WHAT YOU DON'T KNOW CAN HURT YOU (IN AN ARGUMENT OVER SPORTS)
Barry Bonds apparently as topped Hank Aaron's homerun mark. I think I was watching the Daily Show at the time. As big of a baseball fan as I am the record just really didn't mean that much to me. Especially since the A's lost tonight and Chad Gaudin is suddenly giving up a ton of homeruns. That's bad for a groundball pitcher.
Anyway I thought I would give you some good fodder to argue with if you get stuck in the corner arguing with some drooling, beer swilling troglodyte whose moral compass comes from talk radio.
Ever wonder why there is a rash of kidney and liver problems in the NBA? Or why football players always seem so water logged? Drugs are rampant in sports and always will be. The NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 2006 missed the last 4 games of the season after failing a drug test for steroids. He was named the Player of the Year AFTER the suspension. The NBA doesn't test for marijuana.
The whole steroids controversy in baseball is a sham. Ask someone if they know how steroids work and they will more than likely not be able to tell you what the deal is with them. "They just make you big". What most steroids do is allow the muscle to grow and work without as much rest. So if you lift weights, yes, you'll get big. But if you don't hit the weight room you will still have the ability to work on a more regular basis. Relief pitchers are highly valued if they can pitch in consecutive games.
Baseball has been on drugs since the 1940's and it is well documented. Pilots returning from WWII were keen on those little green pills that helped keep them awake and focussed in the air also worked wen they were trying to get up for a day game after a night game. Amphetamines, "greenies" have been an integral part of the game and was briefly eclipsed by cocaine in the 1970's and 1980's. Guess what Pete Rose was busted for by the FBI - tax evasion, cocaine and steroids; but gambling was the crime he went down for. Baseball did not make amphetamine use a tested drug and therefore against the rules until last season. Ted Williams is arguably the greatest hitter who ever played. He also was a tremendous fisherman. And highly decorated pilot who flew in WWII and the Korean War. "Vitamin shots" started creeping up in the 1950's and in the 1960's some "red sludge" drink was also making the rounds.
Cheating in baseball goes back to its inception. Steroids and other PEDs (Performance Enhancing Drugs) weren't even tested or against the rules of Major League Baseball until 2004. And still the argument can be made - "if everybody is doing it. . ." These baseball players who break the records are cheaters to those who think they know better. But what about the 27 year old in Double A ball with two kids and alimony payments making $46,000 who can earn $380,000 a year if he can get a few more mph on his fastball or a few of those doubles to go for homeruns and get called up to the big leagues?
These guys that take the field are no different than anyone else in any other line of business. They try to skirt the rules to get ahead. If you aren't cheating you aren't trying. These are the same athletes who cheat on the taxes. Cheat on their wives. Get arrested for beating their wives. Get pulled over for DUIs as if they were a point in their favor in the next arbitration hearing. They aren't evil people they are merely doing what everybody else is doing.
Barry Bonds apparently as topped Hank Aaron's homerun mark. I think I was watching the Daily Show at the time. As big of a baseball fan as I am the record just really didn't mean that much to me. Especially since the A's lost tonight and Chad Gaudin is suddenly giving up a ton of homeruns. That's bad for a groundball pitcher.
Anyway I thought I would give you some good fodder to argue with if you get stuck in the corner arguing with some drooling, beer swilling troglodyte whose moral compass comes from talk radio.
Ever wonder why there is a rash of kidney and liver problems in the NBA? Or why football players always seem so water logged? Drugs are rampant in sports and always will be. The NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 2006 missed the last 4 games of the season after failing a drug test for steroids. He was named the Player of the Year AFTER the suspension. The NBA doesn't test for marijuana.
The whole steroids controversy in baseball is a sham. Ask someone if they know how steroids work and they will more than likely not be able to tell you what the deal is with them. "They just make you big". What most steroids do is allow the muscle to grow and work without as much rest. So if you lift weights, yes, you'll get big. But if you don't hit the weight room you will still have the ability to work on a more regular basis. Relief pitchers are highly valued if they can pitch in consecutive games.
Baseball has been on drugs since the 1940's and it is well documented. Pilots returning from WWII were keen on those little green pills that helped keep them awake and focussed in the air also worked wen they were trying to get up for a day game after a night game. Amphetamines, "greenies" have been an integral part of the game and was briefly eclipsed by cocaine in the 1970's and 1980's. Guess what Pete Rose was busted for by the FBI - tax evasion, cocaine and steroids; but gambling was the crime he went down for. Baseball did not make amphetamine use a tested drug and therefore against the rules until last season. Ted Williams is arguably the greatest hitter who ever played. He also was a tremendous fisherman. And highly decorated pilot who flew in WWII and the Korean War. "Vitamin shots" started creeping up in the 1950's and in the 1960's some "red sludge" drink was also making the rounds.
Cheating in baseball goes back to its inception. Steroids and other PEDs (Performance Enhancing Drugs) weren't even tested or against the rules of Major League Baseball until 2004. And still the argument can be made - "if everybody is doing it. . ." These baseball players who break the records are cheaters to those who think they know better. But what about the 27 year old in Double A ball with two kids and alimony payments making $46,000 who can earn $380,000 a year if he can get a few more mph on his fastball or a few of those doubles to go for homeruns and get called up to the big leagues?
These guys that take the field are no different than anyone else in any other line of business. They try to skirt the rules to get ahead. If you aren't cheating you aren't trying. These are the same athletes who cheat on the taxes. Cheat on their wives. Get arrested for beating their wives. Get pulled over for DUIs as if they were a point in their favor in the next arbitration hearing. They aren't evil people they are merely doing what everybody else is doing.