Posted on 03/17/2005 12:17:34 PM PST by Cagey
WASHINGTON (AP) - Retired slugger Mark McGwire Thursday told a congressional panel investigating drugs in baseball that he would not "participate in naming names" of players who used steroids. McGwire did not say in his opening statement to the House Government Reform Committee whether he used steroids.
Two current players, Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmeiro, said they never used steroids. That duo and McGwire were accused of using performance-enhancing drugs by Jose Canseco in a best-selling book that helped prompt the hearing.
In a tense scene, Canseco sat at the same table as the other players as he told the lawmakers that he could not fully answer their questions because of concerns his testimony could be used against him.
Choking back tears, his voice cracking, McGwire said he knows that steroid use can be dangerous and will do whatever he can to discourage young athletes from using them.
"What I will not do, however, is participate in naming names and implicating my friends and teammates," said McGwire, who ranks sixth in major league history with 583 homers.
I don't know what McGuire may or may not be guilty of but it's refreshing to hear him tell these Con-Critters to STUFF IT!
I just watched some of the re-play of these hearings. I was surprised at how cut McGwire still is after being out of the game for so long. Why didn`t you show a picture of him sitting with his arms crossed at the table. His arms are still quite large ! He is as big as some of the other guys there (who are still playing), and McGwire is retired !!
I would think the head honchos of MLB would be embarassed, particularly Selig, since he was on the Congressional hotseat over this same issue once before, being told he's not doing a helluva lot to clamp down on the rising drug abuse taking place in MLB.
We all know why they had to testify. It's because of that repugnant creep Canseco and his stupid book, and the fact that the MLB owners and players association have done squat to the problem of steroids in baseball. Everyone seems to be giving Selig and Fehr a pass. I quite frankly see their laziness and incompetance galling.
I think a topic that came up during the hearings sums it up quite well. It was the government that put in place the rules that demanded MLB deal with the players association when it came to drug testing and policies concerning drug testing: "Collective Bargaining and Labor Arbitration".
It was this that tied MLB from putting strict drug testing policies in place.
Since the MLBPA had no benefit in letting a strict drug testing policy be placed upon them ( like results being made public ) , why would they agree to such a policy? And also, what if some info was leaked to the public on a player that tested positive for a substance that may be legal, but would be a public nightmare for that player if that info was released. I would imagine the players see the people running MLB no different than many of use see our government. Give them an inch, they will take a mile.
So in the end, we can all blame our good ole government for this mess !!!
You assume that BALCO was in business to make money, but at the same time, in a previous post, you said that athletes like Bonds were given those same drugs for free because they would bring attention to that business. My whole point was that BALCO would have not given anyone those drugs for free, since they were designed to avoid the very tests that were testing for steroids.
You would have to pay a high price for drugs that were designed to avoid testing, and I doubt that most high school athletes could afford to pay such exorbatant amounts.
If you watched the hearings, you would have heard that the parents that were there testifying to the fact that there were no labels on the drugs, and if they were there, they were in Spanish. And, the majority of the drugs high school athletes take are animal steroids, not those designed to get around drug testing.
Professional athletes like Bonds know that they will be tested, whereas high school players will more than likely not be tested the entire time they are in school.
So, yes, I do doubt that the same drugs Barry Bonds had access to were not the same that average people can get.
The NFL has been very harsh on the penalies for steroids since the early 90's. There were less than 3 players from, the NFL involved in the BALCO case, and, as far as I know, they have since retired (Romanowski) or not been resigned. The NFL cracked down on Steroid use in a fashion that should be modeled by the MLB. Not like the current agreement, where they can accept a fine instead of a suspension, and not have their name made public.
Ever since Lyle Alzado made it known that he attributed his sickness (and eventuall death) to steroids. the NFL has made a bigger deal than than the MLB will ever agree to.
Why are you checking in on this thread???
Tell ya what, bub. Check back in a week, and see if this is not resulting in severe negatives for the GOP. They look like bullies to me, and I'm a diehard Republican and conservative. They yanked this guy out of retirement so that they could harass him about things that happened back when he was playing, things that they couldn't prosecute him on, and which have nothing to do with whether the feds should poke their noses into baseball's oversight of its players drug use or with the antitrust exemption. It was just mean.
"You would have to pay a high price for drugs that were designed to avoid testing, and I doubt that most high school athletes could afford to pay such exorbatant amounts"
Considering that amateur athletics have had the most stringent testing for steroids going back to the 1960's, I have no doubt at all who BALCO was targeting for sales. High school sports are not cheap these days, and there are designer steroids readily available,
It was just mean.
The year McQuire broke the Maris record, he was found with Andro, then not illegal in baseball but outlawed in all other sports. How many young kids backthen saw him and said, I can muscle up too. So indirectly this guy and others helped ruin the health of thousands of young kids. They need to be mean with this cheating jerk. And he knows it.
The one witness eager to testify is Canseco, who is flogging a book in which he accuses many players of using steroids. Jeff Merron of ESPN.com read the book -- has Canseco done that? -- and found:
Canseco says that during spring training 2001, when playing for the Angels against the Mariners and their second baseman Bret Boone, ``I hit a double, and when I got out there to second base I got a good look at Boone. I couldn't believe my eyes. He was enormous. `Oh my God,' I said to him. `What have you been doing?' `Shhh,' he said. `Don't tell anybody.''' But in five Angels-Mariners games that spring, Canseco never reached second base.
He recounts game six of the 2000 World Series -- which ended with game five. He recalls baseball in 1982 being ``closed'' to Latinos -- although there were 62 major leaguers from Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic and more from other Latin countries.
The Committee for the Dissemination of Great Messages to Kids has found the witness it deserves.
Maybe Mark should call Canseco a liar and be done with it. Maybe all these players should collectively tell Congress to kiss their arses. I think this committee is a waste of time. If Congress really wanted Baseball to clean up its act, just whisper a little bit that they will remove their anti-trust status. Bonds and the rest of them will be gone so quick, it would make your head spin, and baseball would clean up.
My biggest problem with the juice is the following: If a guy wants to risk his health to be a better playa, that's his business. If his decisions mean other guys that want to compete have to risk their health too to keep up, that's wrong. Criminally wrong.
And McGwire is a punk.
It's not even to be "attractive", it's to look YOUNGER so they can get RE-ELECTED so they can hold on to POWER. I'm fed up. I think we need a constitutional amendment to dissolve the goobernment and start over from scratch. Or at least providing for citizen oversight boards.
Thats the kind of ignorance that causes congress to have a debate on steroids in baseball. All football players are using steroids no matter how strict you think they are. Most to all baseball players use. Most of your favorite actors have used steroids to get in shape for a movie. Steroid use is a lot more common than most people think. Its very easy to take some pills each day or take a couple of shots a week and gain strength and/or mass and they all do it.
"Covering for steroid use, and covering up a murder are not equal or comparable."
They may not be equal, but since both involve covering up, they are certainly comparable.
"Can we expect to see all members of the Bar association testifying next about the high usage rates of amphetamines, cocaine and alcohol in law firms?"
Yeah, and this is far more important than baseball.
Exactly.
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