People cheat. This isn’t news, nor is it a revelation specific to present-day athletes. But it is getting old, and I think the players are starting to get aboard a train idealists left the station on far too long ago.
As I speak – or in this case, I write – Ryan Braun is planning an unpaid vacation for a crime “…he’s completely innocent of.” That’s right; it seemed like yesterday that Braun – the 2011 NL MVP – was adamantly denying the drug-use evident following a failed test late that year, in spite of the physical evidence, strong opinion to the contrary, and technicality which allowed him to walk freely from the crime he’s been found guilty of…again. But now there is no technicality, and the Milwaukee slugger finds himself with little to say except, I did it.
When the Biogenesis scandal broke earlier this year, we were all reminded of the climate of sports in the 21st century. Drugs aren’t new to the games; after all, amphetamines have been a favorite of athletes for nearly 50 years and steroids for nearly the same. But it wasn’t until the late 1990’s that the epidemic became apparent and shortly after that, legitimate measures to eliminate them from sports began their implementation.
Testing, while not perfect, is catching guys in the act. Sure, the adage says chemists will always be ahead of the tests themselves, but eventually they catch up and eventually catch the athletes intent on doing things the wrong way.
Yes, taking performance enhancing drugs is wrong. Some will argue that allowing players to do what they need to in an effort to heighten their level of play is not only in our best interests, but also in the interests of the players seeking an even playing field. We get to see the impossible, and they get a green light regarding every and all things capable of allowing them to get the most of talent even nature couldn’t provide. Sure, we might benefit short-term from witnessing feats once thought to be improbable, but the long-term affect of witnessing a farce rears its head by way of a level of cynicism not seen by these 2 eyes in the span of my 40 years. Chris Davis of the Baltimore Orioles is having a career season and in the process is raising eyebrows of the skeptics hardened by the events of the last 15 years. In spite of an unstained past regarding PED’s, Davis – like many before him – is being looked at wearily by media and fans habitually waiting for the rug to be pulled from beneath their antsy feet. From Barry Bonds to Roger Clemens, Mark McGwire to Alex Rodriguez, and Lance Armstrong to the aforementioned Ryan Braun, things lean heavily on the side of history’s truths, opposed to the webs of lies famously found in the wakes of nearly all the accused. Due to such, players such as Davis are second-guessed and due to the cheating minority, the right-minded majority is forced to contemplate “wrong” in an effort to sustain a career they’ve built doing it right.
I’m tired of all the cheating, but I’m even more tired of having to wonder “if” in the midst of something great, rather than “how” in the midst of what was previously considered a form of art. Finally people are getting mad, finally players are turning their backs on the players darkening their games, and finally were getting closer to truth…in a false, false world.
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