Baseball Fans Experience Their Own 'Roid Rage: " Will it Ever End?"

Baseball fans are tired of hearing that another player confessed, or has been accused of Steroid use. They may be tired of hearing it, but they are not surprised. There are literally millions of little league baseball players throughout the world. Those same little leaguers grow up to be both our good Priests and bad Priests, good bankers and bad bankers, good lawyers, bad lawyers, good pro-athletes, bad pro-athletes, successful and happy. Many even have hidden lives and they are also thieves, wife beaters, drug users, adulterers, cheaters, and even murderers, and many end up jobless and homeless. You get the picture. From time to time, the players true nature is exposed and because of his high profile, we all hear about it. Here is the scenario: a kid is a great athlete and eventually winds up in the big leagues. If he was a cheater as a young person, he will probably be that player, that when he finds out about how a particular substance could prolong his stay and productivity in the Bigs, he takes it. If a kid abused drugs on the streets, there is a strong possibility that when he makes it to the pro level, he will continue to use. Some are caught and some are not. It is no different in life. Millions of people use drugs, steal and cheat and are never caught, while some are caught doing it their first time.

No doubt, there are those athletes, just like there are regular Joes in life, who can be swayed into trying something that is illegal. Maybe the story is a little different from the one on the streets, but the results are the same. Imagine if you were in a struggle to make a pro or even a college team and you hear this story: "If you do it, no one will ever find out. It is undetectable, harmless, and if you just take it this one time, you will see instant results. Besides, this particular substance will soon be legal because it is all natural. You will be surprised at who all is doing it. I am the personal trainers to several of the superstars and they are all doing it." I know this to be the story. It was the story over 30 years ago when I played college football and then in semi-pro football where players were trying to be noticed by pro teams. Even then, when it was legal, most players knew that any shot that helped you get "better" was cheating, but still some players chose to take it and many chose not to.

Baseball will never get past the steroid era. However, steroid use is probably more the exception in professional baseball than it is the norm. But as long as there are people who produce it and distribute it, there will be people who take it. Which is no different from pot, meth, cocaine, illegal pills, etc. The higher the profile of the person involved, the more we will hear about it. There are just not enough law enforcement officers, laws, courtrooms, or monies dedicated at fighting the cause, so there will always be ways to abuse the system. What we have to do to help drastically reduce the abuse is: educate (at home), educate (at school), educate (on the streets) and create laws that will severely punish the makers and distributors and that will serve as a strong deterrent to the users.