Part of my bio in Dental Products Report states that I "blog about technology & life". To that end, consider this a post about life. I mean, I've been a baseball fan for almost my entire life and I love the expression "baseball is life, the rest is just details". There are also a couple of really good life lessons one can learn about the whole "steroid scandal" in baseball. Let's face it, lying is rarely a good idea. Well, other than answering the question "do these jeans make my backside look big" I really can't come up with a truly good reason to just start lying from the get go. Some of the baseball players from the steroid era did though... and I'm still trying to figure out exactly why they did. Ignorance? Panic? The feeling that they are above having to answer? Maybe all 3 of those plus some others?
While the greatness of players is always open to debate (that's one of the reasons I love the game) I doubt seriously that many would have debated the talent of Barry Bonds in the late 90's. I ranked him as the greatest player of my generation and definitely in the top 10 of all time. Now, of course, the situation has completely changed.
In the photo on the left, Bonds is built about like I was in high school. Strangely enough, I never grew up to look like the picture on the right. That, of course, is at the heart of the whole steroids thing... How could somebody change that much? Especially with all the increased muscle mass. Oh, and the skull continuing to grow didn't help stop the speculation either.
On Thursday, Bonds was convicted of lying to a grand jury on whether he received drugs that required a syringe. Bonds, who became the poster child for steroid use among MLB players has always denied he took anything other than vitamins & flax seed oil.
What have we learned from all of this? For me, it's that the American people and baseball fans in general are a very forgiving bunch. If you admit you made a mistake (and who of us hasn't?) and then ask for forgiveness, we're pretty quick to say "all is forgiven". However, if you choose instead to treat the public in a manner that suggests you are better/smarter than they are, you can pretty much kiss that forgiveness good-bye.
Lots of players have admitted steroid use and now are leading more or less normal lives. Barry and Roger Clemens... not so much.
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