With the revelations of the Biogenesis investigation by MLB
coming to the forefront this week, just about every sportswriter has put in his
or her two cents regarding this story and how performance enhancing drugs plays
into professional sports in general.
Even broadcasters are getting into the mix now. The other night during the Mets/Rockies game,
Gary Cohen and Keith Hernandez touched on the issue in a way that really hasn’t
been by most sportswriters. It doesn’t
come as a shock to me since SNY’s Emmy winning team of Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez
and Ron Darling are arguably one of the finer broadcasting teams in
professional sports today.
Gary,
playing devil’s advocate, described how both sides see the issue of PED’s. One side taking the majority stance that
there’s no place for PED’s in Major League Baseball. The prevalent idea is that
if players are found to have used them, heavy consequences should follow, with
the ultimate penalty being banishment. The
other side, which I found interesting in how Gary described it, was how some take a more
“Libertarian” approach regarding PED’s, stating that if a player is willing to
risk his health then it’s on the player.
There was a brief pause when Keith Hernandez, in a rare moment seemed
totally engaged in the conversation, chimed in and said as I paraphrase, “You
can’t say it’s a matter of being Libertarian if what you’re doing affects
others negatively”.
After listening to Hernandez huff and haw all season long
when the team would head into extra innings or deal with an unfortunate rain
delay, it was nice to see Keith the curmudgeon not chomping on the bit to tell
everyone to get off his lawn. It was a
brief moment but one that made me smile and I’m a Libertarian. The funny thing about Libertarians is that we
usually get attacked from all ends of the political spectrum for being what others
claim to think we all are.
I’m not saying Gary Cohen was attacking Libertarians so much
as he was simply trying to state a point, albeit a bit awkwardly. Not all Libertarians
are cut from the same cloth. Most teeter
on the political spectrum depending on the issue – but in the end we all share the
same edicts of individual liberty and freedom but, with respect to the law. Libertarians
are not Anarchists. Therein lays the
difference between those who say PED’s should be allowed in professional sports
and those who disagree, and no it’s not because of arbitrary drug laws. It’s about fairness. It’s about the law. Sometimes laws are in place that we all don’t
agree with but, that’s life in a democracy.
The idea of simply taking a drug that could, with the
emphasis on could, make you better at
what you do for a living is a tempting idea in spite of being morally suspect
not to mention with the potential of being physically damaging. In professional sports, especially Major
League Baseball, it’s a misnomer to think that sticking a needle in one’s ass
will turn a Felix Millan into a Ted Williams. With stringent drug testing now
in place, including testing for Human Growth Hormone (HGH), Major League
Baseball is now one of the better examples of a professional sport trying to
keep itself as clean and legitimate as possible. How can the quest for legitimacy be a bad
thing is beyond me?
When it comes to the use of PED’s in professional sports,
many Libertarians, some of which I have a great deal of respect for, have said
that PED’s, like other illegal drugs, shouldn’t be banned from professional
sports no more than cocaine should be illegal for you or I. Nick Gillespie, the
editor-in-chief of Reason magazine
and Reason.com, seems to think most
sports writers are hyper moralistic on the issue of PED’s as he stated in a
recent article regarding Ryan Braun. I
have a feeling that he’s not much of a sports fan especially based on how he
views the majority of sports writers. Not well if you read his article.
But with all due respect to Nick Gillespie or even the great
Greg Gutfeld, whom I’m told was very disappointed to find out that purple
unicorn’s weren’t allowed at Churchill
Downs; PED’s affect not just the players that take them. They also take away jobs from those trying to
do it clean. Take this which was tweeted
by former major league pitcher Dan Meyer:
"Hey Antonio Bastardo, remember when we competed for a job in 2011. Thx alot. #ahole"
Bastardo was one of the 13 players suspended by MLB in lieu of the Biogenesis investigation. So, does this mean Dan Meyer should just shut the hell up,
have a Coke and a smile? Should he just tip his cap to Bastardo (yes, that’s really his last name) shake hands and
let bygones be bygones? I’d be just as
pissed as Meyer if I were in his shoes. I understand, but not totally agree
with the logic that if PED’s and drugs in general weren’t illegal, the stigma
which draws people to them in the first place would decline.
Sure in an academic hypothetical arena that may be possible
but do I really want my daughter to be able to one day to walk into a 7-11 to
buy a Slurpee and have an HGH power bar sitting next to the Twizzlers? While we’re at it, put the cocaine pixy
sticks next to the Sweet Tarts. Sorry
but the old curmudgeon in me says no to such a grand experiment. I guess I’m not a real Libertarian huh?
The blasé attitude some have regarding allowing PED’s into
professional sports stems from the idea that they believe that fans don’t
really care how the players do the sometimes incredible feats that they
do. I disagree. In a perfect world, I don’t even want to have this discussion with my
daughter but when and if I do, I want to tell her that her favorite player(s)
did it clean. Let there be a level
playing field and then let individual talent take over. I look at it this way, would you be fine with
allowing kids to take their iPads with them while taking their SAT exams? Fair or unfair; you decide.
People often forget during this whole controversy with these
players being caught taking PED’s, that PED’s are illegal unless prescribed by
a physician for an actual medical condition, you know like dwarfism. The last time I checked Eddie Gadell hasn’t
suited up in a few years and if he did I have a feeling Brian Cashman would’ve
tendered him a contract by now.
Now get off my lawn!
