When I heard the news that Major League Baseball had finally suspended Milwaukee Brewers slugger Ryan Braun for using performance-enhancing drugs, forcing him to sit for the remainder of the 2013 season, my first reaction was, “Huh, that really sucks for the Brewers, I guess.”
While some may feel a sense of accomplishment or an overwhelming feeling of karma catching up to a guy who cheated and defiantly lied about it time and again, I felt, “Huh.” Apathy.
My tenor has changed on this over the years. I used to be one of the people who would pound on a table when player needed to be exposed for cheating. “The truth has to come out, dammit.”
I’ve long since resigned myself to the belief that players are always going to look for an edge, and it may be better for everyone if we all just sit back and let them find it.
In a way, suspending Braun isn’t all that bad for the Brewers, as Milwaukee is way out of the hunt for the playoffs. It sucks for Braun, sure, as his reputation has been eternally sullied in the eyes of those who care about a clean game. If there is a winner in this whole mess, one might suppose it’s MLB itself, whose crusade to clean up the sport has now accomplished a significant milestone, with its own DEA-style photo opportunity to frame in the office break room.
What’s the baseball equivalent of a table full of drugs, guns and cash? Braun’s urine in a cup next to an open FedEx box, Alex Rodriguez’s bat and a notebook full of Tony Bosch’s hand-written records?
The more I read into Braun’s suspension and the comments from MLB and the MLB Players Association, the more I was convinced that this drug crusade is, in a very real way, doing more harm to the sport than good
Before we delve too deep into the hypocrisy of performance-enhancing drug enforcement in major sports, it’s important to note that these drugs can be bad for your health and are illegal. The average youth player or even high school star at home shouldn’t read this and think, “Hey, I’m going to do drugs and make it to the majors.”
You probably won’t. (If my 10-year old nephew who is really good at baseball is reading this, I did not say you could do drugs.)
This is more about the tail-chasing nature of drugs in professional sports, and what it takes for a professional athlete to become the best. In order to be the best, you have to beat the best (as the old saying goes), and sometimes that means doing things to your body that could eventually kill you.
In a way, though, this is about everything. We are taught the mantra from a very young age that drugs are bad. “Say no to drugs”… unless the drugs are prescribed by a doctor, sanctioned by a national medical board and provided by a multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical brand through an equally rich insurance company. Then, by all means, say “yes” to drugs.
Do you have problems focusing at work? Your doctor may prescribe Adderall. Major League Baseball players take Adderall with an MLB therapeutic-use exemption every day, while others have been suspended for taking the exact same pills, just without a prescription from a doctor.
Drugs are bad, unless you can find a doctor who says those same drugs are good.
Steroids are particularly bad, unless you have an injury that warrants a shot of cortisone to get back on the field. Cortisone, last I checked, is a steroid and yet doctors and scientists have classified cortisone differently from anabolic steroids, so in sports circles, the product is seen as a miracle drug. From the Mayo Clinic:
