by Jeremy "Fasttalker" Bjornberg
Steroids in baseball has become possibly the hottest sports topic this year. Is it really important? Are steroids the reason for the home run increases or is it the expansion pitching and smaller parks? Should players be punished or have records taken away without any hard evidence? Should a player be chastised for using a supplement that either wasn't illegal at the time or they weren't aware of?
There are many different ways to look at it but steroids in baseball is a touchy subject around fans and ballplayers and everyone has a strong opinion.
A few players have come out and admitted their use such as Ken Caminiti, Jason Giambi and Jose Canseco. Caminiti and Giambi named no others, but Canseco named every power hitter in the game and barely stopped short of identifying Osama Bin Laden as his steroid dealer. Jose proved that steroids lead to addiction and violent behavior. The mental problems could be traced to that ball that bounced off his gourd for a homerun in 1993. How else can you explain the wife beating charges, ramming his wife's BMW with his Porsche, and not being able to close a booty call with Madonna.
When he was supposedly blackballed, he was batting .172 in triple A. You also have to question his motives, he sang like a canary not for the love of the game or for player safety, but to make a sleazy buck. Jose would sell out his twin brother Ozzie for a bottle of THE CLEAR if there were a market. Jose implicated 85 percent of all major leaguers, as well as President Bush. Weren't his eBay auctions of a day with Jose and selling off his MVP trophy humiliating enough? I refuse to believe anything Jose has to say -- it smells a lot like diarrhea of the mouth. Jose proved steroids are dangerous but offered no other evidence to prove his broad claims.
The accusations involving steroids in baseball has become nothing short of a witch hunt. Unless they are pudgy or skinny, anyone with a muscular build and a 40-homerun season has been maligned by the bloodthirsty public. Rafeal Palmeiro, Sammy Sosa, Gary Sheffield and Barry Bonds have been amongst the most criticized current players in the steroids in baseball scandal.
Barry has always been put under a microscope and reporters have always enjoyed any bad publicity they can generate his way. I truly believe a lot of stars didn't know the products they were using were illegal. Balco Industries had all the financial reasons in the world to tell these star athletes the products were just legitimate supplements. Then the lab had future Hall of Famers like Barry Bonds spreading the word about a great supplement and fantastic athletic trainers. In the meantime their pockets are getting fat and nothing is coming up on any urine tests, so their reputation is impeccable.
Apparently it gave Victor Conte such a big head he now acts as if he was the God of the fitness world. More like scammer and chief cheater.
I think the players should be judged by what happens in the future, not by a guesstimate by the public and writers. Until one of these stars is busted by a bad test, they deserve a lot more than to be destroyed in the media. Besides Jason Giambi, there hasn't been any true confirmation and maybe it is a helpless love I have for the game but I don't think the talk of baseball should be steroids. Let's enjoy the season and sit back and see who the MLB steroid policy can catch red handed. The steroids in baseball witch hunt has to end.