HOME | POLITICS | SPORTS | LIFE | SCI/TECH | OPEDS | HELPFUL TIPS
|
Dec. 7, 2004 For more than a decade in the 1980s and early 1990s, a paranormal psycho-killer named Jason terrorized moviegoers in the eight-movie “Friday the 13th” series. Now, a new Jason--New York Yankees’ first baseman Jason Giambi--is having the same effect on baseball fans and executives. And, as was the case for the scantily clad teenagers on the silver screen, the first installment is only the beginning. According to a published report in the San Francisco Chronicle last week, Giambi admitted to a federal grand jury that he used steroids and human growth hormone during the 2003 season and that he had used steroids for each of the previous two seasons, including his MVP campaign in 2001. His testimony was part of a federal investigation into BALCO, a California-based supplement company long associated with athletes and accused of providing those same athletes with illegal, performance-enhancing substances. Big names such as U.S. Olympic track star Marion Jones and baseball superstar Barry Bonds have been among those tarnished by the scandal. In fact, Giambi reportedly told the grand jury that he had obtained the banned substances from Bonds’ trainer, Greg Anderson, purportedly a long-time BALCO associate. But, if you think this scandal will claim only Bonds, Giambi and fellow Yankee Gary Sheffield, you are as foolish as the proverbial teenager who chooses to take a late-night walk at Camp Crystal Lake. That’s the setting of the “Friday the 13th” movies for those of you more discerning with your movie dollar. Once the clouds over Jason Giambi and Barry Bonds disperse-- and they will; there’s a war going on, after all-- the accusatory eye of the media will turn the next group of likely candidates. Could Boston’s David Ortiz be on the juice? San Diego’s Ryan Klesko? Brian Giles? Philly’s Jim Thome? What about free agent Richie Sexson? This is not to say any of these players have done anything wrong. In fact, their names have never been mentioned in connection with steroids. That’s the point. Fact is, they all fit the profile: Big-time power hitters who seemed to bulk up, and develop a slugger’s swing, relatively late in life. Some of them have also become injury-prone as they’ve gotten older, another stereotypical steroid-user trait. But, until Major League Baseball and its players’ union can come up with a mutually agreed upon system for testing players for performance- enhancing substances--something they’ve failed to do for years--the rumors and accusations will continue, accurate or not. Baseball’s failure to address the steroid issue is the real disgrace of this story. It’s not as if the steroid problem snuck up on anybody who has been around the game even peripherally. Rumors of illegal performance-enhancing substance use had swirled around Giambi since he began adding bulk in the years following his rookie season with the Oakland A’s in 1995. They only intensified after he signed his big-ticket free agent contract with the Bronx Bombers prior to the 2002 season. Bonds had to defend himself against similar accusations the moment he began breaking home run records, including the single- season mark set in 1998 by Mark McGwire, another name linked to steroids. For now, though, it will be Giambi that sets the precedent as to how major-league players and teams will handle the investigation’s fallout (to date, Bonds has copped only to unwittingly using steroids). Throughout a saga reminiscent of the Biblical allegory of Simon Peter only in the level of denial, Giambi repeatedly told reporters he had never used performance-enhancing drugs, doing so most emphatically as recently as last spring when he reported to preseason camp with a suspiciously slighter frame. That he had spent much of last season ill and/or unable to perform only added to the speculation. Now, Giambi’s failure to come clean about not being clean--unlike Sheffield, who admitted to limited steroid use in Sports Illustrated last October--may have effectively ended his stint with the Yankees, if not his career. Whether the game itself can recover remains to be seen. ------------ About the author: Brian P. Dunleavy is a New York-based freelance sportswriter, and his favorite baseball team still has a decided historical advantage over its Beantown rivals. He can be reached at: bpdunleavy@yahoo.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
||||||
|
|
|||||||
|
