Alex Rodriguez held a press conference yesterday to address his use of performance-enhancing substances during the 2001, 2002, and 2003 seasons. This is, of course, only the latest in a series of such admissions by various MLB players.
Among other things, "Rodriguez used the phrase "young and stupid" three times when referring to himself, "stupid" in two other instances and "pretty naive and pretty young" in another. He twice expressed regret for having gone straight into professional baseball from high school without attending college."
Should professional sports stop accepting athletes straight out of high school, giving them more time to mature before facing the stresses and pressures of the major league lifestyle?
What does MLB need to do better to address the performance-enhancement issue? Anything? Should they just give up?
What happens to ARod? Should he be sanctioned? Fined? Suspended? Should his statistics for those years be removed from MLB records? Asterisk-ed? Left alone? Should the companies that give him endorsement deals revoke them (sort of the same issue with Michael Phelps...isn't some of the reason athletes like that get those endorsements because of their clean image as well as their athletic prowess? should they then have some sort of obligation to retain that image?)?
In a related story, this news only broke because ARod's name was leaked ... he tested positive, along with 103 other players, in tests that were done in 2003 and were supposed to be anonymous. Should the other 103 names be released? Is it fair to sanction ARod given that this information was supposed to be confidential? Is it too bad for him - he knew what he was doing was wrong, anonymous test or not? http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3898393
Lego, Cav (the Lego brand name was derived from the Danish expression "leg godt" - play well - and lego also translates in Latin as "I study" or "I put together"...really, one of the world's most perfect words!)
Quite a lot of questions you have running there, but I'll do my best to respond to them.
1.) I don't believe pro sports should stop accepting high school athletes. Its not like these baseball kids are going straight to the pros, they are going to rookie camp then to the life of a minor leaguer. And they aren't living straight up in hotels/apartments, they live with host families and such. And for other sports, of course NFL, no way, the maturity from college to pros is even a HUGE jump. Basketball, they should allow top highschool kids to go pro, its a mockery of "student athletes" when they go one-and-done and really don't participate in school rather their tutor prepares everything for them. But in other sports like hockey, soccer, tennis, etc...there's phenoms touted from their early teens. The best American soccer kids are gaining the much needed training by going pro. If we want our US National Soccer Team to do good, they need professional training and need out of highschool. Arguably our best player is 19 and was playing pro since he was 16. These guys can handle the pressure and if not, they don't deserve to be professionals and someone who can handle the pressure deserves it.
2.) They're adressing the issue better then they ever have but thats because of the shame brought on the sport. The drug tests are working fine now, its only these 22 yearr old scrubs who will never make the pros getting caught these days. Going on a witch hunt and trying to hunt people down for using steroids or performance enhancers in the past, isn't going to do much. Its just going to prove who used so and so. They also should implement some sort of immunity for people who tested positive to come clean and say so. Using trainers old syringes and the testimonies of "sources" who claim to have knowledge is great for BOOK SALES. not the sport.
3.) As for A-Rod saying he was young, dumb, naive, is some nonsense right there. He was young when he was with the Seattle Mariners, thats understandable, still not acceptable though. When he signed for Texas he was like 24, I'm quite sure many 24 year olds know what they put in their body, and a player of that caliber should definitely know what he puts in his body. He shouldn't be suspended, he came clean. People like Clemens and Bonds who vehemently deny their performance enhancer abuse, are extremely annoying to this issue. Alex Rodriguez was a phenom in highschool, he was a phenom when he broke out with the Mariners in 96'. He had record breaking years in 2001, 2002, and 2003. Thats when he admitted to his drug abuse, thats a controversial topic. I'd feel like a moron for saying Bonds deserves to be asteriked but A-rod doesn't, it might just be because A-Rod was my favorite player growing up before he became a traitor and went to the Yankees. Should he dropped from his endorsements? I don't know, he's still a highly marketable person and surely that would bring losses of revenue for companies who do that. I'm positive, Nike, Topps, Pepsi will leave it alone. It happened in the past, A-Rod is still one of the top players in the game.
4.) This is the part that sucks for A-Rod. Why weren't those samples destroyed?! Those players took the test knowing their names would be kept confidential regardless of the result. The government subpoena definitely screwed those players if anything, because they couldn't destroy the evidence. The 103 names definitely need to be released, and I'm 100% quite sure EDHS alumni Brett Boone is one of them. I just think of the Katie Couric interview when he claims he never did steroids. Its so ironic now its hilarious. That is definitely going to set him back.
I don't think they should stop accepting them right out of high school. If you are a natural born athelete than there shouldnt be anything stopping you!
