So, did anybody catch the steroid hearings yesterday? I missed it, and that’s too bad, because apparently it was good theatre. The Congressmen preened and looked good for the camera, the players (with one exception, which I’ll get to shortly) did everything they could to deny being a Commu… that is, ever using steroids, and the prime accuser, the man who precipitated all of this, got used on national television. God, do I wish I could have seen it. It seems that the only thing missing was ol’ Tailgunner Joe himself, waving his ubiqitous list around.
So, on to the notable exception: Mark McGwire. He refused to confirm or deny. He stood up, knowing that it was going to “wreck his reputation” and told Congress to suck wind. Well, today the vast majority of people are saying that he’s guilty as sin, but I say that he’s the epitomy of what people who go before these sausage fest committees should be. Name no names and tell no tales. 55 years ago he would have been one of the Hollywood 10. Today he is crucified for having the personal integrity to tell people that it is none of their business what he does or does not do, nor is it anybody’s business what anybody else does. The other players, rather than banding together, threw him to the wolves. They denied it even when they shouldn’t have. And now he’s taking the hits for them.
Well, good for him. I think he should go into the Hall tomorrow for having the courage to blow off the pompous witchhunters who had no business asking the questions anyway. Some people say that he cheated and should not go into the Hall. I think he should have a place all to himself. Well done, Mark. You made yourself one more fan yesterday, even as you “lost” hundreds. You took the unpopular route that was blazed by the Hollywood 10 and the musicians in front of the PMRC, the correct route, and you should be admired for that.
Besides, I don’t care if you took steroids, and I certainly don’t think that it’s anybody elses business either, any more than it’s my business if you do coke by the pound or smoke chiba by the ton. If that’s what we were talking about you’d have all kinds of people rallying around you. But you went it alone. Good for you. I wish other people would learn that when there’s a witchhunt on you tell them to go to hell like you did.
I fail to see the similarities here between being accused of being a communist, or symp, and using illegal drugs to cheat on your athletic performance. You are free to try and convince me otherwise, I could be wrong.
You missed the point entirely. The similarities between this and HUAC are to numerous to ignore:
They were called to testify because of one accuser, with questionable credibility.
Those that testified, whether they were telling the truth or not, are assumed to be telling the truth.
Those that did not answer substantively are considered to be hiding something.
Those that did not answer the questions are being pounded for it.
Congress has no business asking the questions anyway.
If McGwire were still playing ball he’d be dogged by this, and he did the right thing. Just like the Hollywood 10.
This has nothing to do with being a Communist, and everything to do with the similarities of what happened 55 years ago, which is now universally decried. Why are we so hip to it now when we revile what happened then?
Congress rounded people up by the dozen to crucify them based on rumor of Communist ties.
Congress is now rounding people up by the dozen to crucify them based on the rumor and conjecture of roid use.
You don’t see any similarities at all? Once again, Congress has it’s fucking nose and grubby little paws in something that it shouldn’t. THen it was patriotism and Xenophobia. Today it is baseball and roids. A fucking waste of my tax dollars and I’d like a refund, please.
Sports has been rife with doping and drug abuse for CENTURIES, fuck, millenia even(Doping in sports has a history that goes back as far as ancient Greece). That my government decides to hold hearings on suspected steroid abusers now-as if it’s some overwhelmingly important national fucking issue is just ludicrous. We need more athletes to step up to the plate and tell then to stuff it. Or we need sports commissioners to grow some balls and stand up to the government.
I am not a fan. And I’m don’t really care much about steroid use in professional sports. I think that, if it’s illegal, it should be tested for - as Olympic athletes are tested. But I don’t see this as an issue that Congress should be getting involved with.
Fuck 'em all. I make the assumption that if you play baseball, you’re a steroid-shooting junkie, because the MLB doesn’t give a rat’s ass about 'roids. Wanna prove otherwise? Stand up and say so-- and get your fucking league to come clean.
Clean up your act. Until then, I’m not watching your so-called ‘sport’.
I am not a fan. And I’m don’t really care much about steroid use in professional sports. I think that, if it’s illegal, it should be tested for - as Olympic athletes are tested. But I don’t see this as an issue that Congress should be getting involved with.
I don’t much care about sports or steroids, but isn’t there is one major difference between this and the McCarthy stuff? It’s illegal to use steroids, but it never was (or never should have been) illegal to be a communist. The McCarthy hearings punished people for exercising their Constitutional right to free peaceful assembly.
I’m not saying there are no similarities, and I trust those similarities pointed out already are genuine. But let’s not ignore this big difference.
McGuire just seemed like a weasel to me. He didn’t want to cop to juicing during his career but he didn’t want to face a perjury rap either so he tried to worm his way out of answering the questions. It’s couldn’t have been more obvious that he had done it.
I think the entire proceeding is a farce. There is no legitimate reason for Congress to be holding hearings on this subject: it is an utter waste of time. Baseball is a private business, and steroid use is a crime that there are already ample laws to enforce. Baseball team owners already have the power to demand testing as a requirement for play, and the leagues have the power to demand it as a requirement for team participation. If the police suspect steroid use, they should investigate, but they cannot specially violate the Bill of Rights for baseball just because it’s “the national pastime.” Nor is it specially deserving of Congressional oversight than any other place where people use drugs. But it isn’t Congress’ responsibility to protect the integrity of baseball. It’s not their business in any sense at all.
All Congress is doing here is preening it’s own feathers with a publicity-hot issue.
Some of the players who are alleged to have used steroids had them prescribed to them by doctors, which is not illegal. And it SHOULDN’T be illegal, anyway. If someone wants to pump themselves full of steroids, why is it the government’s business to say otherwise?
This entire thing is a total farce. It’s not the business of Congress what substances should or should not be used by major league ballplayers. Steroid use wasn’t even prohibited by MLB until two years ago; it’s widely used in almost all sports, and is virtually an epidemic in pro football, which for some reason, never gets dragged through the mud. It’s a waste of money and time by politicians trying to make themselves look good. What a joke.
This is exactly akin to Congress holding hearings on the lack on enforcement of hooking rules in the NHL, or on travelling in the NBA.
Yes, this was a farce, yes, it was simple grandstanding mixed with jocksniffing, and no, nothing further will come out of Washington on this but some more of the same.
Oh, please. I’m with Barbarian. McGwire was a doped-up slimeball on the stand. He didn’t take the 5th like a gentleman, he just closed his lips and shook his head petulantly, as if his father was scolding him for not taking out the trash. Immature, stupid, and certainly not what his lawyer advised. The Congressmen, at least, showed some intelligence. I don’t expect baseball players to be role-models, but maybe they could learn how not to be bozos on C-SPAN.
(For the record, I don’t need Congress investigating this either. Major league teams are on the verge of bankrupting themselves anyway. Let them, and hope they don’t take the goddamn philandering university system with them. Oh, and Congress? That goes for the airlines, too).
But Congress is already invovled in baseball. It’s not just ‘a private business.’ It’s a private business granted an immensely valuable antitrust exemption by Congress and the Courts. Not that I support these hearings in any way, but baseball sure as hell ain’t just another business.
