BASEBALL

A-Rod admits using performance-enhancers

Tuesday 10th February, 05:23 AM JST

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Tahoochi at 04:24 PM JST - 10th February

Roids in pro sports?!?!?! Surprise surprise...
Altria at 04:28 PM JST - 10th February

How is he going to face the booing at Fenway and every other stadium for that matter, including the new Yankee stadium.

I don't think he's mentally tough enough to block it out like Bonds.

He could break down and cry like a little girl, go on a roid-induced rampage, or do both at the same time.
fordtuff at 06:48 PM JST - 10th February

"Performance enhancers" my arse ! Hitting a baseball, of unknown speed, direction, and spin is the single most difficult thing to do in sport. And steroids have never been proven to help a major league baseball player hit the ball or make contact in the 1 yen size "sweet spot" even once ! Sorry, but the name is all wrong here. Steroids are not performance "enhancers" ! Instead they are performance "maintainers" ! The only things steroids do for major league ball players is help them recover from the long and exhausting 162 game schedule. One only has to see how the average Japanese player in MLB peters out by midseason. Pitchers need extra rest time, field players get hurt. So, if yer looking for someone to blame, try the owners and fans. The ones insisting on high level entertaining performances day in and day out for 4-5 consecutive months. Sorry, but the body, nor the original game, was ever intended for such a schedule. I say allow each and every player in every sport around the world to take a measured and professionally administered amount of steroid to simply mintain their health. Hell it aint like these guys are sittin on the sofa every night downin beers and chips and are then expected to go to work the next day like Joe sixpack out there... and we know how juiced up the average forklift operator is. Caffeine buzz, nicotine high, handfulls of vitamins, and don't forget all those weight gain/loss/muscle building powders you find in every gym across the world. Is A-Rod a cheat ? Yes ! He broke the rules... but that doesn'T mean the rules shouldn't be changed.
northlondon at 08:11 PM JST - 10th February

fordtuff, quite a few issues here. First of all, Barry Bonds would never have hit half as many balls out of the park if he hadn't 'enhanced' his muscle size and weight with steroids from when he was a slim built player. Also, millions of kids around the world are influenced by their baseball heroes. Imagine the effect it would have if these kids discovered that by taking steroids (and being allowed to take steroids), they could improve their game to become pro stars ? Do you have any idea about the damage that steroids can do to your body ? Not to mention the mental effects it has of making you over-aggresive with violent mood swings. Finally, a major part of A-Rod's game is about his speed around the bases and his athletic ability when in the field. By enhancing his muscle strength and muscle reaction with steroids he is cheating, plain and simple.
northlondon at 08:28 PM JST - 10th February

All of these Major League players who are getting busted for drug enhancers are cheats. I'm sure that the likes of A-Rod and Bonds etc were always talented enough to become MLB players anyway. But as A-Road has just admitted himself, they have enhanced their athletic ability out of a fear and from the stress of wanting to stay at the top of their game. Therefore players such as A-Rod have cheated other pros from bettering their personal stats, from beating their baseball records and from taking their spots on the team for the Yankees and the US WBC team etc. Therefore they have cheated their fellow pros from being able to better them and they have done this artificially.
flammenwerfer at 09:18 PM JST - 10th February

Hitting a baseball, of unknown speed, direction, and spin is the single most difficult thing to do in sport.

really? and here was me thinking it was a back 2 1/2 somersault with 2 1/2 twists off the 10m tower.

Granted it takes a lot of skill to do well and get paid lots of cash to do it, but whether they takes roids or not I don't really care. There is no equality in sports like baseball to begin with, for example the yankees payroll is something like 8 times that of the Brewers payroll...The cash injection beats the testosterone injection hands down.
magpie at 09:55 AM JST - 11th February

I say allow each and every player in every sport around the world to take a measured and professionally administered amount of steroid to simply mintain their health

fordtuff, what steroids ruins is the integrity of the game. The rcords broken by McGwire, Siosa, Bonds when hitting all those home runs, were done so with the administration of steroids (or so we interpret based on the allegations). Hak Aaron's carear record ot Roger Maris' single season record were most likely (I say most likely as we may never know)achieved without such performance enahncers.

What Steroids has done is give players what we now detemrine as an illegal advantage (since they are supposedly banned) and also create an uneven playing field versus history and thereby questioning the legality of these new records and also sacrifing the integrity of the game. Needless to say we haven't even got into the ethical issues related to the damage steroids does to your body and mental well being.

