Really, is this all that surprising?

Doesn’t Human Growth Hormone speed up recovery from injuries?

True, A-Rod has not been linked to HGH. But he is a test-confirmed steroid cheat with a well-documented ego and history of behavior that would make the chance of Rodriguez flaunting the rules for a second time as much a probability as a mere possibility. And with the current limits on Major League Baseball’s ability to test for HGH… the question looms large in my mind:

Did Alex Rodriguez uses Human Growth Hormone to (at minimum) hasten recovery from his injury, regardless of whether he may have additionally taken it to improve his strength?

I challenge anyone to say with a straight face that they don’t believe this is at least a possibility. In this Steroid Era, almost everybody’s numbers have become suspect, sadly including those clean players simply because so many are dirty. Then consider a known dirty player — who can honestly say that suspicions of a repeat offense don’t arise.

You be the judge.

• May 15, 2009 -- Drugs, Sports and Society (1)
• January 20, 2010 -- Mark McGwire’s Steroid Admission – MLB Baseball (0)
• August 5, 2009 -- Release the List! (4)
• February 26, 2009 -- Around the Horn, Sort of (5)
• February 18, 2009 -- Cinderella Story, Part 2… Who’s to Blame? (12)

Drugs in sports are nothing new, but recently we’ve been subject to an alarming upswing.  In just the last two weeks the following headlines have disgraced the front pages of the sports sheets:

• Manny Ramirez tested positive for a MLB-banned women’s fertility drug commonly used to boost testosterone production by steroid users.
• Jeremy Mayfield tested positive for a drug which NASCAR refuses to name; the AP reports that the drug is not a performance-enhancer, thus implying it is a narcotic or controlled substance.
• Former Buffalo Bill Bruce Smith was arrested and charged with driving under the influence.
• St. Louis Cardinals minor league pitcher Ken Maiques suspended for a violation of the minor league drug program.

And that’s not to mention Michael Phelps’s return to the pool after his bong-pipe fiasco and Alex Rodriguez’s first regular season games post his steroid revelations.  No matter what the sport, no matter what kind of drug, someone, the truth is coming out.

While all of us sports fans can only shake our heads disappointedly and grumble about the ego, greed and stupidity driving these players to illegally enhance–or in some cases–waste their god-given talents, perhaps we should be looking at matters from another perspective.  The foibles of our athletes, just like those of other celebrities, are representative of the ills in society at large.  The stage on which they occur, under tight public scrutiny of celebrity-driven media, only magnifies their specific abuses, but the root causes are everywhere.  

Case in point: the corporate greed that has brought our global financial system to its knees.

This is by no means an excuse.  What these athletes are doing is wrong by any and all measures.  I just ask, until society as a whole takes responsibility for itself and cures its attitudes, its mindsets, its motivations, are we fooling ourselves by expecting these so-called heroes to be any better?  Emblematic as they are, their failures should shed light on the issues everywhere around us, instead of causing us to ask what is wrong with these people who have everything?

• July 19, 2009 -- A-Roid Strikes Again (3)
• January 20, 2010 -- Mark McGwire’s Steroid Admission – MLB Baseball (0)
• August 5, 2009 -- Release the List! (4)
• February 26, 2009 -- Around the Horn, Sort of (5)
• February 18, 2009 -- Cinderella Story, Part 2… Who’s to Blame? (12)

In case you haven’t heard, Alex Rodriguez is expected to be out four months with a torn labrum in his right hip.  Now, I’m not one to wish injury on anybody, but does anyone else feel like he’s experiencing some divine comeuppance in regards to his steroid use–or at least for his flippant apology afterwards.  Hmm, maybe that’s what happens when you don’t respect your body.

It must be the day of jackass players receiving their just deserts, what with loudmouth wide receiver Terrell Owens being released by the Dallas Cowboys.  Hey, TO, how many playoff victories did you have in Dallas?  Oh, yeah, I think the answer is zero, nada, nothing.  How much drama, how many controversies?  I don’t think I have enough fingers to count such a number on.

I won’t be shedding a tear for either of them.

• July 19, 2009 -- A-Roid Strikes Again (3)
• May 15, 2009 -- Drugs, Sports and Society (1)
• March 9, 2009 -- The Hate List: 3/9/09 – NFL Teams (16)
• February 26, 2009 -- Around the Horn, Sort of (5)
• February 18, 2009 -- Cinderella Story, Part 2… Who’s to Blame? (12)

February has always struck me as an odd month in sports. Everything seems to be on the “verge”. Baseball season is on the verge of starting (for that matter, spring training is on the verge for most of the month). College basketball is on the verge of entering March Madness. The NBA and the NHL, in mid-season form, are on the verge of entering the regular season stretch drive. You get the picture.

