Posted on 01/28/2015 5:29:35 AM PST by LeoMcNeil
Lance Armstrong is back in the news again. I learned this from my pastor, Dr. David Murray, and his blog yesterday. You’ll recall Armstrong won 7 Tour de France cycling titles while on steroids. He basically acknowledges that he’s sorry he got caught but would do it all again. Dr. Murray’s focus is on repentance, trying to apply it to our own lives which can be difficult in light of the fact that Armstrong isn’t a Christian. Lance Armstrong has always been an odd character. He was involved in a sport that no one in America cares about except the sports media who are aiming for a gig in France. His team was sponsored by the US Postal Service, which itself is odd. Why is the American post office advertising in France? We wonder why the post office is billions in the red, pension funding is part of it but so is idiotic advertising.
Last night Tony Kornheiser and Mike Wilbon were blabbing about Armstrong on their ESPN show, PTI. Their conclusion was that because Armstrong used steroids and lied to the media about it, his sin was so great that it was unforgivable. It is obvious they believe that the sports media is God and they will forgive only at their pleasure. Even if we grant that Armstrong hasn’t really sought forgiveness because he said he would do the same thing all over again the question remains who made the sports media God? Lance Armstrong can live a thoroughly immoral life, divorcing his wife without cause, he can lie to anyone on his team or any sponsor. But lie to the sports media and that is absolutely unforgivable! The arrogance of the media isn’t always on display in the political media, they have the sense to try to hide it most of the time. To see what these people are really thinking, you have to go to the sports media which views itself as Lord over the sporting world.
Much like the Michael Sam coming out of the closet story and the “controversy” surrounding the Washington Redskins name, the steroid story is a creation of the sports media. For the most part, fans have never cared whether athletes are using steroids. Baseball attendance skyrocketed when Mark McGuire, Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds were using steroids. Arguably McGuire and Sosa’s home run duel in 1998 saved baseball, which had been struggling after the 1994 strike canceled the World Series. Everyone knew those guys were on steroids, it didn’t change the fact that it took skill to hit home runs. No one particularly cared, except the sports media which made a big deal out of it. Athletes use all sorts of supplements and vitamins, the media doesn’t give a hoot about any of that. Steroid use, now that’s the end of the world!
The sports media considers themselves Lord over sports, the gatekeepers of a strange morality created by themselves. They certainly don’t represent fans, most of whom don’t care about steroid use so long as they’re being entertained. (professional sports is after all entertainment) Lance Armstrong is being singled out but not because he used steroids. Everyone in cycling was using steroids. The media has singled him out because he was a winner and because he commited the unforgivable sin of lying to the sports media. If there were American cycling fans, they wouldn’t particularly care about steroid use. Especially so when everyone else was using steroids. Make no mistake, the sports media is after Armstrong only because he lied to them. Their message is clear, if you lie to us we will destroy you. In the case of Armstrong, much like McGuire, Sosa and Bonds, the media did just that.
The sanctimonious self righteousness of the sports media is on full display daily at liberal ESPN. These guys create narratives and repeat them all day long, just like the mainstream political press. Fans exist only to be whipped into a frenzy over whatever outrage the media decides needs to be addressed. They decide concussions are a major problem in football, so they spend a year hammering football until something is “done” about it. Never mind that there are more concussions in soccer, that’s not part of the narrative. Much like the political media, the sports media believes it’s their job to push change whether change needs to happen or not. The sports media views themselves as Lord’s over sports. If they decide you’re a bad guy, you’re out until you grovel and get back in their good graces. The arrogance displayed last night on PTI was incredible. You don’t have to like Lance Armstrong, he seems like sort of a sleazy character. But to declare lying to the media an unforgivable sin shows for the world to see the unmitigated arrogance of the sports media. This is the sort of arrogance that Christians must reject out of hand. Who but God has the power to declare a sin unforgivable?
I agree that most of McGuire’s and Sosa’s home runs would have made the seats unaided by drugs. But, during 500 or more official at bats in a season, just 3 or 4% of those 370-390 foot potential fly outs that reached the seats due to the batter being 3-4% stronger (or more) could make the difference between hitting 50 homers and 65 or 70.
Baseball much more than other sports likes to think they preserve comparability over time when it comes to official records.
Nobody cared much about steroids until records were blown away instead of players just getting a little edge over their own competitors.
The dude is a genius, what can I say?
Without the roids, McGuire, Sosa, or Bods would have ever reached 60 in a season. They weren’t that good. And yes, I’ve seen all of them play.
For sure. Which is why we hear a lot more about McGuire-Bonds-Sosa than we do about pitchers like Roger Clemens.
I was in the scrum on Waveland Ave ;-) That was a fun, fun day with a whole lot of drinking going on.
That said though, without the roids Sosa and McGuire weren't all that great. Sosa was a 40 homer a year guy without the juice, and McGuire would have been busted up and broke down without the healing effects.
“Those two in particular either hit it a mile or they struck out, there really wasn’t an in between.”
Sosa wasn’t doing that for the first several years of his career. Suddenly hitting 20-30 more home runs than you ever did before, and you just happen to look like the Hulk all of a sudden? Coincidence?
The drugs work. That’s why professional athletes take them.
“Much like the Michael Sam coming out of the closet story and the “controversy” surrounding the Washington Redskins name, the steroid story is a creation of the sports media.”
“The sports media considers themselves Lord over sports, the gatekeepers of a strange morality created by themselves.”
The sports media doesn’t care about the rampant use in NBA and especially the NFL. Look at the coverage those sports get as compared to MLB. Those sports have the highest % of casual fans, and they don’t care either. All the changes in the rules and officiating support offense, which casual fans tend to find very attractive.
I think most MLB fans do care about PEDS.
Freegards
I agree. I think most sports these days — certainly at the professional level — are little more than full-contact Kabuki.
“Which is why we hear a lot more about McGuire-Bonds-Sosa than we do about pitchers like Roger Clemens.”
Very true, not that we didn’t get a daily dose of Roger Clemens there for a while. Pitching isn’t as exciting as home runs, the records aren’t as iconic, and Clemens bulked up over the course of his career, not over the course of a couple of seasons. Still, 30 lbs of muscle is quite a bit.
Were you any less entertained knowing Sosa was on roids? I know I wasn’t. At the end of the day, baseball is about entertainment. If fans walked away from Wrigley entertained, what difference does it make if Sosa or anyone else was on roids? It’s still a legitimate game, the outcome isn’t pre-determined. Lord knows if it was the Cubs wouldn’t have lost so much.
“Heck, these days baseball is trying to figure out how to create more offense because ultimately offense is what gets fans in the stadium.”
—
Doing something to prevent 4 hour games would help too.
.
I don’t think baseball fans gave two hoots about steroids. I was a Cubs fan back then (they’re still my NL team) and once or twice a year we’d head to Chicago for a game. Everyone knew Sosa was on the roids, everyone knew McGuire was on them too. No one cared.
In fact, no one cared until records really started tumbling. It’s just a little disingenuous to not care about roids until a couple of “precious” home run records get toppled. Even then, most MLB fans didn’t care and to this day a majority couldn’t care less. Majorities want to see McGuire in the Hall of Fame, it’s the media that’s keeping him, Bonds and Clemons out.
I am not sure how (or if) we address these “problems” in baseball and other sports. Players are now bigger, stronger, faster and better than they were in the “olden days,” even without PEDs. Equipment is better, too. This is true in all sports. Pole vaulters went from what, bamboo poles, to fiberglass and now to some sort of composite material. The surface on which they run has been improved. The shoes they wear are better, etc. etc. The advances in golf technology are too obvious to mention.
Given these advances, must we put an asterisk after every broken record? Perhaps we should draw the line at PEDs. But what of vitamin supplements, and God forbid, Gatorade? It is an issue of line drawing. I suspect the lines will be erased eventually.
And in the great scheme of things, does it matter? You go to the movies, and the guy gets the girl (or the guy gets the guy, etc.) or he does not. You go to the game and the home team wins or it loses. You go home and about your business.
I disagree. So there. Baseball is a business, it’s not going to cater only to the media about PEDS. If a majority of actual fans wanted legal PEDS they would give them legal PEDS. So why haven’t they? Fear of what the media will say? Ratings, merch, and butts in seats are what matters, right?
Good luck with your Cubs, best Cubs team in a while.
Freegards
I’ve always found the complaints about length of games annoying. Everyone knows what they’re getting into when they go to a baseball game. It could be over in 2.5 hours, it could take 4 hours. Even longer if it goes into extra innings. I don’t think length of games is keeping people away, attendance is still very high. In fact, in the last 40 years attendance has gone way up even as time of game has gone up. If you look at attendance figures in the early 70’s no team was drawing over 1 million fans a season. These days there really aren’t any teams drawing less than 1.5 million. So I’m not sure that length of game is really turning fans off.
I think fans in the NFL would like to see quarterbacks hit more and would like to see defensive players not fined or suspended for hits to the head. The NFL doesn’t listen to fans or players, they’re scared to death of the media though.
The Cubs ought to be decent this year. The Tigers are my AL team, I’m from Michigan so they’re really my #1 team. We could have a Tigers-Cubs World Series.
There is not an issue of SI that doesn't feature some story or angle on the gay-lesbian-transgender theme, and almost every article in every issue finds some way to positively mention obama. I had to stop reading it.
Here in Italy, the cyclists ride as if they own the road, much to the frustration of drivers. I'm surprised there are not a lot more accidents.
Belichick learned from his Cleveland fiasco. And I wonder how long Brady would have languished on the bench if Drew Bledsoe had not gotten injured.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.