If I see one more headline about performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) or A-Rod I'm really going to puke. Most of the articles are the same: A-Rod is a fraud and doesn't deserve to be in the Hall of Fame, woe is baseball, bah, blah, blah.
One of the few intelligent pieces I've read on the issue was by Doug Glanville. Why aren't we talking more about rights and privacy? Imagine you took part in a confidential survey at work that included some potentially sensitive information about you or your co-workers, and you did it because you were promised anonymity and privacy.
But then a few years later, your results are published on the Internet. Wouldn't you be outraged? Oh, you might say, it's different. A-Rod's a cheater who got caught. Why should we have any sympathy for him? I wouldn't recommend sympathy, but I would recommend be worried that information from a governmental or organizational enquiry built around privacy can become public, and no one is being held accountable for that (though at this point we don't know where the leak came from).
Back to the baseball issue, as a Red Sox fan I've made fun of A-Rod so many times I've lost count. I almost bought a framed picture once of Varitek hitting A-Rod in the mouth. But he's one of the best baseball players ever born, and though I detest PEDs and condemn their usage, I would vote for him for the Hall of Fame without a second thought. I would also vote for Bonds, McGwire, Clemens, and anyone else from this era I thought was worthy.
Why? Because the hole era is tainted. We will never know who used and who didn't. Ken Caminiti (and later Jose Canseco) may have been right: half of league might have been juicing at the height of it. Should be just throw out the entire era? No records count, no one gets into the Hall of Fame? Or should we just punish those who've been exposed, and hide our heads in the sand about all the others?
I believe sportswriters are a hypocritical lot. They have blamed the PED situation on greedy, competitive players; on money-loving owners; on a union that only cares about revenues and not the long-term health of its members; and on Bud Selig for not taking a strong stance sooner.
But you know who else is to blame? The media. You can't tell me that some sportswriters, with all their access to the clubhouse and friendships with players and executives, didn't know what was going on. Some of them must have known, or at least had major suspicions, but let it pass, probably for the same reasons everyone else did: it seemed like it was good for the game at the time.
And then the hypocritical Bud Selig comes out and calls A-Rod behavior shameful. Well, yes, he's right. A-Rod lied previously about PEDs and condemned them, so he should be ashamed for all that he's done. But look at the source. Bud was at the head of the ship while PEDs were used for decades in his sport (let's not pretend the 80s were clean). Come of the soapbox, friend. Either Bud was stupid (which I don't believe he is), or he had suspicions and looked the other way like everyone else.
So, like the NFL, when someone gets caught as a cheater (Shawn Merriman, Rodney Harrison), can't we punish them and move on? Does it have to become such a big issue in baseball? I can't wait for the World Baseball Classic, and the start of the season. Then maybe these talking heads can get off their soapboxes and actually cover the sport.
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