As part of the new collective bargaining agreement between Major League Baseball and the Players association, over 100 positive drug tests from 2003 were kept private by the league office. Earlier today an Appeals Court ruled that MLB is required to hand over the results of the tests to the committee investigating steroid use in baseball. The league office could petition the Supreme Court to hear the case, but only about 1 percent of cases submitted to the high court are ruled on in a given year (and who says Political Science and sports never mix). This is a significant blow to the players' association because it is only a matter of time that these names are leaked. With an estimated 100 failed tests, lots of current players will certainly be dragged in the mud.
From a fan's standpoint, this is a bitersweet victory. It's anyone's guess who will go down once the name's are leaked, but it will be refreshing to learn who the "clean" players are. However, the shadow cast by steroid use has become too large to definitively assess any of the innocent players. For the 100 or so who get caught now that the Government is in possession of the list, it simply means they were not smart enough to take a substance the league didn't or couldn't test for at the time(such as HGH or the BALCO designer steroids). It wouldn't be surprising if many of the men we suspect of steroid use (Bonds, Giambi, Sheffield, etc) do not appear on any of these documents. In terms of players being prosecuted, it does not seem likely this far after the fact. The presumed revelation of these lists will only serve to tarnish images around the league, not for them to face any punitive charges.
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2 comments:
You're right about the bittersweet part. Once this list is released (assuming that Bonds' name isn't on it because he used the designeroids) the next time I bump into a SF Giants fan who tells me that Bonds is clean because he wasn't on the list, I'll probably pop him in the mouth. It'll be bitter for him, but sweet for me.
...Nice blog, by the way. I was wondering if you have any predictions regarding the Navy Midshipmen's impending destruction of Boston College in the Meineke Car Care Bowl? The Eagles have won in their last 6 bowl appearances. How sweet will it be when Navy snaps the streak?
I appreciate the feedback and look forward to hearing about upcoming "bittersweet" moments with SF Giants fans....
As far as a Navy-BC prediction, I unfortunately did not watch a whole lot of either team this year. The good news for Navy is that BC has struggled on the road, losing 3 out of their 5 games outside of Boston. Furthermore, they've lost to teams who can run the football and Navy leads Division I-A in that category. They also do not have much of a ground game, which is good news for an undersized Navy defense. Unfortunately, BC has a talented QB in Matt Ryan and the Midshipmen have struggled against good passing teams(you remember the ND game I'm sure). With Navy playing without fullback Adam Ballard, it's much harder to imagine them pulling it out. Sorry boss, but as much as I hate picking a Boston team, BC should make it 7 straight.
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