I get no pleasure from writing columns on this particular subject. Really, I don’t. But it seems to be an issue that just can’t be avoided. Walk down the street to the intersection of Pro Sports Avenue and Elite Athletes
I get no pleasure from writing columns on this particular subject. Really, I don’t. But it seems to be an issue that just can’t be avoided. Walk down the street to the intersection of Pro Sports Avenue and Elite Athletes Boulevard and you’re likely to find the sidewalk littered with used needles, empty pill bottles and discarded deer antlers. And even if those things aren’t there in a tangible sense, their stench is still wafting and chalk outlines still remain from where they had once laid.
During a week when the best players in Major League Baseball are supposed to be celebrated, those who participate in what was once America’s pastime are indeed honored, though by dubious fans who cheer outwardly and scrutinize internally.
A little more than two years ago, I wrote a column entitled “Where have you gone, Brady Anderson?” (May 15, 2011 http://bit.ly/18mel0K). We’re basically in the midst of Brady 2.0 in the Baltimore Orioles’ Chris Davis. While he’s always been known as a power hitter, Davis notched his career high in home runs last season with 33. This year, Davis tied the American League record for homers at the All-Star break by slamming 37 dingers before the Midsummer Classic and has his eyes focused on the single-season record — whatever you consider that to be.
No longer do we live in an era where such a feat is blindly applauded. Amidst the whispers and innuendo, one baseball fan took to Twitter to ask Davis directly. Michael Tran tweeted to the O’s first baseman on June 30, “Are you on steroids?”
To his and the surprise of many others, Davis tweeted back with just one word: “No.”
With the most intense testing system it has ever had in place, baseball likes to think it no longer sports the black eye the previous generation inflicted. But given its lack of forthrightness on the subject in the past, there isn’t much precedent to take the sport, its stars and its chief executives at their word.
Monday was the MLB Home Run Derby, which, like the NBA’s All-Star Saturday Night, is usually more fun in theory than actuality. But this year’s event lived up to expectations and the winner was the Oakland Athletics’ Yoenis Cespedes, who topped Washington Nationals phenom Bryce Harper in the finals. Cespedes did his best work in the opening round, pounding 17 home runs when nobody else hit more than eight.
During his performance, Miami Herald columnist and ESPN personality Dan Le Batard tweeted “CesPEDS!” As with many of his tweets, Le Batard was being slightly satirical and hoping to troll some of his followers. He wasn’t making an actual performance-enhancing drug accusation, but commenting on how quickly — and sometimes justly — we now are to bring PED’s to the forefront when confronted with achievement.
This wasn’t always the case, as we sat in naïve astonishment when Sammy Sosa was denting the scaffolding at Miller Park and Turner Field during the Derbies of the early 2000s.
There has also been a months-long dark cloud looming over baseball, with the expected suspension of notable players like 2011 National League MVP Ryan Braun and Yankees goat/scapegoat Alex Rodriguez among others in the ongoing Biogenesis investigation. Though it appeared those suspensions may be issued this year, ESPN reports this week indicate they may not take effect until 2014.
While baseball is the easiest, most visible and most stationary target, three track and field stars were nabbed this week. Tyson Gay, America’s best and most recognizable sprinter, and Jamaican stars Asafa Powell and Sherone Simpson each tested positive for banned substances. Gay has the three fastest 100 Meter times this year, though that is now less of an accomplishment.
Such occurrences just move the needle further and put sports fans on even higher alert. Every word of that 2011 column still rings true and we aren’t any closer to our current emotional levels being a forgotten mentality. If anything, we’re more entrenched in doubt than ever before.
• ‘My Thoughts Exactly’ appears Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays in The Garden Island. Email David Simon your comments or questions to dsimon@thegardenisland.com. Follow David on Twitter @SimonTGI
