Athletes
need to rethink their steroid policy
Karl
Peterson
The
worldwide governing body of track and field
announced that it would be testing athletes
who competed in last August's World Championship
to determine if they were taken a new steroid
produced by a bay area company.
Major
League Baseball should be taking notes.
All other major American professional sports
already have substance abuse policies that
test for anabolic steroid use and probably
will soon include this new steroid known
as THG.
Baseball
has a substance abuse policy, but the union
managed to exclude steroids as one of the
testable substances. Recently, former Oakland
A's slugger Jose Canseco said that 75 percent
of the league players use or have used steroids
and Ken Caminiti admitted to using steroids
when he won the National League MVP award
in 1996 and commissioner Bud Selig and his
cronies have looked the other way.
MLB
will test for drugs that adversely affect
performance, Steve Howe was suspended seven
times for cocaine use and Daryl Strawberry
has a litany of drug problems on his resume,
but refuse to allow steroid testing.
Every
time Sammy Sosa or Barry Bonds hits a home
run someone suspects them of steroid use
and tarnishes the reputation of the sports.
Bonds will appear before a grand jury in
December along with former Dirtbag Jason
Giambi concerning steroid use by major sports
athletes. Bonds' personal trainer, Greg
Anderson, had his house searched recently
in the investigation surrounding the new
steroid, THG.
Should
Mark McGwire and Bonds' home run records
have an asterisk considering they completed
the feat in the age of the "juiced
ball" and the "juiced players."
Selig
and the MLB Players Union should take a
long look at what the other leagues have
done and rethink their policy on steroid
testing before they start losing fans and
players. Without a policy change young players
will start seeing this as a get good quick
scheme and before they or MLB know it they
are singing soprano, dying young and not
needing a cup.
Karl
Peterson is journalism major at CSULB
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