Got Milk? Not so much. (image via blog52)
With Mark McGwire’s admission of his use of steroids yesterday there seems to be an overwhelming admonishment of his behavior. I, by no means, am excusing his behavior. However, I believe that he, and the players like him, are all suffering from double-standard by both the media and baseball fans.
The same people who praised these players’ exploits a decade ago are now chastising them for the previously praised behaviors. It isn’t just the media but also the baseball public. Baseball media and its fans hold culpability as do the players. Fan and media didn’t take the performance enhancers – the players did – but we cheered them on as records shattered and players went from superstars to super-inflated stars. Baseball was becoming professional wrestling but we just cheered our little heads off not concerning our selves with the reasons why.
Face it. We were in a bad relationship and were ignoring all the signs that something was terribly wrong. We didn’t want to admit it; we were just enjoying the show. We, the baseball public, had a love affair with the home run and by extension those who hit them. Given the strike and its fall-out; we all looked the other way on the blatantly obvious issues that were – in retrospect – there the whole time.
We needed a rebound and the home run was a hell of one. Exciting, stimulating, frequent – it was perfect for a public with a short attention span and in need of an all-pleasure, no-pain recovery from the decimating strike.
But like any relationship gone bad, we have hindsight to see our (and their) mistakes. They (the steroid-era players) were playing their role and so were we. We loved the long-ball, remember? Chicks dig it. They were or became the giants of the sport: Sosa’s August; McGwire and Sosa’s chase for history, the Blake Street Bomber, Bonds, etc.
Yes, all the trouble began before the strike, so it can’t be localized that one event. But at its peak it was the best marketing plan baseball ever put together. Purposefully or not.
Years later – and the relationship long-ago ended – we have one of the people who broke our heart now asking for our forgiveness. We are still holding a grudge for their mistakes and for ours. We’ll never be able to forget the pain. But can we forgive it?
Maybe. But only if we forgive ourselves as well.
