Posted by Mitch
on 1/13/2010, 14:18:32, in reply to "Re: you're kidding right ?"
Eddie:
As I tried to make clear, I would never "tear someone apart" for what they do to their own body on their own time. I smoke pot from time to time, and while it's currently completely legal for me to do so here in California, I would never want anyone to "tear me apart" for something that I do in the privacy of my own home and that basically doesn't harm anyone else (my smoking has never gotten in the way of a very healthy and happy family life, I've never needed an intervention, and I'm a fully-functioning, productive member of society).
However, I don't think anyone could call pot a performance-enhancing drug (unless it's in a musical performance setting, but we're talking about baseball RECORDS and HALL OF FAME here); it's a naturally-growing plant, not a steroid cooked up in a lab whose sole purpose is to enhance the athletic performance of its users.
My main point is that Mark and the other players knew perfectly well that what they were doing was totally wrong (otherwise, Mark would have "come clean" at the very first interview on the subject instead of refusing to tell the truth). And BTW, I'm not limiting my distaste to baseball; ANY athlete who uses performance-enhancing drugs should have whatever records they might have set while on the drugs revoked; otherwise, there's a very real incentive for some other lowlife to whip up a secret concoction even more powerful than Balcor's brew.
Eddie, I agree that we should all stay out of each other's private lives. That said, there's a HUGE difference between my smoking a joint at home and a professional athlete breaking records while on performance-enhancing drugs. Mark might be a totally decent man in his private life, but when it comes to records set while on the juice, we should demand that he (and all others who set records while drugged up) relinquish the awards in favor of those who set them honestly and naturally.
I applaud Mark's efforts to now (mostly) set the record straight, and hope that his experience will help him to guide up-and-comers to compete honestly and naturally. Whether in baseball, football or the Olympics, the bottom line is that we should NEVER allow any records to be set by people whose performances are enhanced by artificial means.
Message Thread
« Back to index