(I apologize in advance for the rambling manner in which this is written. I certainly didn't outline my thoughts and arguments in advance, and I am - yet again - publishing a first draft.)Professional sports are entertainment.
That's it, that's all.
Yes, most people play amateur sports for the fun, for the love of the game. Yes, a lot of people play pick-up basketball to stay fit.
But on the professional, major league level, the game isn't a game at all. It's a business in which adult men are doing what they can to entertain their fans.
And to that end, I'm not sure I care at all whether those men take performance enhancing drugs (PED).
I watch the games because I enjoy them. I follow the stats and standings because I enjoy doing that. I play fantasy baseball because I enjoy keeping in some contact with friends and enjoy trying to beat them in just about any competition that I can find.
And, I just can't come up with any way that my knowledge that players are taking steroids or human growth hormone affects any of that. I still get to see players accomplishing athletic feats that I couldn't possibly manage myself. I still get to see dramatic contests between opposing teams .
In fact, I probably get to spend more time watching many of the "cheating" players because many of these performance enhancing drugs allow them to spend more time on the field than on the disabled list.
In the past few years, we've seen a number of players admit to using or get caught using or be strongly assumed to be using PEDs - Alex Rodriguez, Rafael Palmiro, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, Manny Ramirez, Ken Caminiti, Roger Clemons, Jason Giambi, Barry Bonds, and numerous others. Baseball writers have debated whether these transgressions - proven, assumed, self-admitted - should bar a player from the Hall of Fame, whether certain statistical accomplishments (Clemons's and Bonds's most vociferously), and how baseball should move forward from this point - to punish players retroactively, to ban players for life, to promise amnesty.
And I find myself not caring one little bit about any of the issues.
Baseball's games have shifted in style as the eras come and go - favoring pitchers for a few years until the mound gets flattened, favoring hitters as pitchers are unofficially banned from throwing inside, favoring speedsters as astroturf came into vogue, then to bashers with good batting eyes as Beane-ball overtook the running game. And I enjoy every style.
No matter what comes and goes, what styles is played, what drugs are taken behind the scenes and in the clubhouses, I continue to enjoy following baseball and attending baseball games.
The games are played by men who are competitive to a fault, and that's what makes the games so entertaining to watch. These are men who are willing to take anything and try anything to gain a little advantage over each other, and I think I'm okay with that.
2 comments:
But isn't the knowledge that these people are not using drugs supposed to inspire people to think that they could play professional sports?
Not in my head.
If it takes PEDs to make the pros, so be it. Why shouldn't the next generation be aware of that?
These are people who are competitive to a fault. That's why they're the best at whatever sport they play. These are the people who are willing to workout an extra hour a day, skip ice cream, and shoot themselves full of whatever horse tranquilizer is necessary to play the next day.
I think I'm okay with that.
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