A-Roid

[deliverance]

Was that because of steroids or because of shorter fences? It very well could have been both. Baseball had to find a way to get fans interested again after they almost destroyed the game by the strike of 1994. Cal Ripken, Jr. did it with his streak. Mark McGwire did it by setting the homerun record. Sammy Sosa did it by giving him competition the whole way through. After that, the steroid question came up. Meanwhile, Bonds broke McGwire's record and then broke Henry Aaron's record. Everyone knew Bonds was on steroids because his body changed a lot. He went from being an all-around player to a 73 homerun in a year hitter. That doesn't exactly happen over night. Steroids may always have an impact on the Major League Baseball record book, but it will always just be part of the game for me. Players did what they could when they could. Major League Baseball allowed players to do many things to get their fans back. Whether that is right or wrong, I don't know. A business is a business. They're doing as well as any Professional sport right now. They must have done something right.

[ham55]

The problem with the whole steriod era is that the public, the paying public who shells out the money to go to the games, buy the ticket on their various t.v. network providers, and buy merchandise, don't care any where near as much as the media wants us to care about it. If anything, when teams like the Yankees, Giants, ect. come to town, more people show up to the game to boo various players such as A-rod and Bonds when he was with SF. That helps the MLB to a healthier bottom line. At the end of the day, people care just as much now about baseball as they did before this all came out, if not more.

There's no such thing as bad press, right?

If I have to watch that A-rod interview one more time I may go completely insane.

[nLions1]

It wasnt only homerun hitters using the steroids. Dont forget about Pettite and Clemens.

[Crimsoncrush67]

I love how this is looked at as a era, or even just a baseball issue. steroids are almost everywhere in the big two professional sports, football and baseball. and if we wanted i am sure you could throw college football in there as well because it still happens. And the era goes way back and is still going on today. So the era is continued and it is not just a baseball problem. Merriman tested positive a couple years ago and not much at all was made out of it, i think just a 4 game suspension and he came back and had a great season.

[ham55]

The one MAJOR glaring difference between the NFL and MLB is that the NFL has ALWAYS had a stringent testing policy for steriods and HGH. It's one of the best leagues run leagues when it comes to steriod detection and prevention. Outside of Merriman 3 years ago who else from the NFL has been caught? Yes there were the 8 guys who tested positive this past year, but that was from a misunderstanding in a substance that could be bought in a store by any one of us and it would throw a positive test.

9 guys in a 4 year span is no where near the 104 in a 3 year span. And those were punished immediately in the NFL. A-rod is just now getting his, and he won't even get punished outside the court of public opinion.

The NFL and MLB are no where near alike.

[deliverance]

Baseball let it go on for years when they knew it was happening. They didn't care. They needed some way to put fans in the seats after the strike of '94. This was their way of doing it. Like ham said, this is all a game by the media. Most fans really don't care about the whole steroid thing. The only people that really care are the ones that don't watch baseball and this just gives them another reason not to watch it.

[abpk2903]

The fact that baseball is played nearly everyday for 7-8 months leads someone to steroids a little quicker, I believe. Football is much more physical but is played once a week for 5-6 months. In football someone's body has a full week to recover between games (which is needed). Baseball is every single day. The nagging injuries, aches and pains, and inability to strength train during the season is all alleviated by steroids.

[S Cube]

steroids are almost everywhere in the big two professional sports, football and baseball. and if we wanted i am sure you could throw college football in there as well because it still happens.

Throw in college baseball. I would go out on a limb and say steroid use in college baseball has doubled in the past 10 years. These kids who want to get drafted or signed see what it has done for guys like Bonds and say, hey, maybe if i add 5 mph on my fastball or hit 8 more home runs i'll get picked up. I know of 3 or 4 kids on my college team 2 years ago were on some form of steroids, and honestly all showed improvement on the field the year after taking them. I don't think there was any way on earth that the NCAA was going to come in to a small D2 school in South Carolina and test for steroids. All the media attention has increased the popularity of steriods among youth.

[Crimsoncrush67]

I actually had a theory about barry zito. how does a guy in one year lose that much off a fast ball? but that is just me being skeptical. anyway i didn't say that the NFL and MLB were the same just that both have steroid issues. i mean how many 80's and 90's football players were on? I would wager alot. Look at these guys now and they are hobbled. And do we know that much about the NFL's drug testing. Apparently its extensive, but the NFL is extremely smart about keeping that stuff fairly quite. I mean if the testing is so good, how can holmes getting pulled over smoking and still pass a drug test, i still find it amazing he never got anything from the players conduct code outa that one? there has to be gaps, or people just don't care. I mean the NFL does do a great job of initial testing I think a couple years ago that guy got nailed around the combine. Who knows. no one really cares with football either. the idea about testing d2, it is actually a pretty good system, at least two years ago when i was at hurst. everyweek, 5 male and 5 female athletes got called in take the test didn't matter if you were hurt sick dying anything you were taking that test.

[greenirish]

abpk2903 the last two on my list i have suspisions. but you can not deny that andruw jones or Albert Pujols didnt take the juice. same with others like Brady Anderson Luis Gonzalez and Brian Giles.