It is a big issue. MLB stars and legends are making confessions of steriods left and right. Mark Maguire, Sammy Sosa, Roger Clemens, and many more are admitting to it. I think they should leave it alone but in the future state something that says what would happen if they are caught with it. And if there is a rule about what happens if caught, its obviously not well stated because if the average person that follows baseball doesnt know about this, then it needs to be better stated.
Basically, my post is going to look like nothing next to jason's. But I dont think that they should stop recruiting righ out of high schools. There are plenty of mature kids out there that could handle the adjusment just fine. I do however think that they should start punishing more harshly when they deal with performance enhancements. It is most definately a form of cheating and is bad for the person taking them anyways! plus you dont want to give your team a bad rap! Many players use them and the secret never gets out but i think that the MLB should do something to scare the players out of using them :)
Steroids are idiotic, everyone knows that. A-rod is an idiot, and I'm not just saying that because I'm a diehard Sox fan. As much as I hate the guy, Alex Rodriguez is one of the best baseball players to every pick up a ball, and it's all natural for him. I've always been digusted with him because of his attitude, the stunt with Bronson Arroyo in the '04 ALCS, and just overall with who he is. What didn't help was the fact that he was on pace to hit more than 900 home runs for his career. But now, now I am just repulsed with the thought of him. You can't just got around being as arrogant as him, as selfish as him, and then CHEAT. A-Rod is a cheater. MLB made the right choice picking him up out of high school, all he was was a lanky shortstop who had a passion for the game, and when you really love the game that's how you are. So yes, MLB should continue to draft players out of high school, it's the player's decision whether or not they should accept the offer. A-rod should be fined, suspended (well, banned if you ask me. But we all know that isn't going to happen), and he should have to do some sort of labor for the rest of his career for tainting the game the way he did. I loathe the jerk, but regardless of my opinion he is/was an icon to kids and aspiring MLB players everywhere in the world. Talk about crushing someone's dream.
Yes, unless there is another way, athletes should be stopped from entering pro sports in order to give them time to mature.
I suppose increasing the severity of the punishment would have some athletes spend a few more seconds before deciding to use performance enhancement drugs.
No it's not fair for only Alex to be sanctioned if the information was supposed to be confidential. Although this may seem ridiculous, I think players who have been using drugs should be exposed and if one goes down then they should all go down.
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"Your distress about life might mean you have been living for the wrong reason, not that you have no reason for living." Tom O' Connor
I think that this is so wrong and that they should let high school stars have a few years to mature and grow as an athlete. He should be fined and suspended and that will teach his the lesson that he needs to learn. I also think that his stats should be erased during time that he was using drugs.
first of all, if a high school athelete is ready to play professionally, there should be nothing stoping them. this doesnt totally relate to the A-Rod story, but in college football and basketball superstar atheltes often just play the minimum amount of time in college without even attending classes second smester and then go on to play in the pros anyways.
on the steriods issue, my opionion is not too popular. i dont have an issue with steriods, and here is why. Baseball has always been my favorite sport and i have religiously followed it for a very long time. in the early to mid 90's however, baseball was getting significantly decreasing ratings every single year. i know that nobody will admit to this but it seems clear to me that MLB officials encouraged steroid use at that time to increase home run production which would thus dramatically increase ratings. obviously it did with the 1998 home run race between Mark Mcguiwre and Sammy Sosa, and in 2003, when Barry Bonds set the new single season home run record. Nobody was complaining during those times, everybody loved the show the MLB was putting on and there was absolutlely no talk of steriods. in the past couple of years though, people have started to morally object to steroids, and to be honest i have no idea why. all steroids do is make the game be played at a higher level. steroids should be available and legal to use for everybody. Sure, steroids can have negative health effects, but those risks are known by the user and they have the option of not taking them. Why are steroids wrong? because they give players an advantage? doesnt weight lifting give players an advantage? what about healthy diets? what about more advanced shoes or more aerodynamic jerseys? All of those things give players advantages, should they be outlawed also. I cannot see a valid reason why steroids whould be banned from baseball other than the fact that a small group of people said that they were bad for the game, and the public just went along with that without forming opinions of their own.
they should be taken out of high school only if they show GREAT promise. otherwise, they should go to college and play on the team there. it's just as good- probably better since the difference between high school sports and professional sports is ginormous! so in being in college, they can get even better training and become more mature about the game. plus an EDUCATION! if something happens and the career is stopped short, where are they going to go with only a high school diploma? not far that's for sure.
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monica vellanoweth v(o_o)v
"First you take the grahm. You put the chocolate on the grahm. Then you roast a mallow. When the mallows' flammin', you stick it on the chocolate. Then you top with the other side."