Many to blame for steroid era
Deuces Wild
Harold McIlvain II
Issue date: 2/11/09 Section: Sports
It was another average day for sports fans Monday. Not too much was in the news - except for the highest paid player in baseball admitting use of steroids.
New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez took the fall Monday when he admitted to taking performances-enhancing drugs in an interview with ESPN.
Rodriguez - who admitted to taking a banned drug from 2001-03 - cited external pressures after signing a 10-year, $252 million contract with the Texas Rangers.
"I felt like I had all the weight of the world on top of me and I needed to perform, and perform at a high level every day," Rodriguez said in the interview.
Rodriguez has received his fair share of criticism since coming clean, but who else has played a part in the steroid epidemic that has plagued baseball?
Well, just about everyone.
The Major League Baseball players union fought for years to assure players would not be drug tested, citing "privacy concerns."
After years of rumblings that there was a problem, a plan was finally put in place. The year was 2004. MLB players for the first time faced a 10-day suspension for a positive steroid test.
When it took that long to get a policy in place, it made addressing the problem that much more difficult.
But the other side of the aisle is to blame, too. The league was not too worried about rumors of steroid allegations against Sammy Sosa and Mark McGuire during a historic home run chase that helped bring the sport back to prominence.
Both sides dropped the ball when it came to realizing the sport had a big problem.
Even the media - which rarely raised any questions - is partly to blame.
The players were basically asked to regulate themselves. It's just like the economy - you can't trust anything without some type of regulation. When money is involved, it should be regulated.
Although it is actually against the law to take steroids, players for years were not discouraged or penalized for not doing the right thing. It just didn't make sense to stay clean. Money, fame and a profession was at risk. Too much was on the line.
New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez took the fall Monday when he admitted to taking performances-enhancing drugs in an interview with ESPN.
Rodriguez - who admitted to taking a banned drug from 2001-03 - cited external pressures after signing a 10-year, $252 million contract with the Texas Rangers.
"I felt like I had all the weight of the world on top of me and I needed to perform, and perform at a high level every day," Rodriguez said in the interview.
Rodriguez has received his fair share of criticism since coming clean, but who else has played a part in the steroid epidemic that has plagued baseball?
Well, just about everyone.
The Major League Baseball players union fought for years to assure players would not be drug tested, citing "privacy concerns."
After years of rumblings that there was a problem, a plan was finally put in place. The year was 2004. MLB players for the first time faced a 10-day suspension for a positive steroid test.
When it took that long to get a policy in place, it made addressing the problem that much more difficult.
But the other side of the aisle is to blame, too. The league was not too worried about rumors of steroid allegations against Sammy Sosa and Mark McGuire during a historic home run chase that helped bring the sport back to prominence.
Both sides dropped the ball when it came to realizing the sport had a big problem.
Even the media - which rarely raised any questions - is partly to blame.
The players were basically asked to regulate themselves. It's just like the economy - you can't trust anything without some type of regulation. When money is involved, it should be regulated.
Although it is actually against the law to take steroids, players for years were not discouraged or penalized for not doing the right thing. It just didn't make sense to stay clean. Money, fame and a profession was at risk. Too much was on the line.
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