Kerlin: In sports, drugs don’t seem to measure up to gambling

2010-01-16

By Tom Kerlin

The news that baseball great Mark McGwire has admitted taking steroids the year he broke Roger Maris' single season homerun record actually came as no great surprise to me, considering all the other sports figures who have been linked to steroids use in recent years.

More players than we can count in the national leagues have been named in various reports concerning the use of steroids.

Although it wasn't necessarily against the rules to take steroids way back 40 or 50 years ago, it has in recent years been designated as an offense punishable by suspension from the game.

And that is probably as it should be.

For those purists out there the idea that someone would use performance enhancing drugs in pursuit of fame and/or fortune in sports is unthinkable.

I suppose a case could be made that these sports figures, especially those who excel in the game, become quasi-role models for the youngsters who watch their every move and attempt to imitate their heroes during their quest for greatness either as an amateur or professional.

But I wonder ... what difference is there between sports figures using illegal or banned substances and another legendary figure who found himself banned from the game because of personal indiscretions.

Those who used steroids have been accused of enhancing their natural abilities to a level where records that might not otherwise have been broken were subsequently shattered.

Although that has no real bearing on my life, it might to those whose records were broken. Endorsements and sponsorships usually mean more money in the pockets of athletes than do their contracts with the teams for which they play.

Pete Rose was undoubtedly one of the greatest baseball players to ever put on a uniform. He got a lifetime suspension for betting on the outcome of baseball games.
There was no evidence that he ever bet on a game in which he had a hand in the outcome, either as a player or coach.
So, what he was accused of doing had no affect on anyone, other than himself and his family. Still he was suspended for life.

Major league baseball players get caught using banned substances, which arguably do have an effect on someone other than themselves, and they get a four-game suspension.

Pete Rose gets suspended for life for gambling.

Three Carolina Panthers purchase steroids before the 2004 Super Bowl and get a slap on the wrist.

Charlie Hustle gets suspended for life for gambling.
The Pittsburgh Steelers reportedly used steroids heavily during the 1970s, a decade when that team dominated the National Football League. Nothing has happened to any of them.

Pete Rose gets a life suspension for gambling.

Steroid use, according to league insiders, is widespread in the NFL.

But everyone seems to turn a blind eye, unless the abuse becomes evident or is reported in the news.
Charlie Hustle is still suspended for life.

Cincinnati Bengal Darryl Blackstock, Dallas Cowboy Mike Jefferson and New Orleans Saint James Nesbitt are all found to have used steroids. They get a four-game suspension.
Pete Rose is banned from being elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame because of gambling.

A survey of more than 2,500 retired NFL players found that around 10 percent used performance enhancing drugs during their careers.

Additionally the study found there was a direct association between the use of steroids and joint and ligament injuries.
The study called steroids the "drugs that keep on giving" because of the long term effects of the substances.
That means the players' use of drugs affects the health-care costs of every one associated with the same insurance plans used by professional athletes.
Pete Rose didn't hurt anyone.

His actions haven't caused anyone to lose money.
His gambling didn't affect anyone's ability to purchase and keep health insurance. But he is banned for life.

Certainly drugs that give players an edge over an equally capable competitor should not be tolerated by the leagues, whether it's baseball, hockey, football, basketball or any other sport. But where is the parity?

Should Pete Rose be suspended for life for doing nothing more than gambling, while other players get four-game suspensions and a slap on the wrist for taking and using illegal and banned drugs?

It just doesn't seem to be right.


Kerlin’s roots go back generations in southwestern Fayette County. He’s a regular columnist for this newspaper.

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