Interesting arcticle (opinion) from Jason Stark at ESPN.
Let’s put this mess in a little perspective.
This isn’t the Black Sox.
This isn’t The Strike that Ate the World Series.
In many ways, in fact, this probably isn’t even as scandalous as the late, great Collusion Fiasco back in the 1980s.
But
now that we’ve got that out of the way, there’s still no denying that
baseball’s latest ride on the rampaging Steroid Express has sent this
sport tumbling over the side of a cliff it has seen coming for a long,
long time.
True. This isn’t a baseball killer. Fans will still go to the games. They just will wonder what they are seeing. From several polls, 80% say they feel the same way about Barry. I do. I still hate him. To reconcile that statement, I am a Dodgers fan, as well as thinking that Bonds is obnoxious and not fan friendly. But, that’s just me. 10% were shocked about Giambi’s testimony. Softball question.
What Jason Giambi and Barry Bonds did for baseball this week was
present it (and themselves) with a public-relations nightmare. But it’s
not a new nightmare. It’s just a new spin on the same old nightmare.We know that because, in the same set of polling, more than 93 percent of fans surveyed said steroid use "taints the game."
That’s the point. As what Stark has written, along with a few others, "real." Being fake hasn’t stopped people from going to Pro Wrestling or Brittney Spears concerts. It’s a good thing New Jersey doesn’t have it’s own MLB team, as they would probably require a disclaimer on the tickets, as they do for wrestling and lip synchers.
Some have said, "what’s the big deal?" The deal is that taking steroids is cheating, besides being illegal. This is equivelant to insider trading. Both are doing something that get’s them ahead outside the rules, and gives them an unfair advantage. Baseball, like other sports, is a business, a game, and a passion. Are you getting the real thing, or breast implants?
