I was first really introduced to steroids in 1985. A friend of mine at high school introduced to me the idea of taking them to get “big”. Personally I was more concerned about the side effects than I was about the positive growth aspects. So I never got past a discussion.
In 1988 I was reintroduced to them thanks to Ben Johnson, the sprinter for Canada who ballooned up using steroids to win the 100 metre dash. At first like many Canadians I thought it was a conspiracy. But that ended as commission after commission proved Johnson had taken an easy road to fame and fortune.
25 years later I am still dealing with my thoughts about the use of steroids and how they effect records and success in sports. Where people denied Johnson was on the “juice” in 1988 most now suggest you are guilty until proven innocent when it comes to steroids, human growth hormones and the like. Now a whiff of going to a weird doctor, quick recovery and or bulking up and people are immediately suspicious.
Steroids has killed many professional wrestlers, it still to this day causes huge problems for those organizations. Football as well has been and probably will always have to deal with it one way or another. But baseball has taken it to a whole new level.
Now we have an “era” of steroids. Calls have come from everywhere that Bonds home run records and McGwire and Sosa should be struck from the record book because they have tainted the game.
However in baseball, where records are sacrosanct, it may seem painful to admit it but all the records are tainted. Not just in steroids, but in the spitball era, the amphetamine era, the era of Negro leagues and so many others. We will never escape the judgment of history with baseball because all eras are problematic for different reasons. It may be that we will never truly be able to call the steroid era over and we may be forced eventually accept the statistics. We are no longer pure, no longer able to just say no.
If sports leagues are honest they must recognize that they cannot fully eliminate cheating with performance enhancers. They can really only limit it is with hardcore testing regimes. So they either must recognize steroids and accept the stats or set up testing at an Olympic level and wipe out all the steroid records for anyone caught or admitting to use.
The innocent days are gone now. This problem is here to stay and we have to live with it but how we accept it will determine how we move on.
Tags: Mark McGwire, MLB, Sports, steroids
