Piano World Home Page Forums Fun Stuff! - Parties, Tours, Projects & More... Just For The Fun of It Can John McCain *Do* That?

Don't worry; this isn't political.

I was checking out a story in today's Washington Post dealing with the ongoing baseball/BALCO doping scandal. McCain wants to get tough with Major League Baseball, suggesting that if they don't adopt a more rigorous doping policy, Congress will.

For some reason, I'm not taking kindly to Mr. McCain's position. Baseball is part of the private sector, and the entertainment sector at that. I don't see how it is anyone's business whether the owners of baseball decide to let the sport get dirty. To me, it's like saying that if the Screen Actor's Guild doesn't crack down on sexual harrassment or drug use, Congress will. Why is that an appropriate thing for Congress to concern itself with?

I'm willing to be persuaded, but maybe the best remedy is the legal one that already exists (or, at least, I think it does). I think if baseball isn't doing enough about doping, this works to the disadvantage of clean players because they are at a competitive disadvantage against the pumped-up rivals. So let them file a class-action lawsuit.

OK, be gentle with me. I don't follow professional sports all that closely.

[edit: Here's the link.]

Article

Wasn't there a lot of cronyism between the White House and the original baseball commissioner... both in the selection and in the design in the first place?

All I can remember is the first commissioner was Judge Landis, he banned a ton of people (part of the Black Sox scandal) and was friends with Teddy Roosevelt?... or was it Hoover?

Off to Google now...

Let's not forget W's resume includes former owner of the Texas Rangers....

jf

JF, meaning he'll never stand up to the commissioners, or that this is an issue near and dear to W's heart?

First post in Coffee Room South...

Ladies, and Gentlemen,

Let us not forget your ground rules. This supposedly is the Tea Room. If you would not like to be invaded by the wicked Huns of the North, please refrain from dissing the POTUS.

This is a kindly public service announcement.

I thought we were steering clear of pointed insults not censoring what we can and can't talk about. If I've got the wrong end of the stick please correct me. I'm rather excited about getting a high score in the Spot the Fake Smile quiz and experiencing some difficulty in focussing - (should never have had that Sherry).
P.S. Also sorry for digressing from subject! Anyway, what the heck do I know about Rounders?

The government should stay out of this.

Ditto what Jolly said.

That's what I thought, too. If Frank thinks I'm out of line, I hope he'll let me down gently.

My thoughts, which Mark put *much* more succinctly, were to wonder what legitimate public policy basis there is for McCain's position. Then I thought, well, maybe this was a public safety question -- the government should take steps to make sure clean athletes don't feel pressured to dope because everyone else is.

And then I had some sort of spasm! After all, doping is already illegal (I think, otherwise why is BALCO being investigated?). If the government wants to act, maybe it can enforce the laws already on the books?

Cindy -- who loves that expression "wrong end of the stick" because it is so very British

These are not, I repeat NOT the groundrules. You can talk about anything you want down here. It just has to stay CIVIL. That goes for EVERYBODY.

Jodi

Maybe I am truly naive, but if anyone can talk about anything they wish, I'm pretty sure it will be uncivil (is that a word?).

At least with this bunch....

I think the gov should stay out too - just like I don't think it's congress's business to force retirement plans on professional boxers. Having said that - I am more than a little disgusted at having all the sports records in the world being busted by steroided out people. I wish there was a way to get rid of it all, but competition being what it is I don't think it's going to happen.

I've often thought that they should just walk away from professional sports... just let 'em do whatever they need to do. Sort of like gladiators. They can take all the performance-enhancing drugs they want, bloat themselves up, become sterile, ruin their kidneys and other vital organs, and whack each other into oblivion in their various sporting arenas.

At least that way, the playing field would be "level," and we know enough about what steroids can do that the players can't say they didn't know they were making a Faustian bargain.

I'm only half-kidding here.

Teachum/Nina, I have similar impulses. These are grown men and women, so let them ruin their bodies if they want, perhaps. Then again, I'd hate for my own teenage daughter to decide she has to dope to win her swim heats. She's not old enough to understand the consequences yet.

And then I think about Carl Lewis in the Olympics, being embarrassed and soundly whipped by a yellow-eyed Ben Johnson all hepped up on steroids. Johnson was later stripped, true. But Carl Lewis was the fastest "clean" man in the world on that day, and he never got to stand on top of the medal platform and hear his anthem for that victory.

Totally unfair.

Cindy -- remembering that old SNL skit with Phil Harmon as the weightlifter in the "Doping Olympics" who pulls his arms off

Which leads me to another question...

When did the Olympics stop being for amateurs? I missed the memo, apparently. The basketball teams, for instance, are made up of our NBA players, for heaven's sake!

Yet the track and field and figure skating people are supposed to be "amateurs"? How did that work out?

I missed the memo too. The first I heard of it was when Michael Jordan was suddenly an Olympian.

I have mixed feelings. I didn't like it much when amateur athletes were expected to hold down a job at Denny's and somehow foot all the costs of training to be the best in the world at something.

But I also don't like it when someone is in the NBA making zillions and then they go slumming in the Olympics. It kind of demeans the Olympics as some third-rate local track meet or something. A lot of the top professional tennis pros just skip the Olympics because they are way more interested in winning one of the four majors.