The Mitchell report

[JR]

Maybe we are in the era of steroid prohibition waiting for it to become legal, then our perspective will be different.

You make a good point, that it is important to put proper perspective on the problem. I don't know whether kids will take 'roids because the pros do. I'm more worried about these two issues:

• Young athletes, say 18 years old, may be "forced" to take drugs due to a culture of use on a team. Say a promising young ballplayer decides to go into the minors rather than go the college router. Far from home, with a career ahead of him, an unscrupulous manager could apply a lot of pressure to use drugs in unproven combinations that could be harmful.
• The prevalence of drugs offers the opportunity for drug dealers to influence events. Sometimes drugs are distributed by gangsters, who also have gambling interests. The opportunity for very bad things to happen is apparent.

There are no easy answers. I ran into a friend last night who had played NCAA ball, and whose brother had a long career in the majors. My friend's son is a promising little leaguer, and with his genes and contacts can reasonably hope for a pro career. My friend is very conflicted as to how to deal with this issue. Appropriately, he is instructing the boy on drugs use in general, but he doesn't know whether to "amp it up" a little re: performance enhancers. I've spoken with the kid, and he's very aware of the issue (and very clear that he won't do it). But if this issue is not dealt with who knows what temptations may lie in his future?

JR

[newood2]

If, however, you are saying that these sports icons, who are the idols and role models for millions, should not be held up to closer scrutiny than "common man", then I do not agree. Without integrity, sport has little value.

Uncle Cracker, you inadvertently hit the nail on the head. We have taken ordinary simple human beings with faults and weaknesses not unlike our own and turn them into icons and idols and may I say "gods" and placed them on pedestals and then expect them to behave better than they truly are so that it would validate our praise of them without feeling stupid and insulted when they let us down. This is our inherent culture and tradition.
I would not associate integrity with any form of competitive sport. The operative word here is competitive.
The last time I look up the meaning of integrity, it says "unimpaired moral value". If mankind would adhere to true moral values then we would not need laws. If there was integrity in competitive sports then we would need neither "the rules of the game" nor the umpires, referees, etc. Win at any cost, the boxer will try to sneak one below the belt, the basketball player will try an elbow, the football defender will grab a mask hoping not to get caught. It's all honest if you're not caught, not because of any integrity. As to value,the only value I see is monetary. The bookies can explain that better than I do.

Howie

[Uncle Cracker]

C'mon Howie, you're splitting atoms here. I don't care how Funk & Wagnals defines "integrity". The colloquial definition of following the rules and owning up to it if you don't is good enough for me. I have seen golfers take penalty strokes and even disqualify themselves for a rules infraction. You can't say that because there's money involved, that there can be no integrity. The same system that will glorify a top athlete will also take him down. Can anyone say "Pete Rose"? A celebrity is making mucho money, and must shoulder a greater share of the public trust, while bearing a greater share of the public scrutiny. Should anyone care that I "juice" so that I can push my computer mouse farther and faster? Probably not. But should anybody care that Barry Bonds found his records and made his fortune while riding a needle and laughing at the system? You betcha.

[Ed62]

Without question, I gotta go with Uncle C on that one.

Ed

[newood2]

Here we go, you have to specify Barry Bonds in particular as an example. It seems a certain bias towards Bonds here. Why not use Roger Clemens, another Hall of Famer, as your example, a 50 year old who is throwing at 98 miles an hour, or any other names that was revealed this week. It's a subtle mind game we play, the more Bonds name comes up as the poster boy for what's wrong with baseball, that's the only name that will be remembered. We just wish certain things would just stay that way, why the Mitchell Report had to come out with all the other names.

[Uncle Cracker]

Whatever, Howie. Think what you want. Say what you want. I don't see any point in my further participation in this dialog. I'm out.

[newood2]

Uncle Cracker, its nothing personal, I just get my irish up sometimes in a lively discussion. But you're right. I've had enough myself.

Howie