25 02 2008
This is driving me nuts. Are you guys aware of what’s going on with this whole Roger Clemens being on trial with our United States Congress right now?
Here’s the low down:
Roger Clemens, like Barry Bonds, was/is one of American Baseball’s most highly regarded record keepers and arguably one of the best ballplayers in history - certainly of their generation. There has been a lot of speculation going on in regards to whether or not these players have used steroids in the past to pad their stats and give them an extra boost in their abilities. Basically, cheating.
OUR COUNTRY IS IN A WAR, PEOPLE! Our dollar is at a record low. Foreclosures are at a record high. Barrels of gasoline have reached $100 for the first time in history. Our country is on the verge of another damn depression and our congress can’t find anything better to do than try to figure out if a popular BASEBALL PLAYER cheated. Are you serious? I’m a very big baseball fan and I find this appalling. I personally think steroids were good for sports and even the economy in general (it’s a long story, but pretty much “who would want to watch a bunch of skinny guys slap singles and steal bases?”…and the fact that people were spending millions and millions of dollars to spectate this sport when all the juiced up people were homering their way into record books.) Maybe I’ll write another long blog about it one day, but I’m tired right now and I just wanted to vent for a little bit.
For the record, I just took a little break in writing this and put some serious thought into the topic at hand. The only reasonable answer I could come up with to this stupid baseball anomaly is that perhaps it’s just a break from what’s really going on. Something other than our failing country to put on the front pages of our newspapers and keep us happy and uninformed. This baseball controversy seems as good as an excuse as any, so what the hell?
I totally agree. What pisses me off more, however, is that, as it appears to me, the most common “reason” given for stemming the use of steroids in sports is that we “need to protect America’s children! They see these athletes using steroids and succeeding, and then they think they need to use steroids, too!” Give me a break. Why are we so bent on this idea that “protecting” children always involves shielding their eyes? This is the world we’re living in. Unless steroids are somehow wiped from the world of sports (and the WORLD in general), which we know isn’t going to happen, children who aspire to become athletes are going to be faced with the decision to use steroids anyway. Sure, MLB, the NBA, the NFL, the NHL, whatever, all have very good and legitimate reasons to stem the use of steroids in order to keep their sports fair. That’s their business. But should Congress be getting involved? Moreover, should Congress be getting involved under the guise of child “protection?” Shouldn’t the main reason for Congress intervening be the fact that athletes are breaking the law? Yes, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. The most significant issue doesn’t appear, to me, at least, to be the infraction of Federal Law. Drug and alcohol abuse, violence, sexuality: these are all aspects of society that aren’t going away. Children, and people in general, need to face them and address them appropriately if any changes are going to be made. In any event, these things shouldn’t be shielded from the view of children. Congress shouldn’t be intervening with the ill-conceived notion that they can somehow eliminate the drug problem and in so doing Save the Kids! In the case of steroids in sports, the so-called War Against Drugs that Congress is waging isn’t being fought for the appropriate reasons. It should be fought under the flag of Federal Law. Furthermore, this so-called “protection” they’re fighting for isn’t even protection at all. Protection is education, acknowledgment of the way things are so that children can make healthy, productive decisions and grow up to become healthy, productive adults.
Clemens didn’t do it. White people don’t cheat. Bonds on the other hand, just ask Scott Linehan…
Obama blows, just so you know. This is the guy who thinks that the American marriage is suffering because of economic woes, every WalMart employee should get paid enough to send their kids to college, and that Black people actually need more ways to sue white people.