Baseball and Steroids

I’m not a member of the Religion of Sports but I have some feelings for those who achieve excellence at whatever they do, including those who take to a playing field, court or track. I even care about those who drive NASCAR although I have to swallow hard to accept that making a continuous left turn is called a sport. Although it is a neat diversion I shake my head in wonder when I see ESPN carry a Scrabble championship.

Over the last couple days we have heard time and again about the steroid and HGH scandal in professional baseball and how men who take these substances gain an unfair advantage over others in the sport. There is talk of stripping men of honors or banning them from the game for some time for using these drugs. I have a bigger concern than the level playing field, whatever that means. I have serious concern about the impact these men’s actions have on impressionable young men and older boys who may start down the same self destructive path. Let’s face it, there are grave health risks in this behavior and there is reason to take a dim view of these activities. The steroids also increase aggression and make the person taking it a ticking bomb. They can easily be pushed over the edge and harm or kill someone else. I agree with stripping the participants of honors and records if the drug use can be proven.

I felt saddened when I heard about a week ago of Marion Jones being stripped of her Olympic medal. I was also saddened by Floyd Landis being stripped of the Tour de France win for using steroids. These two put so much effort into these sports as did the baseball players who are being charged. But I know that if each of them did as charged, the action was right. But my heart was sad for them.

And my mind wandered to other things. Why have only a limited group of sports figures been singled out for disgrace while others continue in practices that have damaging effects on them and the impressionable ones who watch, some of those even more damaging? Should those in the limelight be penalized for these activities as are the athletes?

Look at fashion models and entertainers who starve themselves to be ultra-thin. They set a standard of appearance that young girls aspire to, some of these and the young girls who look to them die of anorexia. Karen Carpenter, one very talented singer died in February 1983 and August 2, 2006 a Brazilian model, Luisel Ramos died of the results of anorexia. Later that year on November 17, 2006 Brazilian model Ana Carolina Reston also died of anorexia. There are many others. But as tragic as this is, it is but the tip of the iceberg. Many others lives are shortened by as much as forty years. We could argue that they have the right to do with their bodies as they wish but isn’t that statement inconsistent with the stripping athletes of their medals? And the damage they do goes far beyond what happens to their own bodies. I personally knew one young girl who starved herself to death in this way. And there are others I am aware of who have drastically shortened their lives by this activity. The media focuses on obesity but the other end of the scale is even more deadly. And the press for being thin that is fueled by the entertainment industry, abetted by its accomplice, the same media that is feasting on the baseball players. They focus attention on the super models asd make role models of them that young girls want to follow.