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Mar. 23, 2005 Until Mark McGwire, the former Oakland A’s and St. Louis Cardinals’ slugger, answers the question definitively, we’ll never know if he was using steroids when he broke Roger Maris’ single-season home-run record in 1998. But here’s the real question: Who cares? I can’t be the only one wondering why Congress wasted a day debating the issue of steroids in baseball last week when our country is at war and our national economy is teetering at the edge of the proverbial abyss. Shouldn’t our leaders be more concerned about protecting our citizens and our soldiers on the front than about protecting the integrity of the national pastime? If that’s their goal, they’re too late anyway. Rumors of steroid use in baseball date back to the late 1980s, when the sport’s formerly lean and mean athletes began to noticeably bulk up. By then, the problem had already reached epic proportions in professional football. Meanwhile, the specter of performance-enhancing drugs has haunted sports such as cycling, swimming and track and field for decades. Most sports fans with more than a handful of brain cells accept this type of high-tech cheating as an unfortunate reality at this point. That doesn’t make it right, but it doesn’t make it a national issue either. Until now, it has been up to the leagues and governing bodies within the individual sports to police themselves. With the exception of Major League Baseball, they’ve done a pretty good job. Either way, our legislators have better things to do. Even President Bush, a devout baseball fan and former team owner, agrees. Sure, steroids are dangerous. But whether our athletes are using them or not is far down the list of national problems. Fact is, if he used illegal substances, McGwire is guilty only of making a bad choice--not of making steroids or selling them to young people. I know, I know. Athletes are role models. Our kids idolize and emulate them. Blah, blah. Indeed, that’s the real issue here, and that’s not a problem Congress can address. That’s an issue that needs to be taken up in homes across the country. In fact, the discussion is long overdue. We’ve paid lip service to it for years. It’s time to put our money where are mouths are and encourage kids to find new influences. I mean, really, do you want your kids to behave like hoops star Tracy McGrady, who recently referred to his former boss as an "a**hole" on national television? Or baseball player Milton Bradley, who threw a beer bottle at fans during a game last season? Or how about NFL running back Jamal Lewis, who spent more time with his legal counsel than his coaches during the 2004 campaign, and entered a plea agreement on drug-dealing charges? Rarely a day goes by that a big-time athlete isn’t arrested in a drug raid or a domestic dispute. Congress shouldn’t get involved in professional sports, but the cops should. Clearly, professional athletes don’t care what we think of them. It’s time we stopped caring about them at all--especially on Capitol Hill. ------------ 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! |
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