AND THE OSCAR GOES TO..... BASEBALL

BY DAN MILLER
(originally posted March 23, 2005)

A thought or two about last week's baseball - steroid hearings in Washington.

First, it was tough to watch the emotional testimony of a seemingly nice guy like Mark McGwire.
I felt both sympathy and anger toward this man considered a baseball hero by so many.

Equally as unsettling as the testimony of the players was the shameless grandstanding by congressional panel members, who wallowed in the spotlight and treated the issue as though it were a terrorist attack on our country.

In truth, this is an issue of public trust that should have been dealt with by baseball's corporate leaders long ago.
But at least the hearings will help clear the air on the steroid issue.... something that won't be easy to resolve.

The obvious question.... even with his knee problems, why wasn't Barry Bonds called to testify?
Here's a man who had been expected to easily pass Babe Ruth's home run total early this season..... and then, with just one or two productive seasons, to become baseball's most prolific home run hitter of all time, passing the great Hank Aaron.

But along came Jose Canseco's book, stirring up renewed clamor over steroids.
Now I wonder, will there forever be asterisks by Bonds' records.... and even bigger asterisks by Mark McGwire... indicating their accomplishments might have gotten an assist from performance-enhancing drugs?

Say what you will about Babe Ruth, his vices were anything but performance "enhancing".
Wonder what he could have done on steroids.
And what about Hank Aaron.... physically, a relatively small man? Imagine if he'd pumped up his muscles and stamina with steroids.

And, then there's the saga of Pete Rose. Will he forever be banned from baseball for gambling, while other players are proudly paraded into Cooperstown, even though their accomplishments on the field were unnaturally boosted by drugs?
During games.... on the playing field.... what Pete Rose accomplished was real.

Now -- wouldn't you know it -- after winning MVP for the seventh time last year, Barry Bonds might not play this season.... just as the drug tests were about to get serious. And he was so close.

I'll tell you why this is all so sad. Because we believed it all.... we trusted baseball's meticulous record books, and the men who set those records.

I know it's just baseball.... but it's part of the American fabric.

So are the movies.... but I've always known movies are make believe, and movie stars are just pretending.
I gladly suspend my disbelief, and lose myself in the plot and the characters.

Maybe that's what I'll have to do with baseball now....... suspend my disbelief, and enjoy the "make believe" for what it is?

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