over the last couple of months, we've all heard more steroid stories involving a-rod, manny, pablo ozuna and sergio mitre and their subsequent 50 game suspensions and most recently sammy sosa, but instead of decreasing with long suspensions, the problem continues to fester for major league baseball and for that matter, all areas of sports.
turns out jose canseco was dead on with his allegations and while i understand his motives were financial rather than moral, i can still remember his reaction on '60 minutes' when asked if he feared legal action from the players named in his first book. canseco stared into the camera and stated "there isn't a player mentioned in my book who would dare to file a lawsuit against me and risk being under oath at a deposition. i can guarantee there will be no lawsuits from the players." that's when i was convinced that MLB was in deep trouble. (canseco was right--there were no lawsuits filed)
but the solution is right in front of bud selig's face. total amnesty. simple and to the point. players who have used performance enhancing drugs would have 30 days to file a sworn affadavit with MLB in which they admit their former drug usage. they wouldn't have to name their suppliers or the people who injected them or the person who introduced them to the drug in the first place. those players would then receive total amnesty from MLB and their names would be forwarded to the HALL OF FAME so in the event they were enshrined, their spot in the hall would be duly noted with an asterisk that signified they were an admitted user of performance enhancing drugs during their career.
i can hear you now. veit, what kind of b.s. is that? total amnesty with no punishment? no way!
ah, but here's the rub. effective opening day, 2010, the ZERO TOLERANCE policy goes into effect. ANY player testing positive is banned from baseball. period. good-bye. adios. sayanora.
if you test positive at my local township highway department at ANY TIME, you are immediately terminated. done. finished. severed. all the employees receive this information on their 'hire day' and sign off on a document that they understand the consequences. simple. cut & dried. pack your bags and leave.
second chance? no. ZERO tolerance. feel free to try and catch on with the northern league or the joliet jackhammers or go to japan or cuba but you are done with MLB. you knew the risk and still decided to roll the dice. you lose.
harsh? you bet. unforgiving? yep. but america is tired of being lied to and having cheaters win awards and championships. you don't like it? then quit baseball and go get a job at the local warehouse. can't wait to see your reaction when they have a surprise urine test for all the guys on the loading dock.
how about the sosas and mcgwires and other retired players? another day ...another blog.
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2 comments:
Love the idea, but what would be the incentive for the guys coming forward? Is the thought that the writers would somehow forgive them and then elect them to the HOF if they admit their transgressions? And when you say amnesty, do you mean legal amnesty as well?
They lie under oath to congress about using steriods. We must forget the past ,their names will eventually come out . What they need to do is adopt a test that will catch everything they are using now , the one the olympics use or the tour de france uses. The one thing that will stop these test or longer or banning players out of baseball is the union. Look at the football players they still have not dione nothing to the players from last year , the union and player reps sued to have these players continue to play . Test should be, if in uniform day of game you get tested do this for a full year then go down to once a week .You get called up ,tested. Winning team of the day , tested. World series winners , tested. Free agents , tested at start of next season . traded players , tested. If you go on the dl ,tested when back from the dl. Make it hard for the players to hide their use , but one must get it by the Union first.
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