> You had to be around this guy over the years to
> appreciate the achievement -- the incredible beauty of
> the swing, the fantastic drives into the Bay, the
> staggering number of times pitchers (or their
> managers) just gave up and walked him. He was called
> arrogant, but perhaps just lacked the verbal skills or
> need to give the standard self-effacing athlete's
> response to questions.
>
> In a corrupt and selfish culture, it's hypocritical to
> judge athletes by some fairy-tale standard of good
> behavior, as if it applied to any other parts of our
> life.
>
> Bob W
So fuck all ideas of ethical behaviour? Go ahead and use steroids, lie about it and be emulated by tens of thousands of adolescents who will suffer physically for the rest of their lives for following in the footsteps of assholes like Bonds, McGwire, Sosa, Canseco, etc. Right, and lets praise Mike Vic while we're at it.
The way to improve a corrupt and selfish culture isn't to wallow in corruption, deceit, and hypocrisy is it? Not breaking the laws concerning steroid use and not lying about it is now considered a fairy-tale standard of behaviour? Is expecting people not to rob liquor stores also a fairy-tale standard today? Not to stage illegal dog fights?
I don't follow "ball" sports but I used to be an avid cyclist and cycling fan. Cycling has the same problem baseball does but at least they are finally making a serious attempt to end the mad arms race of performance enhancing drug use. Whether you like it or not these athletes are roll models for children and adolescents and even expecting them to behave "better" than average is a perfectly fair expectation. That isn't what is being asked of them in this case however. If athletes don't like it tough shit. Flip burgers for a living where there is no public spotlight on your behaviour. If you want huge endorsement deals and the privilege of playing professional sports the public has every right to regulate their behaviours within the bounds of the law. Athletes all to often get a pass where "regular" folks wouldn't but even trying to hold athletes to the same standard as regular folks is somehow a fairy tale standard? Damn, some people love there sports heros beyond all reason don't they?
John Thornton