That’s why Wednesday being an interesting day feels right. Nothing super huge occurred… but lots of neat little tidbits. In no particular order:

The Good:

1. Spring Training is finally here! Yes, players had already reported and practices begun, but Wednesday marked the first actual games.

2. Tiger still has his stripes! Tiger Woods’s return to tournament play after eight months of rehab was, well, Tiger-like. The PGA, television networks and fans rejoice. Other PGA players… probably not so.

The Bad

1. Alex Rodriguez leaves with his cousin? Those of us wanting to see A-Fraud struggle after his admitted steroid used had to be disappointed by him hitting a home run in his first spring training game. But what happened afterwards? To be fair, it hasn’t been confirmed, but after the game he left the park in an SUV that looked to be driven by the very cousin he implicated in his ‘roid abuse. Does he really think that his so-called apology absolved himself? I would think any truly contrite person would avoid such a guilty party like the plague.

2. James goes down. In the marquee college basketball match-up of the night (#2 Connecticut’s victory at #8 Marquette), Golden Eagles senior guard Dominic James suffered a season–and college–career ending broken toe. I hope that this injury does not bring to a halt Marquette’s great year. Will they be like Connecticut, which has weathered Jerome Dyson’s season ending injury with only a minor hiccup, or Oklahoma, which has lost all of its momentum in its two games without Blake Griffin? Only time will tell (fortunately for the Sooners, Griffin’s concussion is not a season ender).

The Just Plain Odd

1. The Clippers beat the Celtics. Whoever took Los Angeles straight up has got to be feeling pretty proud right now.

• March 23, 2009 -- One And Done (0)
• April 29, 2009 -- The Hate List: 4/29/09 – My Top Two Most Hated Sports Teams (11)
• March 13, 2009 -- Fierce And Nerdy: The Madness Has Begun (2)
• February 18, 2009 -- Cinderella Story, Part 2… Who’s to Blame? (12)
• January 20, 2009 -- Domination (5)

Pundits, philosophers, and various sports “punjabberwockers” have weighed in on the A-Roid revelations.

Almost all place the blame on, of course, A-Hole and his fellow players. Others blame the Commish, Bud Selig–whose initials flirt with cosmic perfection–and still more point to Major League Baseball Players Association head Donald Fehr as being the most sinister culprit.

This three-headed gorilla faces constant attacks in Blogville, on the ESPN networks and from just about every other media outlet.

But, if you listen carefully, the peals of angry opinion, analysis, and reportage ring shallow.

When the A-Shame story broke, I had my finger on the pulse of my television’s remote, and found myself quickly changing channels.

I could no longer take the deafening echo.

Imagine John Stewart flashing a patented “Daily Show” montage of identical tripe from every source on television; all pointing to the same 762 pound, three-headed gorilla while ignoring two equally weighty, and evidently, invisible cousins.

I shut off my television in disgust. Staring into the abyss and, upon reflection, one of those seldom acknowledged apes, all 755 pounds of him, appeared on my blackened television screen…

DIE-HARD FANS

For the record, I admit it. I am to blame for the steroids scandal. However, I will only bear that responsibility and share that dishonor if the legion of American baseball fans join me.

When the homers were flying out of American ballparks as the century began its slow turn, how many baseball fans questioned the new-found physical prowess of Bonds, Sosa, and McGwire?

How many fans from 1995 until now, ask “Hey, wait a minute, how did once slender guys get so big?” How many of us said, this isn’t kosher” and turned off ESPN?

When the Great Pumpkin took up residence on Bond’s burgeoning shoulders, did anyone bother to remember 10th grade biology that taught us the human head doesn’t grow after age 20?

It wasn’t like the sluggers’ physical changes were barely noticeable.

In a 2/9/09 Washington Post podcast, Michael Wilbon recalls a recent Orioles’ locker room encounter where he shared a “hug and a little pound” with a smallish guy, he didn’t instantly recognize. Turned out to be Sammy the Sham Sosa, who, according to Wilbon, had shrunk so much “he could ride in the third race at Aqueduct.”

Ouch.

At least I quit watching baseball in ’95. Well, I began to quit. When I saw the freakish physiques McGwire, Bonds and Sosa had acquired by the ’01 season, I knew something was up. Athletes don’t shatter 40-year-old records by the proportions these cheaters did year after year without the help of performance enhancers.

We, the fans, knew better. But few of us said a word.

Which brings the remaining 714-pound gorilla into focus…

THE STINKING MEDIA

ESPN’s primary goal when it comes to sports is to become Best Friends Forever with the athletes and execs the network (supposedly) objectively covers.

Instead of questioning whether the public was being duped, the SM led by the “Boo-Yah” Bunch reminded us how lucky we were to be “witnessing history.”

