Nothing Surprises Me Anymore

So, now we can add Manny Ramirez to the list of juicers in baseball. I don't want to hear that maybe he had a legitimate reason for using a female fertility drug. The only reason a healthy athlete would use such a drug is to cycle off the steroids they were taking.

What's more, the HCG he took did not even show up in testing. What triggered suspicion was that Manny's test showed a unnatural level of testosterone. This prompted MLB to investigate further and they found Manny had prescriptions for HCG. So, Manny came very close to not getting caught. What this tells me is the sport is not really getting cleaner...the players are just getting smarter.

The days of just shooting up in the training room are gone. But players are still juicing. They're just doing it in secret.

I heard announcers saying that with ARod and Manny getting caught it will show young kids that using PED's just isn't worth it because of how it damages their legacies and Hall of Fame chances.

Really?

Manny just signed a contract worth $50 Million after making around $150 Million from Boston and even more from Cleveland. Sounds worth it to me. And I'm sorry, but Manny doesn't strike me as someone who cares about his legacy.

ARod will have earned over half a billion dollars by the end of his career. I think he'll get over possibly not making the Hall of Fame.

If I'm a kid with dreams of being a professional baseball player, why wouldn't I juice? If you're a 17 or 18 year old kid today, you were born in the early 90's. By the time you started watching baseball it was the mid to late 90's. The best players in the sport included guys like:

Ken Griffey, Jr
Mark McGwire
Barry Bonds
Sammy Sosa
Rafael Palmeiro
Roger Clemens
Pedro Martinez
Alex Rodriguez
Manny Ramirez
Jason Giambi
Gary Sheffield
Frank Thomas
Derek Jeter
Mike Piazza
Greg Maddux
Juan Gonzalez
Ivan Rodriguez
Randy Johnson
etc...

More than half of the guys I just named have been at the very least, suspected of using PED's.

So, if I'm a kid, I don't look at PED's as cheating but rather, the preferred path to the big leagues. If grown men can't leave the stuff alone, how do we expect our kids to? Just because we tell them not to and make commercials with the air seeping out of basketballs and limbs falling off statues?

Meanwhile, guys are making small fortunes by juicing up. Maybe when ARod or Bonds are 60 they'll regret not being able to get in the Hall of Fame but that's more of a media creation. Most guys who do get to the Hall of Fame say they never thought about achieving such an honor while they were playing. They're not concerned with their legacy or public perception or even media acceptance. An above average baseball player knows he has only 15-20 years to earn as much income as he can. It's about the money and the juicers are cleaning up.

Unfortunately, I can't say the same for Major League Baseball.