Here is a list off the top of my head of 3 of the most unsurprising "shocking" news stories in recent memory:1) Paris Hilton made sex tapes. (still funny)
2) Sarah Palin is now a contributor to Fox News
3) Mark McGwire (dramatic pause).... was on steroids for the better part of the 90's , including the 1998 season when he hit 70 home runs breaking Roger Maris' record that had stood for 37 years to that point.
This ad ran during the 90's and featured Big Mac's biceps that even people in the WWE looked at and were like "That dude is on 'roids." Look at this again and think ' This is a baseball player??' Not that ball players cant be athletic and muscular, but this guy's arms are circus like.
There will be so much written, blogged on, and talked about this for probably the next 3 months. And somewhere Tiger Woods is throwing up tons of fist pumps in glory because were about to all give Mark McGwire a lashing. This one is going to be pretty rough considering most logical fans have convicted him long ago of being way to gigantic in 1998 to not have tarnished the home run record, especially after his 2005 congressional testimony where he didn't deny he used but stated "I'm not here to talk about the past." Its a congressional panel on steroids there ,Mark, they aren't trying to get your forecasts for the economy.
Of course the obvious issues of what to do with his records, statistics, hall of fame candidacy, how this affects other players linked to steroids (hey there Barry Bonds), and if he is even fit to be a hitting coach with the Cardinals which would kind of be like cheating on you income taxes for 10 years then getting a job with the IRS.
But the thought in my mind is this... Baseball needed the McGwire/ Sosa HR chase of 1998 to bring back its fans and revenue after the 1994 strike. The establishment all knew it, the owners, commissioner, and General Managers. Baseball was desperate for attention and slutted itself out by ignoring obvious drug problems and ethics issues in the sport to maximize its profits. Gee, where have we seen this behavior before? Oh yeah, Enron, Worldcom, AIG, Lehman Brothers, etc. So while there was a quick flash of brilliance, the reputation of all players in the Steroid Era is right up there with those infamous businesses that deceived the public because they thought no one would ever find out and they would never be caught.
Funny thing is, everyone always gets caught. Now baseball is going to have to figure out how on earth they are going to deal with this issues. Its the sport that places the largest emphasis on numbers and records, so how will they rectify everything from numbers to wins to hall of famers from the mid 1980's- early 2000's.
Maybe Bud Selig can meet with CEO's of Goldman Sachs, GM, and Bank of America to figure out how to do some damage control. As a lifelong baseball fan, I put Selig in the same category as these clowns. Accountability goes all the way to the top and being complacent in the 90's to get fans and money back into the game is coming back to haunt the game now. Today's game is cleaned up , but as for the dreaded 'Steroids Era' unfortunately many of our favorite players and memories are tarnished forever, and now we all are left to wonder how to pick up the pieces.
Its a sad day for baseball fans, especially thinking of how we were all duped into thinking that 1998 was actually legitimate.
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