If you want a perfect example of just how far the American media has fallen, check out one article, courtesy of Reuters.com:

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE51914W20090210

In this article column, Daniel Trotta argues A-Fraud’s numbers “did not spike much” from 2001 – 2003. Trotta and his incompetent editors present a microcosm of how the national media fails the public not just in sports, but in every facet of American life…

Trotta’s statistical analysis, vis-a-vis A-Rod’s home run stats, begins with a warped comparison between the dimensions of Yankee Stadium and the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.

“But the Texas ballpark where he (Rodriguez) played half his games is one of the most favorable in baseball for hitting home runs. Yankee Stadium, A-Rod’s home since 2004, is one of the most difficult for a right-handed hitter like Rodriguez.”

The left-field foul line at Arlington is fourteen feet deeper than that at Yankee Stadium. The dimensions of Yankee Stadium’s left-center power alley and centerfield are nine and eight feet deeper, respectively, than those in Arlington. Statistically, the last two variances are insignificant (2-3%).

The Reuter’s editors allowed Trotta to egregiously mislead his readers.

Their work goes downhill from there.

“The statistical analysis shows LITTLE DISTINCTION between the years (’01 to ’03), he (Rodriguez) says he doped and the rest of his outstanding career with the Seattle Mariners, Texas Rangers and now with the New York Yankees as the game’s highest-paid player… In a sign of power, Rodriguez averaged 52 home runs in those three seasons compared to an average of 42 in his 13 full seasons in the major leagues.”

For the record, 52 vs 42 home runs is much more than a little distinction.

Furthermore, including Rodriguez’s juiced years’ home-run outputs in determining his career stats deliberately skews the analysis in A-Roid’s favor.

The statistically accurate crunching of the player’s numbers should read as follows:

Rodriguez averages 36.8 home runs from 1996-2000. From 2001-2003 (on steroids), he averages 52. His home run output increases by 29-30% during those three admitted doping years. When we average Rodriguez’s home run output before and after the years he ADMITS to cheating we find his homer numbers are 25% greater when drug-enhanced.

(Remember, if players admit to lying, it’s very reasonable to doubt that they are being truthful when it comes to HOW LONG they’ve been lying.)

Even Mr. Trotta’s slanted analysis of Rodriguez’s homer output, (52 versus the career average of 42), reflects a 20% increase in output.

Let’s put that in perspective, even if Trotta’s editors didn’t bother to do so:

If Tiger Woods averages 300 yards per drive, a 20% difference gives him an average drive of 360; 25% – 375; 30% – 390. If Roger Federer serves at 120 mph, he jumps to 144, 150 and 156, respectively.

Trotta tries to paint over his homer stat distortion by correctly concluding that A-Roid’s batting average was not significantly affected during the years he says he doped.

True, A-Fraud’s batting average does not spike–again, assuming he isn’t lying about how many years he doped. But, interestingly, his slugging percentage averages .615 over that period, significantly higher than his career slugging percentage of .578 (admitted steroid years’ numbers included).

If we look at the other notable cheaters of the era, we discover that during Sosa’s doping years Sammy enjoyed a .306 batting average–33 points above his career average–and three .300+ BA seasons (1994’s .300 was the only other year Sosa achieved that milestone).

From 2000 through 2004, Bonds had whopping .341 BA, 43 points above his lifetime average of .298.

Mark McGwire’s 1997 and 1998 batting averages, while higher than his career numbers, were eclipsed only three other years in his career.

Rafael Palmeiro’s average during his juice era fluctuated between .324 and .260.

(The above numbers include the doping years numbers as part of the players lifetime stats. The more accurate comparison–drug-enhanced performance minus non-enhanced output–will reflect a significantly greater disparity.)

A logical explanation for inconsistencies in how steroids affect batting average–if indeed they do–probably has more to do with psychology than physiology. Players who know they are stronger and have maximized their bat speed, might be looking for the pitch they can hit 400 feet, thus eschewing discipline at the plate and resulting in more home runs and a lower average. Others may opt to wait out the pitcher and go for solid contact–not “trying” to hit the long ball–resulting in a more even increase in power output along with a higher average.

Whatever the criteria, the statistical analysis, even as Daniel Trotta applies the numbers to Alex Rodriguez, reflects much more than a “little distinction” between A-Shod’s drug-induced performance and the years he claims were drug free.

You can find stats here: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/alltime/leaders?breakdown=2&type=0&sort=8&year=0

Do your own analysis.

No doubt you will reach the conclusion most people have: the players, Commissioner, and the MLBPA share significant culpability for the Steroid Era.

Please remember to also blame yourself, other die-hard fans, and the Stinking Media.

You know, for the record(s).

• February 26, 2009 -- Around the Horn, Sort of (5)
• June 23, 2009 -- And There Was Much Rejoicing… (0)
• April 5, 2009 -- End of One Era, Beginning of Another (2)
• January 20, 2010 -- Mark McGwire’s Steroid Admission – MLB Baseball (0)
• July 19, 2009 -- A-Roid Strikes Again (3)