Have you ever had a moment in your life where you just thought to yourself, "Ya know? Everything is right in the world. Everything is pretty good for me right now." Those moments don't happen too often, but when they do they're pretty nice to experience. I'll bet you Bud Selig felt that way after the World Series. Sitting at home watching the Baseball postseason unfold as if it were scripted by some hollywood screen writer. Just as if we were all watching Jimmy Chitwood hit the game winner, or Rudy finally play for the fightin' irish, baseball fans around the country were glued to their tv sets awaiting the final climatic conclusion. For that month in October we all forgot about the season ending strikes in previous years, the ridiculous amounts of money being given away, and even the BALCO scandal that tainted the purity of individual accomplishment. What a difference a month makes.
Just when i think baseball was back on track to becoming America's pastime again, something happens. Now, in the past I never really cared one way or another if the players used steroids. I didn't condone it, but it never really seemed like a big deal to me. It seemed as if there were only a few players doing it and it wasn't really affecting the integrity of the game so why really bother with it. When it comes down to nuts and bolts a player still needs to have the skill to hit the ball. So no amount of steroids will ever make a mediocre player a hall of famer. That was my rationale for not caring.
Fast foward to 2003 and 2004, and now i do care. There's a lot of talk about this on the board here and i just wanted to put forth my opinion. One of the things that i've always loved about baseball are the stats. In no other sport are stats so important. I loved when a player would have a year where he might challenge one of these long standing single season records and the suspense it created. Not the mention an admiration for the type of year the player was having the skill level he was playing on. There's something amazing about watching a player in the "zone". There's something almost superhuman about it. I'll be the first one to admit that watching McGwire and Sosa challenge 61 homeruns was great. I loved every second. And even if nothing was formally admitted, we all had an inkling that Big Mac didn't get that big by drinking his milk and eating his wheaties. But it didn't seem like such a big deal at the time. Skip a head a few more years, Barry Bonds breaks the single season homerun record again. Not to mention Sammy Sosa who hit 60 or more 3 times. What was once an amazing feat of individual talent is now basically a joke. Steroids have made a farce of these once venerable batting records. They don't mean as much now. And i think that's a huge shame. I don't so much care that the records were broken because the players "cheated". I care because now the respect for the game is being "tainted" Not only are the players disrespecting themselves by but their now disrespecting what the players before them have done. The players that made the game what it is today. The accomplisments of players like Maris are being diminished with these absurd numbers. And i think that's the biggest crime. Its funny but i may be alone in saying this but i have more respect for Cecil Fielder who hit 51 that one year than i'll ever have for Sammy Sosa.
Just when i think baseball was back on track to becoming America's pastime again, something happens. Now, in the past I never really cared one way or another if the players used steroids. I didn't condone it, but it never really seemed like a big deal to me. It seemed as if there were only a few players doing it and it wasn't really affecting the integrity of the game so why really bother with it. When it comes down to nuts and bolts a player still needs to have the skill to hit the ball. So no amount of steroids will ever make a mediocre player a hall of famer. That was my rationale for not caring.
Fast foward to 2003 and 2004, and now i do care. There's a lot of talk about this on the board here and i just wanted to put forth my opinion. One of the things that i've always loved about baseball are the stats. In no other sport are stats so important. I loved when a player would have a year where he might challenge one of these long standing single season records and the suspense it created. Not the mention an admiration for the type of year the player was having the skill level he was playing on. There's something amazing about watching a player in the "zone". There's something almost superhuman about it. I'll be the first one to admit that watching McGwire and Sosa challenge 61 homeruns was great. I loved every second. And even if nothing was formally admitted, we all had an inkling that Big Mac didn't get that big by drinking his milk and eating his wheaties. But it didn't seem like such a big deal at the time. Skip a head a few more years, Barry Bonds breaks the single season homerun record again. Not to mention Sammy Sosa who hit 60 or more 3 times. What was once an amazing feat of individual talent is now basically a joke. Steroids have made a farce of these once venerable batting records. They don't mean as much now. And i think that's a huge shame. I don't so much care that the records were broken because the players "cheated". I care because now the respect for the game is being "tainted" Not only are the players disrespecting themselves by but their now disrespecting what the players before them have done. The players that made the game what it is today. The accomplisments of players like Maris are being diminished with these absurd numbers. And i think that's the biggest crime. Its funny but i may be alone in saying this but i have more respect for Cecil Fielder who hit 51 that one year than i'll ever have for Sammy Sosa.
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