Before getting started I’d like to thank “Hitting a
Touchdown” for allowing me to contribute to what will be a great blog.
The recent article in the “Miami New Times” linking several
major leaguers to performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) has been well-covered by
reporters, analysts, bloggers and fans everywhere. My intention here is not to
paraphrase the contents of that article, however, I have attached a link to it
in case you haven’t had the opportunity to read it for yourself. No, my intention
is to confess both my past views and my current bias.
In recent years, as more stories have surfaced regarding
athletes and PED use, I have become increasingly jaded in my view of the
accused athletes. I can remember going from “say it ain’t so” when I was very
young, to “well, there goes another cheater” after mere allegations towards another
player. But what I never realized was how
lucky I was to have never had one of my heroes or even a player on my favorite
team accused of such “crimes.” This made
it easy for me to just call the accused a “cheater” and not think too hard
about how he or she may be innocent or even about how much unwanted attention the
allegations bring to their team and family.
This brings me to my current bias. If I continue to blog you
will undoubtedly come to find that I am a diehard Washington Nationals fan, and
my current bias comes in the form of one of the newly accused - Gio Gonzalez,
all-star starting pitcher for the Nationals. Gio is a fan favorite, a class act
and a seemingly great guy; so I immediately started reading into the report and
finding all of the ways that Gio could be “innocent.” Thus far, the evidence strongly indicates
that Gio is in fact clean, but the jury still remains out and that is beside
the point of this blog.
What I wanted to share is the revelation I had when my own team’s star was accused I
immediately realized how unfair it is to judge an athlete based on a mere
accusation. Moreover, it is incredibly
unfair that these newspapers, websites and magazines can publish anything they want and so many people
immediately accept it as the truth. I have read that the “Miami New Times”
spent about 3 months doing exhaustive research and have written a relatively
fair piece, but that doesn’t change the fact that they profited immensely from
accusing ball players of PED use.
So, even if it turns out that Gio cheated, I hope that I am
able to stand behind my newfound philosophy. I hope that I and all sports fans
can continue to recognize that athletes are innocent until otherwise proven;
that we can’t let an article alone tarnish their reputations. We have to
remember that these reporters are writing to make money and that is usually
their primary motive. This is a difficult ideal to uphold, especially when a
guy like A-Rod is accused, but we should try to remember that all of these athletes are innocent until
proven guilty and they should be treated as such.
-Vince M. L.
Original Article:
Image credit: http://www.darkendeavors.com/imbedded_images/12142007cartoon1.gif
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