I wasn't going to comment on the latest ahtlete to be taken down by the PED's epidemic but I feel that I am in the minority. I feel like everyone, everything, anyone, and anything is under suspicion. I feel like Joe McCarthy is alive and well and I really thought that we were smarter than this. First it was Carl Lewis making comments about the Jamaican Olympic team. He did not accuse anyone in particular for doping but he questioned the practices used by their doping commission. This enraged Usain Bolt, as it should have, and it has enraged me. There is nobility in being a fined tuned machine that can play sports without the use of supplements, cortizone shots, and PED's. If you can go through your entire career without those things then you are truly special. I am going to tell you why this topic infuriates me so.
Melky Cabrera got in trouble for having elevated testosterone levels. he failed i guess a test and he even apologized for what he did. I listened today to every sports pundit and Cabrera got hammered for his stupidity. He has been called stupid by every person because he is going to be a free agent next year and could have made himself a chunk of change next year. He was leading the National League in hits and runs. He was the M.V.P. of the All star game. He was a candidate for league M.V.P. He blew it. I get it. I looked back at Melky's career statistics and yes he is having a season to remember. Shouldn't he be? He is in his baseball prime years. He is 27 years old. He has been in the major leagues since he was 20. He had 201 hits last year in Kansas City. He hit over .300 for the first time in his career. When was with the Yankees as a full time player he hit .280 and .273. When he changed leagues and played with the Braves yes he hit only .255. Doesn't that happen to every player who changes leagues? Pujols right now is hitting .280's in his new league. Prince Fielder does not have 20 home runs yet in his new league. Adam Dunn went from a guy who was averaging 40 plus homeruns a season to barely 15 last year. The point I am making is that I am so tired of sports pundits telling us that PED's are the reason for success in sports. I am tired of people telling me that all it takes to succeed in sports is an injection, a pill, a sports drink. They tell us that hitting a baseball is the hardest thing to do in sports. No one is going to tell you that there is a study where they can prove that PED's make you an all star player. No one is going to tell you that because they would sound stupid if they did. Why did they not make Bobby Estella, Marvin Bernard, Jay Gibbons, Jeremy Giambi special players? These guys were already displaying a skill set that only a small percentage of the population has.
Some people are even saying that the reasons that they are more no hitters in baseball these days is that no one is taking PED's anymore and therefore the players can't hit. Not the fact that there are more pitchers who throw 95 miles an hour than ever before. King Felix throws 97. Phil Humber tops at 94. Matt Cain the same. More pitchers rely on two pitches that baffle hitters. The fast bast sets up evrything and the a secondary pitch that looks like a fastball but actually is a changeup or slide piece. Justin Verlander throws 100. Ubaldo Jimenez throws 100. Yes Jered Weaver and Johan Santana threw no-no's and barely throw 91. They know how to really pitch. Whatever happened to the argument that good pitching beats good hitting? If you look around major league baseball teams today pitchers are not nibbling anymore. Pitchers throw strike one at a more alarming rate. Nolan Ryan demands that his pitchers finish what they start or they cant pitch for him. GIVE THE PITCHERS SOME DAMN CREDIT FOR ONCE!!!
Now the one argument that people make is that PED's get a player back on the field faster or they keep him on the field longer without injury. What the heck then is a cortizone shot if it is not a PED? If Dwayne Wade did not get a shot in his knees he would not have been able to play in the NBA finals. Mike Miller of the Heat could not get out of bed without a cortizone shot. Why is cortizone legal and why is Adderal illegal? I can name so many athletes who come on television and talk about how cortizone shots have prolonged their seasons or careers. I will research more about cortizone and will retract all of these statements if I determine that the affects of cortizone is not a PED.
I am not in denial about the uses of PED's in sports. I just question what is a PED and what proof is there that definitively shows the reason why one person does something. We dont anything about the previous generations in sport because they clearly were bionic or super human. Athletes today cant practice in the heat, they suffer injuries to their legs running bases, they cant pitch more than a 100 tosses in a game. You can say whatever you want about Bonds or Clemens, Sosa or Manny. They still had to hit the ball or throw the ball in a area where no one could either hit or catch it. The rules are the rules... The Giants need to be fined because they seem to have had a lot ofplayers who get caught doing these things. All this shows me is that the ol' adage of if "you aint cheatin' you aint tryin'" is still alive and well. I guess it is back to the drawing board...
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