Flippin’ back and forth between the College World Series (CWS), Rangers vs. Astros and the MLB Network tonight. Hello, is this what heaven’s like? At this time of year I’m sure Eric, my bf, is getting beat down by the constant influx of baseball. I could literally leave MLB Network on 24 hours a day and not get bored. Before I met Eric I would even sleep with the TV on ESPN so I wouldn’t have to miss any highlights or news if I woke up during the night. Since I don’t need to know how many farts Brett Favre dealt today I can leave ESPN off for good when it’s baseball season.
So tonight’s been all about baseball and here’s what I can’t get out of my head. Why is it that baseball is the only sport where steroids has tainted the game? Does anyone really believe that football players have gotten that much bigger in the past 20 years naturally or just by using enhanced training techniques? It doesn’t make sense to me that there hasn’t been an onslaught of bad press for the NFL regarding steroids. Granted the NFL Players’ Association (NFLPA) handled the steroid issue and testing much differently than MLB’s Players Union. While baseball’s powerful player’s union fought attempts at testing the NFLPA worked with the owners to come up with a solution that both sides could live with.
It’s not something that a lot of sport media members talk about but I think the different approaches to dealing with the inevitable aspect of drug testing is what had led to more baseball players getting busted. Think about it, say you get busted smoking pot in high school but your parents continually deny it, wouldn’t you have felt like you could keep getting away with it. It’s human nature. I think there was a false sense of security with major leaguers. The player’s union would protect them no matter what or they knew it would be a long time before testing happened in baseball. On the other hand, the NFLPA worked with the owners and began educating their players about testing.
Naturally, the NFLs’ set of users began to think about covering up their usage or quitting altogether while the MLB set of users continued business as usual. There’s a business quote I used often when I worked in the corporate world, ‘they’re only going to do whatever you check.’ Usually in situations when people are asked to perform work tasks they are only going to do whatever you check. How about the reverse? What about a situation where someone wants to do something and they know you aren’t gonna check them on it? You think the vast majority will do it? Hell yes.
Blame MLB’s Player’s Union, blame Don Fehr for baseballs current situation. This is baseball’s new reality, time to accept it.
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