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Tuesday, 29 November 2005 10:38 |
| Brad Norman
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BOONE ?? Major League Baseball finally ?? finally! ?? realized the seriousness of steroid usage in the sport. Accordingly, officials have reacted.
It was announced on Nov.15 that major league players and owners agreed on a new steroid policy, which will hopefully be implemented next season.
The new agreement hardly bears any resemblance to the old one, and that is a good thing.
Under the old agreement, the penalties for testing positive for steroids were:
?ÿ First positive test ??? 10-day suspension.
?ÿ Second positive test ?? 30-day suspension.
?ÿThird positive test ?? 60-day suspension.
This old punishment system was archaic. I??m sure many players would say a 10-game suspension does not cause them to lose sleep at night.
I think it??s pretty amazing that a baseball player could theoretically take the same steroid and be caught three times over the span of a couple of years, and still be in the league.
It??s cheating.
No other institution in the world condones cheating the way baseball does ?? excuse me, did.
If you go to college and get caught cheating on a test or paper, you will likely fail the class. A second or third
offense could get you kicked out of the university for good.
Imagine a professor saying, ?®Well, I know you cheated and I have proof, so I will take three points off this test... but don??t do it again!?∆
That situation is absurd ?? as absurd as the previous situation in MLB.
Here are the new and improved steroid penalties:
?ÿFirst positive test ?? 50-game suspension.
?ÿSecond positive test ?? 100-game suspension.
?ÿThird positive test ?? Lifetime ban, with player having the right to apply for reinstatement after two years and
an arbitrator being able to review the reinstatement decision.
Under the previous agreement, the earliest a player could be suspended for life was for a fifth positive test.
As someone who abhors cheating, I think these suspensions are just right for baseball.
A first offense of 50 games is much better than 10 days. A 10-day suspension, which is probably only six or
seven games, does not legitimately affect the player or the team.
A 50-game suspension, however, will certainly help curb the steroid problem.
Not only does a player not get to play the game he loves for about three months, he also has to watch his team suffer the consequences.
Now, although Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds have never admitted nor been found guilty of taking steroids, most baseball experts and analysts pretty much agree that the amount of muscle growth in such a short time frame and various other factors point to those players as probable steroid users.
So, for example, imagine the 1998 St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs without McGwire and Sosa, respectively.
The Cubs made the playoffs that year only because Sosa put the team on his back and carried them through the season.
Without Sosa for 50 games, the Cubs probably would have had a 10-40 record. From someone who is a huge Cubs fan, I can assure you that is not an exaggeration.
Sometimes, disappointing those people close to you (in this case, teammates) is far worse than the actual punishment itself.
Players who were suspended for 50 games would feel like crap because they let the entire team down. A 50-game suspension is also enough to wreck a season for a baseball club.
This may be a stretch, but the implications of the 50- and 100-game suspensions also hit into the business aspect, both for the player and for the team.
If a big star was caught taking steroids, like mentioned, it could have drastic effects on the team.
If a team is 40-30 midway through the season, and ends up going 20-30 in the second half (a high estimate, in some cases), the team would go from 10 games over .500 to right at .500 and 60-60, likely making the playoffs a long shot.
Some players are so talented, so skilled, that they bring the fans to a game ... baseball players like Albert Pujols, Barry Bonds, Mark Prior and other big names are worth the price of admission.
Teams could lose money from admission tickets and concession sales if their big-name player found guilty of steroid use frustrated fans so badly they stopped showing up.
This also sends a serious message to baseball fans that steroids are wrong. A player who tests positive for steroids is now more likely to lose part of his fan base, leaving sponsors hesitant to bring that athlete on board to sponsor a shoe or another product.
After the White Sox won the World Series, I wrote that they may have ushered ?®small ball?∆ back to the big leagues.
I think this new policy reinforces that statement.
Gone are the days of 70-home run seasons.
Back are the days of pure baseball: hitting, defense, running and strategy.
What??s not to be excited about?
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Brad Norman, a senior at Appalachian State University, is the editor-in-chief of The Appalachian, ASU??s twice-weekly student newspaper.
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