Steroids: What's your solution?

[lazarus]

Here's mine (works for all sports):

Random testing, but all players must be tested at least once in two years.

First violation: Out for one full season. If you're caught half-way through a season, you come back at the halfway point of the next season, etc.

During this probation, you have monthly testing, as well as monthly (or more) testing for the first year after you come back.

Second violation: Lifetime ban.

Right now, using pot in the NBA will get you more punishment than using steroids in the Majors. That makes no sense.

[carnie_sf]

1. My solution

let 'em do it. Who are we to tell an athlete what they can and can't do to their own body?

[SteppingRazor]

2. Um... but it's illegal.

If we really wanted to do something about this, we'd start locking them up in prison. Bet that'd get the rest to stop.

Also, there's the whole record thing. I don't know what it is exactly, but something about McGwire and Bonds bashing out more than 70 home runs in a season and eclipsing 61 through steroid use just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

[northzax]

14. the it's a legal issue

and law enforcement and the courts should get involved. Is it your employer's responsiblity to ensure that you don't engage in illegal activity on your own time? I don't think so.

[beyurslf]

3. I don't think I care if they use steriods. They can deal with the side

effects later in life.

[MaineDem]

4. Works for me

I'm not sure we'll see this in the near future but I honestly believe a 10 game suspension is ludicrous. It should be way longer than that. All records should be forfeited.

I think it's a joke how MLB is handling this. I think I read that Selig is proposing a more hefty penalty. I hope it's established.

[KitchenWitch]

5. all awards should also be revoked

like say MVP, or Batting champion, etc.

[MaineDem]

6. Exactly!

I have no sympathy nor any respect for these people.

[WilliamPitt]

7. Weekly piss tests, monthly blood test for everyone.

Everyone.

First bust and you are out for the rest of the year. Busted April 1st? Tough shit.

Second bust = two years.

Third bust and you can ride the fuck-you pine with Pete Rose and Shoeless Joe.

Seems draconian, but the last fifteen years of baseball are now suspect. TYhe integrity of the game is in shambles. I think Selig has to go Kennesaw Mountain Landis and tear up the league, drive out everyone who tests positive, destroy the village in order to save it.

[Rich Hunt]

13. Nice try...

But people are making a mistake here in focusing
too much on steroids.

Wouldn't certain people just love it if "the league" were "torn up"
because of drugs? There's always the possibility of using
the situation to "control" baseball.

"Riding the fuck you pine"? My, that's hostile.

Let's not assume we know everything, okay?

And the "integrity of the game" is not in shambles.
If it were, people would stop buying tickets. They're not.

But maybe we should just join the right-wing chorus
and put these guys in Gulags without investigating
the broader conditions that created this situation.

[northzax]

15. 'the integrity of the game"?

oh come on, Will, that's absurd and you know it. There has never been integrity in the game. As long as there is money and or glory involved, there never will be.

There certainly wasn't 'integrity' in the pre-curt flood era, where players were, in essence, under-paid slaves to an ownership system. Imagine signing a contract, at the age of 18, that ties you to your employer for LIFE. that's integrity?

This whole mythological baseball crap is ridiculous, and you know it. It's an enjoyable past time, no doubt, but it's a game, there's no integrity. Was Babe Ruth cheating fans when he showed up at the balpark hung over from the night before? that's no integrity, that's cheating people out of your best performance, which is what they pay to see. Was there integrity when the game was whites-only? not a chance.

As for the love of statistics, I know it makes things interesting, but you really can't compare the Polo Grounds to Dodger Stadium. You can't compare the players today, to the ones in the past. In 1925, Babe Ruth could waste his talent on booze and women and still pick on mediocre pitching and still hit 50+ home runs. Today? he'd be nothing without a modern workout regimen, discipline and nutrition. How many overweight sluggers are left out there? Ruth was, without a doubt, a phenomenal talent, but he was playing against much weaker opposition, drawn from a smaller collection of potential players. Against a weaker field, a star shines even brighter. But do you think he'd have hit Rivera, or Clemens? Ruth never saw a 99 mph fastball, a cutter, a slider or a truly vicious curve ball, every single night. Therefore, it's impossible to really transfer information across decades.

course the really interesting concept is that I don't think Ruth would ever have swung a bat today, he'd have remained a pitcher, that's where the money is.

[HuckleB]

16. Yep. But not done on a schedule.

And you're out for a full year, no matter when you get busted. Busted in September, you don't play until the following September. And steroids shouldn't be the only banned substance, IMHO.

Cycling has had to go this route. And still everyone in the world knows that athletes and their coaches and doctors are finding ways to get around the known tracking mechanisms. So when someone is caught, they've got to face some downtown music.

[MrSlayer]

8. Olympic style testing, mandatory blood tests.

Everyone gets tested once a month. Full blood scanning, not just a simple urine test. I wouldn't suspend players for smoking weed.

[Poiuyt]

9. I would go with Olympic style testing and suspensions

Namely, 1-2 years for first offence, lifetime ban for second.

I would also wipe ALL their stats clean. Palmeiro - 0 hits, 0 HR, etc. They can start fresh when they've proven themselves clean.

Baseball is getting to be like boxing was in the 50's, a joke.

[nickgutierrez]

10. By all, you mean all who test positive, right? n/t

[Poiuyt]

12. LOL! Yes

When they test positively the first time, the stats of those players would be wiped clean. You don't know when they started taking them, I'd go under the assumption that they've been taking steroids/illegal drugs from the beginning. That's a tough rule, but if they know before hand what's at stake, they'd be less likely to start in the first place.

[democracyindanger]

11. Make it like horse racing

If a horse is trained with Lasix or Butazoldin, it's noted on the racing form. If an athlete wants to use steroids, put an (S) after their name on the scoreboard, in the programs, on TV, in the box scores--in everything.