Ok, so in my introductory post I wrote that I wouldn't be blogging about sports, and I apparently lied. I came across this story at today, and I have to say a few things. First, I have no idea who Tejada, nor do I care. I also don't care whether anyone else in baseball ever used "performance enhancing drugs." All right, so that isn't entirely true either. I care when it comes to records. I do think Barry Bonds' home run record is different than Hank Aaron's, and I do think Bonds' use of drugs (or, should I say alleged use) should be noted in the record books.
This issue has been driving me crazy for months, and I, who really don't know anything at all about baseball or most other sports, have been interested in this ongoing drama for one reason: I don't think the Senate has any business holding hearings on this issue. I'm sure there are all kinds of reasons why the Senate needs to hold hearings on steroid use. But give me a break! We're involved in a war in two countries, our deficit is growing exponentially, and we may well be entering a recession. Further, over 40 million Americans (including approximately 9 million children) are uninsured and our schools are going to pot. Surely the Senate (and the FBI for that matter) has better things to do than listen to rich baseball players reveal that their trainers gave them shots of steroids. I think their time (and my tax dollars, quite frankly) would be better spent tackling the bigger problems listed above than talking to baseball players all day.
8 comments:
So I'm sure we've all read about Marion Jones being sentenced to prison time due to her admitted steroid use. I agree with you, M, that the whole Senate issue is ridiculous, but I think it's even more ridiculous that, with all these baseball players being investigated, it's a black woman who is doing the first jail-time. Someone please tell me that there is more to this case than I know, or I'm just going to have to conclude that Jones is a scapegoat and that race and gender have more than a little to do with it.
Megs:
As a fellow Tar Heel Harrogate was especially saddened by the whole thing surrounding Jones, who as a freshman led the Lady Tar Heels to their first, and to date only national championship in basketball.
But her impending incarceration cannot reasonably be attributed to race or gender. Nor is it even the case that she will do time because she used steroids.
Jones was shown to have Lied to federal agents, not only about her own steroid use but ALSO about a huge hot check-writing operation in which her boyfriend at the time, and fellow Olympiad, had been involved.
Even assuming he has used steroids, Barry Bonds has a much better claim to discrimination on the basis of race, not (yet) by the judicial system, but most definitely by the media and (outside San Fran anyway) the public at large
In general, I agree about the fact that the Senate should have bigger fish to fry. But, this Congress cannot seem to get past the question of flour-based or cornmeal based batter... Basically, they're not doing anything anyway so why not talk to baseball players.
But seriously, I don't care about the records or the juicing. Records don't hold enough value to me to get excited one way or another about Bond's HR totals. Level playing field could be argued to be more important but in that arena, steroids are one of many issues facing baseball.
The reason performance-enhancing drugs are a Senate-level issue for me is because of the trickle-down effect of young athletes, especially those who are borderline to take it to the next level and might be lured by these dangerous supplements as a way of getting those millions.
Plus, MLB has demonstrated itself to be perfectly incapable of governing itself on this issue. Perhaps, the Senate has found a realm it can be effective. :)
Harrogate,
You're point is well taken, but I have to say I think that Megs may be onto something. After all, most of the men indicted in the Enron scandal have yet to serve any real time in prison, yet Martha Stewart, who made a mere $60,000 (and I don't mean that sarcastically at all; compared to her annual salary, $60,000 is not a lot of money) for selling some stocks. But she was mercilessly prosecuted and served 5 months in prison. I'd like to think that gender and race do play an issue in these things.
Let's also not forget that she is the first one to 'fess up and not only admit the steroid use and but the lying as well. Don't get me wrong, I admire her willingness to admit the mistakes. But that is something that Bonds, all other major athletes accused of doping, and the Enron execs have not done. This is not to say gender is not part of it but she did make prison time easy by pleading guilty.
Warning: Long Answer
As far as Harrogate can tell, the baseball players in the initial link to this thread have not yet been caught lying under oath or to Federal Agents. It is that, not using steroids, which will bring jail time, if jail time is to be brought.
Remember, too, that Jones' active complicity in the check-writing scandal is a big part of Jones's self-inflicted predicament. Harrogate suggests everyone read more about Jones' case before they make broadstrok assertions about institutionalized _____ism.
As for the Enron analogy, that's a weird comparison that fails to hold on a number of levels. First off, Jeff Skilling may never get out of prison, and rightfully so, given the thousands of people he sold down the river. And Harrogate thinks Ken Lay would be in there with Skilling had he not DIED first. Other major players in the Enron scandal avoided jail time by turning states' evidence, making Skilling's conviction possible, and they would have fried Lay as well.
None of this is to defend the criminal justice system. Certainly being rich and white (rich being more important than white) makes a big difference in sentencing in this nation. But there WERE very harsh legal consequences resulting from Enron, far morerso than Martha Stewart.
But in any case Jones's situation is simply VERY different from either Enron OR Martha Stewart (who may indeed have been victimized by sexism, at least by the media). It's just a different Rhetorical Situation.
If you want to demonstrate institutionalized sexism in the CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM, Marion Jones is a terrible place to start.
And if racism is your bag, Jones is an equally terrible example, given the wealth of examples you could choose from. Plenty enough black men, for one, are doing long-term sentences for marijuana use.
I'm sorry to nitpick, Harrogate, but I really think you should edit this sentence "Certainly being rich and white (rich being more important than white) makes a big difference in sentencing in this nation" to include being male.
M:
Unless you can show numbers--and we're talking about actual patterns here--indicating that women do more jail time or stiffer fines for the same crime, than do their male counterparts, then you do not get to credibly claim that the Criminal Justice System is Institutionally Sexist.
For example, one can compare Crack Sentences with Cocain sentences to argue, Credibly, that Institutionalized RACISM exists in the Criminal Justice System.
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