MEDIA BLITZ
By John Molori
Steroid scare brings out the worst in sports media
I can honestly say that I have never taken a steroid, but I sure have taken enough steroid talk. For weeks, the BALCO scam and subsequent finger pointing has dominated the airwaves and print media.
Sportsradio 850 WEEI’s Gerry Callahan has been on the steroid crusade for months. He has castigated those who are suspected of taking such drugs and called for their collective heads on a platter.
In order to separate the relevance from the rhetoric, steroids must be discussed on two levels, the illegality of the drugs and their affects on baseball’s statistics, morality and credibility.
The first point is cut and dry. Baseball prohibits players from taking steroids to enhance performance. If any player is proven guilty, he should be severely punished. One problem: it will never happen.
If, in fact, accused players like Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa or Gary Sheffield are found guilty, the most they will get is a slap on the wrist and a stern warning not to do it again.
Why? Because baseball is run by Bud Selig, the biggest scam artist since Robert Redford and Paul Newman in “The Sting.” A recent edition of HBO’s “RealSports” focused on commissioner Selig and his family’s continued ownership of the Milwaukee Brewers.
The thrust of the segment, nicely reported by Fox Sports’ James Brown, was that Selig duped the people of Milwaukee into publicly financing Miller Park with the promise that the increased revenue from the park would result in a better product on the field.
Clearly, that hasn’t happened. The Brewers haven’t been real contenders since Mike Caldwell was Cy Young Award timber. Selig would never permanently ban high profile players like Bonds, Sosa or Sheffield.
He is stuffed tightly in the pockets of profitable teams like the Giants, Cubs and Yankees. Whatever the big boys want, the big boys get.
Sadly, the BALCO/steroid scandal gives certain members of the media another opportunity to get on their soapboxes. No one does this in a more unseemly manner than Sports Illustrated columnist Rick Reilly.
Last year, Reilly smugly called out Sammy Sosa and ordered the affable Cubs slugger to admit to steroid use. In the March 15, 2004 edition of SI, he writes a parody column, essentially labeling Bonds, Mark McGwire and Sosa as steroid culprits.
Reilly has never produced one shred of evidence to back up his accusations. He cloaks his personal disdain for these men in supposed humor. I guess facts are what separate a columnist from a real reporter.
Reilly is the Senator Joe McCarthy of his time. Just as McCarthy irresponsibly labeled people as Communists in the 1950s, Reilly is throwing the steroid blanket over a host of names.
He is not alone. Several weeks ago, ESPN’s Dan Patrick tried to bully Sheffield into being tested on the air. Sheffield remained polite, professed his innocence and agreed to be tested as long as the MLB Players’ Union consented. Patrick continued to push for Sheffield to clear his name. I guess Patrick assumes guilt before innocence.
Of course, Patrick spends his free time peddling alcohol for Coors. How high is his moral ground?
McGwire is a terrific father who, as a player, always put family and fans first. Sammy Sosa has helped literally thousands of people in his Dominican homeland. I know, the prisons are full of good guys, but at least those people had the benefit of a trial.
Ex-pitcher Jim Bouton, the author of “Ball Four,” recently told WEEI regular Bill Burt that steroid takers should be banned for life from baseball. He added that taking steroids is worse than Pete Rose betting on baseball. Bouton is hypocritical.
His infamous book backstabbed many a teammate and ostracized Bouton from the game. He spent decades trying to get back into baseball’s good graces. Who is he to call for anyone’s expulsion?
As for Rose, it’s all about evidence. He admitted to betting on baseball. The current witch hunt has uncovered no hard evidence.
The steroid accusers base their claims largely on physical appearance. McGwire is the poster boy for this argument. Look at a young McGwire in his rookie year of 1987 and contrast that with his increased size in 1998 when he hit 70 home runs.
They fail to mention that the “scrawny” McGwire hit 49 home runs in just 151 games in 1987. He left the A’s during the last weekend of that season to be with his wife for the birth of their son.
Is it so crazy to think that athletes like McGwire and Bonds could, in fact, change their bodies and increase their production over the course of a decade through workouts and legal supplements?
Two former players, Ken Caminiti and Jose Canseco, have admitted to steroid use, but never hit 50 or more home runs in a season.
In his last State of the Union address, President Bush said that one of his main priorities is cracking down on steroid use in pro sports. Huh?
Aren’t we still losing American lives in Iraq? Isn’t there a major unemployment problem in this country? Don’t we have people living under bridges and on street corners? Where are the priorities?
Similarly, Senator John McCain of Arizona recently appeared on ESPN’s “Cold Pizza” and pledged to fight steroids in pro sports.
There is no question that we should work to eliminate steroids from collegiate and high school athletics. Many of the young people who take these drugs have no idea of the long-range ramifications.
At the pro level, however, my concern stops. If grown men want to take steroids in order to make $10 million per year instead of $5 million per year, why should I care?
They know the effects of steroids. They know their bodies and they know the consequences. If they want to put their lives on the line for money, so be it. I’m content to just sit back and enjoy the home run barrage.
Steroid watch dogs also introduce the statistical argument. The March 15, 2004 edition of Sports Illustrated implies that sluggers who take steroids should have an asterisk next to their records. Folks, if we are going to clean up the stat books, let’s really clean them up.
Baseball did not include African-American players until 1947. In this context, every statistic should have an asterisk. If not for the game’s institutional racism, Satchel Paige, not Nolan Ryan, may have set strikeout records. Josh Gibson, not Babe Ruth, may have set home run standards.
If baseball and the media want to get on the moral high horse, they better be ready for a long ride through the prairie. When it comes to an issue as serious as steroid use, I don’t care what Gerry Callahan, Dan Patrick or Rick Reilly think. I care about what they know.
John Molori’s Media Blitz column is published in The Boston Metro, The Providence Journal, The Lawrence Eagle-Tribune, The Lowell Sun, Patriots Football Weekly, BostonSportsMedia.com and MethuenOnline.com. John can be reached via E-mail at JOMOL3@aol.com.
