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 As I sit here and watch Matt Stover miss a 44 yard field goal to keep the hopes of the Dolphins alive in OT against the Ravens, I keep seeing commercials about Katie Couric interviewing Alex Rodriguez on 60 minutes tonight. I saw a brief clip of the interview, and Couric asked A-rod if he has ever used any PED? Without a blink, a flinch, a hesitation, an eye movement, his answer, "No." End of discussion.
This got me thinking about how important players like Alex Rodriguez, Albert Pujols, and Derek Jeter are to this game. With so many players' names being dragged through the mud in the aftermath of the Mitchell Report, these players are the ones that need to bare the game on their shoulders. Even if you do not like Rodriguez because he's a greedy bastard, you still have to respect the way he plays the game...clean. Even if you think Jeter is a pretty boy that plays for the Evil Empire, you still have to love his desire and the way he plays the game...clean. Even if you think Pujols's batting stance is utterly atrocious, you still have to sit in awe by the way he makes the game seem so easy...clean.
These men are going to be leading MLB into hopefully a new, more legit era. Alex Rodriguez will break Bonds's records, Derek Jeter may get 4,000 hits in his career, and Albert Pujols will break Alex Rodriguez's records. These are the men that the young players can look up to an see that it can be done clean. With only a small percentage of the players names out there in the Mitchell Report due to only a couple of sources, I believe there are many more players that have not been named that have used PEDs either currently or in the past. That is why these 3 players are so important to the integrity of the game. They must be relied upon, and I think that they of all, understand this and will succeed.
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2008 Cubs Preview
You are right Cpt., at this time it is important for baseball fans to be able to look at the game and still see players that are 'clean'. Especially for the younger fans.
I agree, it would be great to have some "clean" guys to carry the game forward, but I don't know how you can say definitively that anyone from this era was truly clean. You can't prove that any players didn't use, it's always going to be considered a tainted era and the only thing that's going to bring "purity" back to the game is an effective testing system going forward.
I find it kind of stupid that we think the roid era tainted the game while the greenie era is hardly ever mentioned, nor the coke era.
It happened, it's a black eye not only for the players, but the powers that be in baseball as well. Let's just move on and hopefully we can operate under the assumption that everyone playing the game is clean (until the next drug that isn't even on the radar yet bursts onto the scene).
Brian - very valid points...its interesting to note that noone really considered greenies proformance enhancing. From what I have read to to many friends (my sources) that I have spoken with that played in the minors, greenies were used like gatorade...And without question, greenies had a huge impact on the game.