Hi, my name is…

I’m Michael Rifenburg and somehow I stumbled into the position of assistant sports editor, under the wise guidance of Richardson Hardwick. When the great Rich is too busy, the job of filling this space falls to me. Enjoy, and disagree at your leisure.
President Bush recently stepped up to the podium and discussed various issues during his State of the Union address. He launched into a harangue on the economy, Iraq and the cost of preserving freedom.
Near the end of the speech he came out of nowhere and made a plea to strengthen the ban on steroid usage in sports.
For the longest time this has been an issue that has plagued sports and has seeped into my living room, giving rise to numerous late Sunday afternoon talks with my roommate.
Sports are enjoyable. Catching a Braves game is exciting as well as trying to follow a John Smoltz ninth inning splitter, trying to track the puck at a chilly Thrashers game, trying to discover Vick among a plethora of Panthers’ jerseys.
Sports are things that motivate many to get out of bed on a Saturday, and the thing that keeps people up burning the midnight oil and catching the last few seconds of a University of California Los Angeles (UCLA)/University of Arizona basketball game.
However, when steroids and illegal enhancers started surfacing in the sports world it tainted part of what makes sports so pure and such a welcome escape.
Various attempts to quell this rise in illegal substance usage have been made by the sports world. These attempts have proved to be quite futile. The players aren’t that dumb and subsequently know when their testing dates are approaching; they know how to successfully skip around the test.
The ownership doesn’t want to lose the muscle of their league, which in turn slowly turns the ownership into the puppets of the players (an interesting evolution).
Now, it is hard to watch Barry Bonds step up to the plate and not think that he is as juiced as a grapefruit, to see the immaculate Ray Lewis and not wonder if he achieved his enormous frame via illegal methods.
This causes us to gaze at the sports world with longing eyes and a sense of nostalgia. Through my mind runs clips of the slender Ted Williams slapping a liner over the tip of the first baseman’s glove, or the tall, lanky Kareem Abdul Jabar gracefully gliding across the key, letting the ball run off his outstretched fingers and into the net.
I long for the time when the athletes achieved their fame and success through legal methods. The desire to be the best and get the big contract has led athletes to destroy their own bodies. They go through abuse to entertain the audience for a short period of time.
We would be sheerly ignorant to assume that all players in the leagues are on some form of illegal enhancers. Keith Lockhart is proof of that, and to think that all the balls that clear the wall at the Ted are clearing the wall with the power of ‘roids.
However, I remember an Atlanta Braves/San Francisco Giants game where Bonds came up to bat and a steady chant of ‘Juiced, Juiced…’ slowly precipitated from the crowd. The situation was humorous at first but now thinking over it, it brings a frown to my face.
Bush was right in saying that professional athletes, whether or not they like it, are seen as role models. So, please set aside the steroids and let’s play some pure ball.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Jan 23 2004. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry