Devil's Advocate - Mark McGuire Hearings

From time to time I'm going to be posting devil's advocate comments about various subjects. The reason I'll write these columns is not because I always support a various position. I'll be writing these posts because I like poking holes in people's arguments (especially when people are wrong or simply do not have the desire or drive to educate themselves about a given subject). The reason why I do this is I just like to get people thinking about other points of view that they may or may not have considered and then let them make their own decisions about a given topic.

A prime example of an article that I WILL be writing about is the about the whole Todd Bertuzzi incident and how the the wrong people didn't get punished at all.

That said, this first post is about Mark McGuire's statements about whether or not his supposed steroid usage should be the basis of all the attention it's getting in the media and all the talk about whether or not he should be considered for the hall of fame or not.

Last week I got my haircut at a sports Barbershop and I got into a conversation with my Barber about the issue and we both came to the same conclusion about the issue.

What McGuire did during his time as a Major league player should not be used or counted against him as there were no policies at that time in Baseball. Furthermore, what are the fans paying for watching McGuire (and other perennial home run hitters) hit home runs or to just watch a game?

Should steroids be illegal in baseball? Hell yeah!

Steroids have no part in organized sports (professional or amateur). There is no grey area here everyone should be doing their part to ensure that performance enchancing drugs are permanently removed from organized sports.

Let's face it, kids today are stupid enough to enact a 'monkey see, monkey do' attitude when it comes to the sports icons and their use of Steroids. Furthermore, is seems to me that part of the issue here is not performance enhancing drug usage in MLB but some parents/coaches simply aren't doing their part to educate their kids about issues such as steroids.

I find it appalling that no one in the media is mentioning the responsibility of the parents, coaches and other actual role models in athletes lives. It should be the responsibility of the media to focus on this aspect. However, in reality I know that will never happen given the sensationalism of the media in this day and age.

I remember a Nike commercial with Charles Barkley, in the days of 'way back', stating that 'I am not a role model'. This quote holds true today as sports figures are not role models, this responsibility falls solely on the shoulders of parents. Parents and other adult like role models should be the ones taking responsibility for the raising (or the lack of properly raising) and education of their children when it comes to issues about steroids.

I've personally have had to take steroids for medical reasons twice in my life. Once in High School when an idiot freshmen chucked a shotput into my knee (it was an accident). The second time I had to take steroids was after getting into a head-on collision with an LTD type car from the 70's. (You know the ones that people envision as pimp mobiles that are boats on four wheels). I should also note that I was riding a bicycle in this head-on accident. In this hit-and-run accident I tore open my right knee and right elbow right down to the bone (no broken bones mind you). Instead of giving me the option for surgery, the doctors prescribed me steroids to repair the tears/holes in my arm and leg. I was also given steroids in my High School track accident. As a result of both of these incidents, I have permanent side effects of the these two incidents of Steroid usage.

Had I known the all of the possible side effects of using Steroids for these two incidents, I would have never given my doctors authorization to use Steroids as a solution to repair my injuries (and never will again if the situation arises).

Anyways, I'll stop rambling and end this post on a funny note.

As the last few notes of Phish's 'David Bowie' end and a cover of ZZ Top's 'La Grange', again by Phish, chime in my headphones I can't help to bring up one of the most hilarious observations from my Barber about Jose Canseco.

(I'm paraphrasing here)


If Jose Canseco stated that he was able to scan and identify the people that took steroids while he was playing baseball, how come (if memory serves) when he was playing for the Texas Rangers he couldn't stop a baseball from landing on his head and going over the fence for a Home Run. It seems to me his scanning abilities aren't all that great.

heh