McGwire issues statement, admits steroid use

Well... it looks like he finally admitted to it. Now I wonder how this is going to affect his career?

Source: AP

I never knew when, but I always knew this day would come. It's time for me to talk about the past and to confirm what people have suspected. I used steroids during my playing career and I apologize. I remember trying steroids very briefly in the 1989/1990 off season and then after I was injured in 1993, I used steroids again. I used them on occasion throughout the '90s, including during the 1998 season.

Good for him for having the gall to stand up and admit it. He has been unfairly blackballed from the hall of fame, and I truly hope that this gets him in.

Originally posted by captaintyinknots
Good for him for having the gall to stand up and admit it. He has been unfairly blackballed from the hall of fame, and I truly hope that this gets him in.

I disagree, I don't think he is unfairly blackballed. As the rules currently stand, he cheated, and his stats should be thrown out.

I do admire him for speaking the truth, but I don't see how it could possibly get him into the Hall of Fame.

Now, to contradict myself, I think the whole discussion is B.S.! Why not let these guys use steroids? Steroids are the natural procession from Vitamins, and eating right, and designer work outs, and chemical blood and urine tests to modulate natural hormones, and circuit training, and MRI's to determine the very second an injury is healed. Why not steroids?

A professional athlete already has a full-time nutritionist, doctor, and multiple trainers. A scientific and medically approved steroid regimen seems logical to me?

We already prescribe prozac, and ADD/ADHD drugs to help concentration. We already prescribe antibiotics and anti-inflammatories. We already tweek the muscle development every conceivable way, so why not allow hormone therapy?

We allow middle-aged men to take testosterone so they feel better about themselves at their office job? Why not let an athlete?

We allow post-menopausal women to take hormones so they feel better about themselves and do their daily activities more energetically (and friendly), so why not athletes?

I personally used Steroids after High School as part of my body-building endeavour. It was a well-structured and scientific approach, and I could not believe that all the hype and build-up about steroids was true! I was a superman at the gym! Every workout was better than the one before. Strength gains that used to take several weeks were taking days! I was confident, energetic, and motivated! During the off weeks, I would lose a little strength and energy level, but I kept a lot of the gains I made, so it was like a slingshot. I made BIG gains, and then took little losses, and then made BIG gains again!

I am a huge believer that if someone commits their life to perfecting their sport, we should use all the science and technology available to assist them in doing so!! If a shot can make someone smarter, or stronger, or more diplomatic, so be it! Why limit our potentials??????

Originally posted by getreadyalready

Originally posted by captaintyinknots
Good for him for having the gall to stand up and admit it. He has been unfairly blackballed from the hall of fame, and I truly hope that this gets him in.

I disagree, I don't think he is unfairly blackballed. As the rules currently stand, he cheated, and his stats should be thrown out.

As the rules stood when he played, it was not cheating, in any way, to use steroids.

He also STILL holds the rookie record for homeruns, owns many college records, and was the best defensive first baseman of the 80's and early 90's.

He is a HoF player, pure and simple, not to mention, PITCHERS WERE USING TOO.

reply to post by x2Strongx


Well Duh, All of America knew he was on the Juice, he diddnt have the gall to admitt to it for all those years... I also feel Barry Bonds record should be thrown out for the that as well and giving back to the rightful owners.

McGwire deserves to be in the hall, just like Pete Rose and Shoeless Joe, although those are different stories. As stated, pitchers were also using steroids so just let anyone with the numbers from this era in. There's just no way around the whole deal as there is still no test for HGH and by the time they come up with one there will be a new designer steroid designed to beat testing. It will just go on and on as athletes of all stripes are always looking for an edge to beat the competition and will do whatever it takes. Period.

It also was baseballs fault, they didn't do squat and everyone knew there was a problem. I've heard numerous journalists chastise themselves for not following up on their suspicions about what was going on. This one isn't just on the players, who we have known since, oh, forever, that they will "cheat" by using any advantage they can to win. It's pretty much human nature.

Bud Selig is a idiot and has done many things that arguably have been good or bad but he also has wiggle room here as the MLBPA - Major League Baseball Players Association is very strong - I've heard it called the strongest union in America. Don't know if that's true but it did take Congress getting into the act to get steroid testing in baseball in the first place.

Baseball didn't do it's job, the players didn't live up to their end, the writers didn't report the story so who else was going to do anything while profits were skyrocketing?

I do agree with the poster above who said they should be allowed to use but I'm in the camp that every illegal drug should be legalized so my opinion here is a little skewed. It will mess with the numbers a little but the game has changed so much over the years it can take it. I have to deal with interleague play and to me that's just as much a travesty as steroids. Ok, maybe not, but I dislike it immensely.

reply to post by captaintyinknots


I could be wrong, but as far as I know it has always been against the rules, there just wasn't any testing, or outline for penalties.

To Loony,

Yes it will mess with the numbers a little bit, but the numbers are a joke anyway. The baseball "purists" have already outlawed Aluminum bats. The baseball itself has gone through a number of advancements and retardations, the astro turf is different, the baseball gloves are insanely superior, and the athletes themselves are devoting 100% of their time to watching films, training with experts, and finessing their bodies! It is nothing like the old days when pro-baseball players had regular jobs that they worked and just played ball part-time!

Well, I'm glad he came clean. We should commend him for that, at least.

Takes a lot of guts to admit to something like that; and in the end, that's what's important -- setting the record strait.

Originally posted by getreadyalready
reply to post by captaintyinknots

 

I could be wrong, but as far as I know it has always been against the rules, there just wasn't any testing, or outline for penalties.

PED's did not exist in the baseball rulebook in the 1990's and before. It was not against the rules.

Originally posted by captaintyinknots

Originally posted by getreadyalready
reply to post by captaintyinknots

 

I could be wrong, but as far as I know it has always been against the rules, there just wasn't any testing, or outline for penalties.

PED's did not exist in the baseball rulebook in the 1990's and before. It was not against the rules.

Thank You, I did not know that! I assumed there was always some type of verbiage that would have covered it. If this is true, then why the witch hunt??? Why not just make the rule, institute the testing from this day forth, and move on?

Originally posted by getreadyalready

Originally posted by captaintyinknots

Originally posted by getreadyalready
reply to post by captaintyinknots

 

I could be wrong, but as far as I know it has always been against the rules, there just wasn't any testing, or outline for penalties.

PED's did not exist in the baseball rulebook in the 1990's and before. It was not against the rules.

Thank You, I did not know that! I assumed there was always some type of verbiage that would have covered it. If this is true, then why the witch hunt??? Why not just make the rule, institute the testing from this day forth, and move on?

My sentiments exactly. They are using a few people, who saved the sport, as scapegoats for the fact that owners like G.W. Bush advocated the use of PED amongst their players.

MLB may very well have folded if not for guys like Bonds and McGwire. To see them now heathenized is really bothersome to me.