With the potential for suspensions to be brought down on superstars like Alex Rodriguez, and Ryan Braun as well as several other prominent players, I am reminded of the double standard that exists in today’s world when it comes to sports.
The steroid era changed everything. When it all began to unravel, the media lead the public down a path of deciding that these crimes against the sport should leave fans outraged and make us believe the sport isn’t what it used to be and that they ruined the game we love.
Everybody was quick to jump on board with this idea, these players were supposed to be role models and are ruining everything because they choose to take performance enhancing drugs.
A crime against the game, not the people.
The issue went so far as to go to a congressional hearings that I am sure almost everybody reading this watched as they happened. This is where the double standard started to take shape.
Major League Baseball players are injecting themselves because they believe by doing so, they will perform better on the field of play. The news of this caused such a stir that the United States Congress got involved because they felt they needed to do what? Protect its citizens?
When congress questioned NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue about his league’s policy against steroids, the interview for the most part appeared to be conducted by fans – not investigators. Several even called the interview “a breath of fresh air,” in comparison to MLB’s interviews.
Just a few weeks ago, New England Patriots Tight End Aaron Hernandez was charged with murder. The news of this arrest was everywhere. Heck on the same exact day
What I find fascinating is that when the Biogenesis players do get suspended, it will be viewed as a bigger black eye on the sport than Hernandez’ arrest.
According to continuous research done by Brent Schrotenboer and Merrie Monteagudo of U-T San Diego, since March, 2005 when congress acted as though Major League Baseball was committing crimes against humanity, the NFL has had 466 arrests.
Think about that for a second, and let that sink in.
The National Football League has had almost 500 arrests of crimes that actually put the public in danger since congress got involved in the PED scandal.
I don’t like the idea of PED usage, but it only impacts my life as a fan of a sport. It’s far less of a crime than a DUI, Assault, Burglary, Sexual Assault, Domestic Abuse, Gun charges, and most recently murder.
We’re all going to live through this double standard very soon. Aaron Hernandez along with the hundreds of other arrests will just be a blip on the radar in terms of the impact on his sport and how the public views it.
Yet when it comes to Biogenesis, this could become as big of a black eye as the Mitchell Report was, but for the NFL – the beat goes on.
