Unique Original Articles » Congress off Target on Steroids

Now that the hypocrisy of former major league great Roger Clemens has been exposed by the perjury charges, it’s time to focus on the tremendous waste of resources by the U.S. Congress. Clemens made a fool of himself by lying in his testimony to Congress in his testimony about steroids and how they were administered in the guise of sports medicine. But from the beginning, these hearings have been a waste of time and money.

The desire to investigate steroid use in baseball seems to stem from the sport’s obsession with numbers. 755 career home runs and 61 in a season were holy numbers for devoted baseball fans. When these records were broken by players using banned performance-enhancing substances to improve their athetic performance, it seemed to some like a call to action. But Congress misinterpreted the type of action needed. We need the league, managers, coaches and players to talk about the problems with steroid and human growth hormone (HGH) use, not the federal government.

People assume that the numbers from the “steroid era” are tainted. But that implies that steroids were the only thing that changed the game to make the historical playing field uneven. The truth is that you cannot compare numbers from different eras and assume all other things are equal. The game has changed through different eras in baseball.

Ball players in the segregated era didn't face the best talent when African-Americans were forced to play in different leagues. Home run hitters have had advantages and disadvantages over the years as parks have changed size and shape. Equipment has improved. Rules have changed. The number of games in a season changed. It’s impossible to know what Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, or Hank Aaron would have done with Barry Bonds spot in the line-up. Hitting 60 home runs in 1930 is simply not the same thing as in 1961 or 1998. It just doesn’t make sense to treat these records as so important that breaking them requires congressional investigation.

Steroids are cheating. There’s no question about it. But, unfortunately, cheating has always been part of the game. “If you’re not cheating, you’re not trying,” say some of the old veterans. Whether it’s stealing signs, pitchers scuffing balls, or hitters corking a bat, cheating has always been there. Steroids can be seen as part of that tradition. It’s a problem, but not something that requires the resources of Congress.

It’s impossible to tell how exactly how much steroids affect athetic performance. Thanks to improvements in sports medicine, athletes recover from injury more quickly. New training techniques lead to better performance. Motion capture technology allows pitchers and hitters to analyze their technique and improve their performance more rapidly than ever before.

After all the hearings and grandstanding, Congress has not passed a single law which affects steroid use. It’s time to recognize that the “steroid era” is just a period of time when another thing changed the game. It’s part of a long line of things that changed the game. In the end, steroid users hurt their own health. Proper use of sports medicine and advanced training techniques like motion capture are the best things to help players improve their games. That’s something coaches should preach, not congressmen.
Sharon writes Athletic Performance Improvement and Coaching articles for several websites including http://optojumpusa.com/
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