Jason Monastra

My life and thoughts out on the web

I am not much of a baseball guy but I find it amazing that this guy will boycott the pinnacle place of his sport.  The Hall of Fame for any player, though probably not the initial goal of all professionals, is a legacy that everyone is looking to achieve when they see their game rising to the level where these players are.  Baseball has been nagged by tainted allegations of steroids for the better part of this decade, naming some of the most highlighted people in the sport.  I really want to know who really cares?

Anyone that has played any sport at any level beyond HS knows that steroids are a serious part of the athletic world.  Speaking otherwise is that of ignorance or quite possibly delusion.  The amount of people that actively partake during the season or off-season, or both in the use of performance enhancement drugs is the majority….not the minority.  Let us take Bonds comment of not knowingly using performance enhancing drugs.  This is the equivalent to Michael Vick saying he was not aware that dogs were being fought on his property in VA.  Let me tell you if Barry Bonds had a federal indictment against him and the threat was years in jail…..he would have been the Arnold Schwarzenegger of the baseball world.

I guess what really gets me as a former athlete is that why people see this as such a surprise or shock.  People cheat, the rules are broken and most of the coaches, refs, and management know it is going on.  If  they wanted to stop it, they could.  Drug testing every week, no doctor assistance, all personally watched when supplying specimens, physicals and blood tests for additional screening and security.  The reason these levels of screening are not done consistently and without pre-warning to the athletes is that people want to see them play.  Watching a 255 lb linebacker who runs a 4.3 hitting a quarterback is good fun.  We love it, they love, coaches love it - and we all pay for it one way or the other.

To summarize, I am sure there are plenty of people in various Hall of Fames that have used performance enhancing drugs at sometime in their career, therefore contributing to their legacy of greatness and propelling them to the pinnacle of their sport.  So let Barry have his day, no asterisks - just an induction for a guy that can play some great baseball.