There are other things within sport such as technical advantages which you may say also create an uneven playing field. Those will just have to be dealt with as they go. But the reality is thiose advantages are advantages against history and not against current competition. So in that sense, levels the playing field, although it may advantage them over historical records, but I say let people be the judge of that. An example is that people will still admire Nicklas and whilst woods may have the advatge of equipment in chasing his grand slam record, it doesn't discount in anay way Nickals' achievements or Woods athleticism. Steroids though is a speerate matter totally. Look at McGwire and Bonds and everyone's reacton to A-Rod.
telecasterplayer at 12:38 PM JST - 11th February

So... A-Roid admits using a performance-enhancing banned substance which directly effected his ability to play the game, and he's probably going to get away with it.. and Michael Phelps uses a banned substance which had nothing to do with his sport nor his performance in it, and he's in trouble?

Roids = Cheating. Period.
Betting at 03:42 PM JST - 11th February

Massive money + humans = massive cheating on a massive scale.

Are there any professional sports that don't have this problem? Hey, pole sitting doesn't count as I doubt it is professional.

I have to agree with magpie here, drug use in sports ruins the integrity of the game.
kornholio at 03:51 PM JST - 11th February

release the other 103 on the list.. I say.
spudman at 05:23 PM JST - 11th February

yeah release the information or face the wrath of the fans. Maybe congress needs to reopen the anti trust hearings. Simple parade of players through a rolling grand jury should suffice. Plenty more to join Barry on the defendants bench.
magpie at 06:48 PM JST - 11th February

Mark has setthe benchmark....as long as you continue to remain silent, you will not get into the Hall of Fame and be doubted. It will be interesting to see what happens to guys like Barry and Roger who continue deny despite others testomnies tot he contrary....
fordtuff at 10:45 PM JST - 12th February

northlondon and magpie... you disappoint me.

Northlondon quips:

"fordtuff, quite a few issues here. First of all, Barry Bonds would never have hit half as many balls out of the park if he hadn't 'enhanced' his muscle size and weight with steroids from when he was a slim built player."

Really ? Arod has hardly bulked up since his rookie year, and he hit 40 and 50 plus dingers during his admitted steroid days. European soccer leagues are beseiged with average size players on steroids, as is track and field, swimmers, etc. Sorry but you seem to have fallen for the stereotype that steroids are used to add bulk, wrong. And if it were as simple as adding bulk and hitting a ball a ton, well... every pro golfer, tennis player, cricket batsmen, and ping pong player would be dabbling in the stuff... but why don't they ? Could it be the rigors of the schedule as I mentioned ? I believe so. I mean you do realize that when MLB got started way back in the 1870's the league schedule consisted of 64 games. Yep, 64 ! Not 162 !!! And then playoffs ! Like I said, every pro sport that demands so much from its athletes should be prepared to allow them the necessary means to "recover"... and steroids does that. It won't help you find the sweet spot of the baseball if you never knew where it was in the first place. It will however extend your skills and abilities throughout the duration of the season. Players like Bonds, Mcgwire, Sosa, and Arod already have god given talents... what they don't have is the genetic ability to play at an extremely high level day in and day out for 4-5 months out of the year... as the public and ownera demand. The choice is simple, allow for a certain amount of anabolic steroid for recuperative purposes... or go back to a 64 game schedule as originally designed. You decide, but whatever the case, pointing fingers and name calling of these athletes is unfair. Rumours surrounding drug use in pro soccer and cricket in Europe are just as rife.. yet they don't make it to the headlines of the local papers like American athletes do. How about some objectivity out there. Steroid use is rife in all sports... time to come to grips with the reality of the "business" .
fordtuff at 10:52 PM JST - 12th February

As for magpie... Integrity of the game are you serious ? Integrity ??? Gee didn't that go out with the designated hitter, pine tar, chin music, the hard slide into second, artificial turf, night games, the free agent, squeezing the strike zone, raising the mound, oversized gloves, the Oakland A's, Reggie Jackson, Curt Flood, Pete Rose, Gaylord Perry, the double header, the dead ball era, corked baseballs, or legalized gambling ??? Baseball has been a business, nothing more nothing less, since the middle 70's... integrity ? Are you serious ?
helloklitty at 12:29 AM JST - 16th February

Steroids are not performance "enhancers" ! Instead they are performance "maintainers" ! The only things steroids do for major league ball players is help them recover from the long and exhausting 162 game schedule.

Even though I consider myself a fan, I've often wondered why they increased the season from 154 games to 162. When I was a kid, I was glad when that 27th game was finished and I'd get ready for football season, then basketball. Soon, I was sick of it all. A recent Sports Illustrated story spoke of how much NFL players actually hate the game and just do it for the money.

A lot of teams, by mid-August, are just so out of the race, 20-30 games behind. This is when they should be put out of their misery. I mean, after 100 games, that should be enough satisfaction. Players could take a 33-40 percent pay cut and still survive I hope. Best of all, we could see our favorite pitchers extend their careers, injury-free.