MLB announced that testing and penalties for HGH will begin in the minor leagues. This should have happened years ago, but I expect little out of Bud Selig. Selig has been a complete failure during his tenure as commissioner, the only bright spot being the lack of any work stoppage since 1994.
I rarely agree with anything Selig does or says. I want more replay in baseball, he doesn't. I don't think the All-Star Game should determine home field advantage, he does. I think performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) have ruined his legacy as commish, he doesn't seem to think so. He deflects any criticism and truly seems to believe he is doing a great job, with the Steroid's Era being "behind us."
Performance enhancers are still front and center though, and will be for years to come. As long as science advances, players will do all they can to be better than the next guy. Baseball, and all sports, need to evaluate more closely what is out there and what can be done to stop it. PEDs will always be one step ahead, but currently it seems as though the users are Usain Bolt and enforcement is David Ortiz in the 100 meters. That's right, I'm still bitter about his base running blunder in the All-Star Game; and he has the slowest home run trot in the league.
The real losers in this testing though is the Latin players. If you look back at all of the failed drug tests, they're mostly Latin players. It is hard for me to blame them. Put me in their shoes, trying to escape poverty by making millions in baseball. Someone tells me to inject myself with a drug that'll help me get healthy quicker, stay focused longer, hit the ball farther, AND, it's legal in baseball; I'd shoot myself up with whatever is in the needle.
Teams, leagues, agents; all need to do a better job at counseling players,ensuring they are making decisions to help their career and the image of all involved. They are not doing a good job at this at all. Players are continuing to fail drug tests, and more important, continue to get arrested. If a player grew up in the wrong crowd, the team needs to ensure that player is no longer involved with those friends. Just look what friends did to Michael Vick. Arguably the most athletically talented QB ever had his career ruined. He took a blow to his wallet, his image, and his freedom, while delivering a blow to the Atlanta Falcons, who built the team around him.
Too often we hear about players breaking the law for reasons that could have been prevented. Plaxico Burress was arrested on gun charges after shooting himself in the leg. He should have been able to tell the team he felt unsafe and been provided with security. Donte Stallworth killed a man with his car while driving drunk. He should have been able to tell the team he was going out, and been provided with a designated driver.
Teams invest a ton of money into their players, but seem to invest little in ensuring they make the "right" decisions. Many players are going from having $10 in their pocket to $10 million. I don't know that I wouldn't go Buck Wild if overnight my student loans were paid, my bills were paid, and I could buy whatever I wanted. Sure I could invest the money and live modestly, or I could buy a mansion and some cars. Why invest when you can live the sweet life now?
I hold nothing against the college players taking money and gifts wherever they can get it. Nick Saban called the agents "pimps" for bribing the players with money. Really though, it is the colleges and the NCAA that are pimps for using the players for profit and not paying them. They have no interest in the college athletes gaining an education, just in them bringing revenue to the school.
I do think an easy solution to try to solve this issue would be the NFL suspending the players without pay, for double the amount received in gifts. If the player received $100,000 and they make that much in one game, he would be suspended for 2 games. The NFL doesn't need to help the NCAA though, they are just using them. NCAA football is basically NFL's minor league. Players hone their skills there 'til they are ready to go pro, usually before they graduate. The NBA's relationship with the NCAA is the same.
Basically all of the sports world just use the players to profit. Sure the players profit from the teams and leagues as well, but not nearly to the same degree. There is, was, and always will be, corruption and scandal and cheating in sports. There is too much money involved for there not to be. Something needs to be done now though to protect the players legally, financially, and in the view of the public. There are too many Michael Vick's breaking the law, too many Barry Bonds' using PEDs, too many young, talented athletes with little knowledge of what to do, how to act with the instant fame and fortune to not say there is a problem needing fixing.
But like I said before, sports thrive on drama, so I expect little to be done till the players unions really fight for change.
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