Juicers Up!

Professional football season has thankfully come to an end. Some team won the Superbowl game and another team has won the Pro Bowl game and now those with any lick of sense, and appreciation for beauty, drama and athleticism, can concentrate on the upcoming baseball season without being accused of being premature in our pondering of how will our favorite team do during this year's campaign. The intelligent person knows many things and one of those is that in team sports Only Baseball Matters. All others are chaff mistaken for grain.
But, as usual, modern life and and science have inserted themselves into the sublimity of the Great Game. It was revealed this weekend that Alex Rodriguez (aka A-Rod) tested positive for the use of steroids during the 2003 season. There's really no surprise in this revelation for those of us who have watched the man over the years. He's shown himself to be hungry for money and for glory, going so far as to attempt to make himself the unofficial leader of the Yankees during his first year with the team.
Mr. Rodriguez, in reply to a query from Sports Illustrated concerning the matter replied that the writers should talk to the players' union about the matter and that he had nothing to say.
In other words, he had neither the courage and honesty to 'fess up and claim that he made a youthful mistake nor the brass to deny the findings of the test and call the charges damnable lies. He, in effect, ran to Mommy and hid behind her skirts. He sees the players' union as his protector instead of manning up, getting on the horse and riding it until he defeats it or falls off.
Now, admittedly, A-Rod is not the most popular members of the Yankees. Noo Yawkers have long known him to be a preening would-be usurper of the Black Adder type without the humor. A-Rod now joins the company of Clemens, Sosa, McGwire, Canseco, Bonds et al who have been proven or heavily suspected of being juicers and thus who's hard work and talent are suspect because the relied on better living through chemistry. And he, and they, have helped to besmirch the great game.
One finds one's self wishing for the days of good, honest cheating: cheating that risked instant detection such as throwing spitters, using corked bats, not touching base. The use of steroids is more underhanded than physically cheating and is thus to be more condemned.
This writer has no solution to the problem. The club owners, in their search to pad their bank accounts, are loathe to enforce the anti-steroid rules. The only thing that would make the owners pay attention to the rule would be if the club were heavily fined for steroid use by its team members as well as the players being fined and/or suspended. But the union covers for the players and greed drives the owners to the expense of the game.
The only thing that the fans can do is shun and mock the juicers and praise and support the clean players. Instead of talking about Roger Clemens' record we should look at the heroic performances of Curt Schilling, razz A-Rod and praise Garrett Anderson, forget McGwire and remember Ted Williams.
Despite what one would think, baseball is not the property of the MLB, the Steinbrenners, the McCourts or the Morenos. Baseball is, and always has been the people's game from the days when it developed from rounders. We may not be able to control the professional game, but we can influence it. We can demand that the game be played clean. Otherwise, if the owners and the dirty players prevail our game will turn into professional wrestling.

The Baseball Fan's Prayer

Heavenly Father, most High and Powerful, all Knowing and perfect Umpire,
We confess to Thee our manifest fouls and errors and beg forgiveness through our most gracious Mediator and Advocate Jesus Christ.
We thank Thee for all the blessings Thou hast deigned to give us, especially for the game of baseball, which Thou mentioned in the first words of the Scriptures (In the big inning).
We beseech Thee to give us a season of good, clean baseball and pray that our ash wielding warriors of the diamond will fairly and cleanly defeat our enemies. Lead us not into the temptation of band wagonism, but deliver us from the evil ones called the Yankees. Give us patience during loss and humbleness during victory.
We ask these things in the name of our most blessed Savior, Jesus Christ the Righteous.
Amen and Play Ball