The Hammer To Fall

Well hello there, Alex Rodriguez and Ryan Braun, how nice to see you again!

And I only greet you so warmly because you are the first...and most expected.  I can't wait for the others.

Kids, take notice, this is what happens when you make your personal foundation out of balsa wood.  As much as I think (know) that Bud Selig is a figure-head and that Major League Baseball is more of a "Aw crap, we shouldn't have done that" instead of a "Hey, here's things we should look out for" type of business, I do have to give them the credit that in this dark time for the sport they WILL NOT subject new youth to the same poison that fell in love with them before the steroids era.

I truly believe that they have forsaken the reasons that they got into trouble to begin with and are now on the path to...eh, somewhat redemption.  Witch-hunt?  Of course.  Hammer is falling, need scape-goats?  Check.  But do I think MLB is on the right track?  Absolutely.

I was a kid when McGwire and Sosa were challenging each other for the season home run title and I was captivated.  Then I was a teenager when whispers came out about that maybe they weren't doing it just themselves.  Then I found myself pursuing a career in sports journalism.  Thanks to them?  No, not even.  This piece is not even meant to be nostalgic.  I went down the path of sports journalism because of my mother, so forward all emails to her.

I'm rambling, I'm not supposed to, but the point is that I watched the rise and the "rise" and the fall.  And the supposed "rise" from that fall.  But we've been falling for a long time, they've just been waiting to finally nail the last dirt bags.  Well, kids, I think we got 'em.

Tony Bosch, the ring-leader behind the whole Miami-based PED (really? you don't know what this means? fine...it's performance enhancing drug, you big weirdo) is going to comply with federal investigators and implicate long time expected PED (see above) users and finally give them their just desserts.

Careful, let's not get ahead of ourselves just like, for example, ESPN.  Calm down, ESPN, you are drooling.  Relax a bit.

Tony Bosch is the equivalent to that guy on the Sopranos that denies and denies and is finally pinched by the feds and all of a sudden has all this information.  Not exactly a reliable source, probably just some guy looking out for his own two bits.

Tony Bosch will end up being the legal nail in the coffin but haven't we already had enough?  Do we really still look at A-Rod's home runs and legitimately nod our heads?  When Ryan Braun's test came back "inconclusive" and he avoided suspension, did we assume he was innocent?  No.  Not even close.  Major League Baseball and steroids is a slippery slope.  It doesn't matter what has been proven, it matters if your name is on the list or not.

Where have I heard this before?

McCarthyism aside, here are some facts:

1. There are baseball players that have been accused of using PEDs that have denied it.
2. There are baseball players that haven't been accused of using PEDs that are using PEDs.
3. There are baseball players that have been accused of using PEDs that aren't using them.
4. There are baseball players that haven't been accused of using PEDs that aren't using them.

Let's put aside the fear tactics.  A-Rod, Braun, and whomever else they so choose to go after, are they dirty?  Probably.  Maybe.  I think so.

How dumb would you feel though?  I mean, not necessarily with A-Rod, because he's done everything in his power to show you he has terrible judgement...but Braun?  Braun has gone out of his way to prove his innocence.  He found loop holes in the PED test for crying out loud* (*author's discretion, not viable to being sued by Ryan Braun...or his lawyers...dammit...it doesn't matter, he'll find a loop hole).

A-Rod plays for the Yankees, he's clearly evil!  He's smacking you in the face with it like he is trying to smack a baseball out of the glove of Bronson Arroyo.  (Bronson Arroyo just smiled somewhere.)

Ryan Braun plays for the Brewers!  The damn Milwaukee Brewers!  What's his angle!?  "Maybe they won't see me up here. - Ryan Braun"

I don't get it.  What I do get is that for every sport and for every hero you have cheaters and loop holes and maybe we've nailed two of the biggest and maybe we haven't.  And I'm sad.  I mentioned it in an earlier post how little league world series kids announce A-Rod as their favorite baseball player and it makes me have to stifle my vomit while I'm watching ESPN2 and First Take isn't even on.

And maybe when we're young we just pick our heroes not knowing whether they stand for good or evil but because in our eyes that's the biggest person we can see.  And as we grow, so do our visions with them, and our dreams and all of a sudden we see like them.

And that's how cults get started.  A-Rod and Braun are dirty, kids, go out and play tee-ball.