Dan's Thoughts

So it wasn’t just Manny being Manny. It was Manny being Super-Manny.

And I don’t care.

When A-Rod got popped, I wasn’t surprised. Manny? My eyes went to his almost $8M 50-game salary rather than the positive test.

This is an era where we now have to assume just about everyone was taking something to boost their performance and longevity. And I don’t care.

Scott Boras, who oddly represents a lot of guilty players, made a really good point in an interview in this month’s Playboy by saying, “Each era has distinctive features—from equipment and rules to pharmacology, surgical advancements, labor agreements, federal and state laws—that impact performance. The game is always changing. The Hall’s [of Fame] scroll of admission must be drafted with a fluid and broad pen. Only then can it recognize excellence from every era.”

I agree with him. There are lots of different variables from each time. Domestic game to international game. Only white players to all races of players. Pitchers going all game versus the advancement of the bullpen. Huge ballparks to smaller ballparks. Players hitting the bar after the game to players hitting the gym after the game.

It would be really easy for all of us to sit here and label them “cheaters”, we not only allowed this, we wanted this. Baseball was a dead sport. Cancelled season and cancelled world series. When McGwire and Sosa started hitting all of those home runs that summer, we got nostalgic, and we fell back in love. America’s game took full shape. Kids had their slugging heroes like Dad had Maris, and Gramps had Ruth. We overlooked that these guys brains were bulging out of their heads because we didn’t care.

When I read Juiced by Jose Canseco, he talked about how baseball was entertainment. He recalled a game where fans were heckling him and chanting “steroids”, and Canseco proceeded to just start flexing. The crowd laughed and probably told their friends all about it. Entertainment value? You bet.

Are we in an era where the purity is out of sports? I have to think so. Look at the empty Yankee Stadium. No fan can afford tickets and no Dad can bring his kids down to the field pregame to try and get an autograph. Then the kid has to ask the Dad why they don’t sit in the $1,250 dollar per game seats. Pure? Please.

St. Louis fans should just start preparing now…Pujols? Please.

You can look across the entire major league and make fair arguments for everyone. Sheffield, Bonds, Vladdy, Brady Anderson, Bret Boone, Pettitte, Clemens, A-Rod, Gagne, etc etc. 2004 Boston team…Millar, Mueller, Bellhorn, Ortiz, and Manny? I mean you’re just kidding yourself if you think those guys are all clean. 

Sports are no longer pure, maybe they never were, or maybe I’m just old enough now to realize it. Manny, A-Rod, Clemens, and Bonds might be publicly shamed and out of the Hall of Fame, but look at their bank accounts. It was never about the stats for these people. Wake up.

And I really don’t think outlawing PED’s is going to help. Steroids aren’t for brute jocks anymore. They have become so sophisticated that when taken correctly, they can prolong life, halt illness, and make you look better in a swimsuit. Look at Sly Stallone and Suzanne Somers. PED’s are becoming more and more a part of modern medicine and will definitely increase in usage in the upcoming decades as we learn more about our genetic makeup.

So Manny and Boras did the smartest thing they could do, take the suspension and be quiet. Everyone already knew and everyone will accept it in a day or two. The people are still going to come see ManRam in July when the Dodgers are amidst a pennant chase and fans will buy tickets on the road to boo A-Rod. Cash money stacks playa. 

Sports are pure? Please. Pay up bitches.