time, his head becoming the size of a beachball.
Take your race card and shove it.
Is race an issue?!
Heck, this guy is white, and he
has been demonized . . .
Whitelock was once a great up and coming writer. Now he is just a racial huckster; substituting the racial card in every article for controversial writing.
With Pete, it's not the skin: it's the hair.
Correct. There were people upset when Maris passed Ruth just as there were when Aaron passed Ruth. Of course bringing up the case of Maris would destroy Whitlock's "race card" argument.
"Barry Bonds is hated because he's an a-hole"
Precisely.
As for Tony Mandrich, there's a reason his name isn't brought up very much at my alma matta.
i love that picture :-)
Yes, you are foolish Mr. Hack Writer. The ball was rolling on steroids before Bonds started his run on 714. OR, his run on 755. Last time I checked, Henry Aaron was two things; the holder of the homerun record and black.
I assume it was take-your-child-to-work-day. Somebody let their dumb kid write this, or what?
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