I realize that I’m a little behind on this topic, but in reality, behind the scenes I’ve been gathering my thoughts and writing a post, but really had nowhere to post it while I was building and configuring my site. I should probably take this chance to thank Yves, Julie, Doug and my wife, Candace for pushing to get this done, and to help me with the configuring the site.

Now on to Mr. McGwire, and the tears. Sympathetic tears, or tears of laughter?

On March 17, 2005 I took a sick day from work, knowing that I wanted to watch these alleged drug-addled ball players do the moonwalk during their inquisition before the House Committee on Government Reform. What we saw was laughable. It remains a watershed moment, as well as a comedy classic. From Rafael Palmeiro’s defiant claim (only to be busted shortly thereafter), to Sammy Sosa pretending that he couldn’t speak or understand English, to Curt Schilling’s big mouth, and finally to Mark McGwire’s flaccid “I’m not here to talk about the past” act, the whole thing was like watching a train wreck. Some called (and still call it) grandstanding by some politicians, while others praise them for trying to shine the spotlight on these chemically enhanced athletes, who wield tremendous influence on young players, like it or not.

For those who can’t remember, or never saw it, you can read all about McGwire’s pathetic tap dance here.

Fast forward to January 2010, and Mark McGwire has emerged from his self-imposed exile. Why now? Well, he wants to return to baseball, of course. He’s going to be the St. Louis Cardinals new batting coach. Knowing that he’s going to be assaulted with cameras, microphones and questions before every game if he didn’t speak up, he decided to “come clean” in an interview with Bob Costas.

There was something, actually, lots of things that rang hollow about this mea culpa. First of all, he tries to tell us that he took performance-enhancing drugs only for health, and not for strength. Wait, what? He said that the P.E.D.s he took helped him recover from injury. Maybe so, but that’s half the truth. Steroids don’t turn you in to a muscle-bound hulk on their own. They allow your body to heal more quickly after a tough workout. This, in turn, allows you to work out more often, which of course, allows you to build muscle mass. That’s the part McGwire left out. He’d have us all believe that his hand-eye coordination has everything to do with his success and his numbers. Again, that’s only half the truth. I played baseball for a long time, among other sports, and of all the things that I’ve done, hitting a fastball is the hardest thing. You know the old saying: you have to hit a round ball, with a round bat, yet hit it squarely. It’s tough to do. So yeah, eye-hand coordination counts for a LOT of a good hitter’s success. But the extra muscle mass gives his body the extra bat speed needed to send a ball 400 feet (and over the fence) instead of 380 feet (and in to an outfielder’s glove).

Apologists for baseball’s steroid era say that MLB had no rules against using performance enhancers. Wrong. They did have rules, but they did not have penalties. You could argue that it’s one and the same. A toothless rule is probably more of a suggestion; that the owners don’t officially condone the use of the P.E.D.s, but will turn a blind eye so that players can keep the stadiums packed. Everyone’s dirty here. But correct me if I’m wrong, but the use of anabolic steroids were illegal…against the law, were they not? And the last time I checked, the law supercedes a sports league’s rules, does it not? I also ask the question of if steroids were not against baseball’s rules, why couldn’t players be up front and admit that they were using them? If there was no fear of repercussion, what’s the big deal? The big deal is that the players KNEW that fans and media would not accept juiced athletes chasing after hallowed statistics established in years past. And perhaps the law would intervene as well, and arrest a few of these bloated ball players. It was a guarded secret because they knew it was wrong. Period. They knew exactly what they were doing, and they knew they were cheating. Period. So I completely and absolutely reject the argument that “since there were no rules against it, you can’t hold it against them”. Sure I can.

If you’re looking for more reasons why McGwire’s admission and apology is an empty one, then consider the following (please try to stay with me):

1- Former White House Press Secretary, Ari Fleischer runs an agency that specializes in managing rich folk in crisis situations. Fleischer’s agency is half-owned by IMG. You can read about what IMG does here, but I’ll just say that they are huge in their field and have a lot of power.

2- Major League Baseball is a client of IMG.

3- Bob Costas, the legendary sportscaster is a client of IMG.

4- McGwire’s interview was broadcast on the MLB network, as opposed to one of the major networks like NBC, ABC, or their sports arm, ESPN. One would have to wonder why they’d do that, especially since the MLB network is in half as many homes as ESPN is. Wouldn’t you want as many people to see this heartfelt apology? What a convenient package for IMG and its clients! They controlled every piece of the puzzle, and maybe even fooled some people in to thinking that this was a contrite apology.

This reeks of another carefully crafted and scripted publicity stunt, sort of like what Tiger Woods has now become famous for. The tears, the creampuff questions from Costas…it all adds up to another silly charade by a former athlete with an agenda. It also reeks of IMG doing its utmost to promote the MLB network, which I suppose is their job, but further erodes McGwire’s credibility (and in my mind, Bob Costas’ as well).

I’m guessing McGwire is a decent enough person and doesn’t want to be a distraction to the Cardinals. I believe that he loves baseball, and wants to keep contributing to the game. He almost certainly wants to try and gain some traction with the Baseball Writer’s Association of America, who vote on who gets in to the Hall of Fame (which is another farce if you ask me).  He’s currently a long way off from gaining admission to the Hall, and it’s clearly because his legacy is tainted with drugs. March 17, 2005 did massive damage to his reputation, and he’s trying to fix that now, in his own half-hearted way.

McGwire went on to say that he regrets playing in the steroid era and he wishes that he had never taken performance enhancing drugs. Really? Is he willing to admit that his numbers are tainted? If he does, the BBWAA would have no choice but to leave him off their ballots forever. Or would he simply say that everyone was doing it, so everyone is tainted. Would he be willing to give back the millions of dollars he made during his career? Of course we all know the answer to that.  Where does he really stand?

An apology usually means that you are willing to accept responsibility and consequence for what you’ve done. If he were truly sorry for what he did, he would accept that he does not deserve to be in the Hall of Fame. Ever. He can’t offer to be a spokesperson against the use of steroids, while at the same time accept an induction to the Hall of Fame. That would be yet another false act with selfish motivations.

All he had to do was tell the whole truth. “I did steroids because I wanted to smash home runs. I wanted to break records. I wanted to be rich. I wanted fans to adore me”. THAT would have given him more credibility than his crocodile tear apology. He’s never going to be a Hall of Famer in my book.

What are your thoughts on Big Mac? Is he simply a product of his generation, and his numbers are only relative to his peers, who were also juiced? Am I being too harsh on him?

Short update: since I don’t want to create a post just for the purpose of satisfying Yahoo…please skip the below:

Just a note to get my Yahoo community working.

I’ll be Undergoing MyBlogLog Verification here.