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Mark said he did it for health reasons... Hurrr! Like I really believe that one. Anyways there is a big sports debate raging should be voted into the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame (MLB HoF). I think he is a basically a good guy and I know he gave away a lot of money to charity but even so I don't think he deserves to be inducted. By going public with his problem he has set a bad example for the youth who want to pursue a career in professional sports. To be honest I always was of the opinion that both Mark and Sammy Sosa were on the juice, those huge shoulders and breaking wooden bats was a dead giveaway.

G

The age of steroids is over. I say that they let him in, with a giant asterisk next to it.

Who?

+1

Google it.

G

I am of the opinion that no juicer should be in the hall of fame. Especially if they were inducted for breaking records under the influence of steroids, like McGwire.

Are steroids still not mandatory for baseball players? Blurnsball can't come soon enough. Baseball is too boring for me to care about its players' drug abuse.

I voted yes. Atheletes are no longer role models and honestly I dont think they ever were even in the so called golden age of our pareants. I consider myself to be an athelete. My sports of choice are crossfit and Rugby. I use a lot of supplements to achieve gains I would normally not find possible. My job prohibits me from using steroids or honestly I probably would.

On the flip side I would like to see the x-rays on the amount of joint damage and a MRI to see the ligament damage he suffered. I personally can attest that the larger you get the heavier the isolation movements become the more damage you do to those areas. I can no longer do isolation work so I moved to Crossfit and do not suffer joint pain. I tried to do some curls (135-155 4 sets of 5 reps) and I was in agony the next day.

I hope he uses his experience to educate those who would other wise abuse the substance. A lot of literature is pointing that steriod use is not all bad. The abuse is what is damaging. Look at most pro body builders from the 70-80's, they are dying off in droves.

I'd take Mark McGwire as a role model over Ty Cobb any day.

ounumen wrote:My job prohibits me from using steroids or honestly I probably would.

That is kinda sad.

ounumen wrote:I voted yes. Atheletes are no longer role models and honestly I dont think they ever were even in the so called golden age of our pareants.

Charles Barkley was right.

ounumen wrote:
On the flip side I would like to see the x-rays on the amount of joint damage and a MRI to see the ligament damage he suffered.

Joint damage is a natural consequence of strength training; particularly those exercises which focus on support musculature.

Uhhh..... this has nothing to do with role models. You can be a bad role model and not cheat. So a big no from me. Same with bonds.

GG

I agree with you GG. to say a pro athlete is not a role model for today's you is like saying it's okay to run red lights as long as you don't get caught. It just doesn't work that way. The general consensus is McGwire will never be inducted.

Green Blow Fly wrote:I agree with you GG. to say a pro athlete is not a role model for today's you is like saying it's okay to run red lights as long as you don't get caught. It just doesn't work that way. The general consensus is McGwire will never be inducted.

Given the number of juicers who are already in the Hall or will be inducted in the coming years it seems a touch hypocritical to ban McGwire for it.

I'm gonna say it again. Ty Cobb is in the HOF, and he was a mean, bad man who probably killed a guy.

There is another famous shortstop who didn't make it coz he loved to gamble. Because you make one mistAke only a fool will repeat for the sake of the argument.

G

This isn't one mistake. The Hall is full of questionable characters. The only real moral stance here is "Don't get caught."

So you are advocating along the lines that all offenders should be given a free pass if one somehow manages to slip under the net?

* shakes head & face palm *

G

If one? Please tell me you're kidding. Unless you're going to disallow every single MLB player from the hall who's played the game since the 80's you're going to have dozens, if not hundreds of juicers in there. It's not like League didn't know, or couldn't stop it if they had wanted to, they liked it. Guys like McGwire got people interested in baseball even if only for a time. The league turned a blind eye to it and let it happen because they were raking in the money. It's not like you're dealing with a bunch of paragons of virtue and guys like McGwire and Rose are outliers. They're the norm. The only difference between them and many many other players and hall of famers is they got caught/confessed.

I certainly wouldn't say either McGwire or Rose are in any way shape or form the norm. Same for Sosa. Cheaters get what they deserve.

G

Your optimism is refreshing yet horribly misplaced. You honestly believe that right now, and for the last 10 to 20 years that most of the top players in baseball, the guys going to the hall of fame, were clean and stayed on the straight and narrow? Really? That Rose and McGwire are both rare cases in an other wise excellent group of fine upstanding young gentlemen? That with the immense pressure to perform and mind boggling amounts of money up for grabs by those that do perform almost no one cuts corners to get ahead?

Sure it's well known that the majority of baseball players don't use steroids and those who do it's fairly obvious.

G

I got to back up GBF here. The fact that some people "didn't get caught" doesn't mean we just ignore the ones who did.

It's just like when you are the one that gets the speeding ticket when 12 other cars around you were also speeding. If you ask the cop what about the other guys speeding, he will say yes I know, but I caught you.

GG

Mark belongs in the hall of infamy and I don't even think he himself believes he deserves HOF candidacy. He was involved in one of (if not THE) biggest sports scandal in American history; and like generalgrog mentions he got caught. Its also always bad mojo when Congress has to get involved.

As for professional sports athletes not being role models - I call bs especially since families are generally a major customer for pro-sports. These guys are professionals and in their contract they basically have to act decently and serve the community in various services. If your local sports team's players are constantly making asshats of themselves that only hurts the team and league's image which means a lot in this image sensitive era. Pro-athletes are professionals and treated as such.

Good to know some people here have some morals.

G

Who cares? Its baseball, its not like its a real sport like football or curling.
Now THIS is a manly sport:

Curling...


























* chirp *

Cane wrote:These guys are professionals and in their contract they basically have to act decently and serve the community in various services. If your local sports team's players are constantly making asshats of themselves that only hurts the team and league's image which means a lot in this image sensitive era. Pro-athletes are professionals and treated as such.

They aren't just professionals though, but celebrity professionals, where the 'celebrity' diminishes as a result of 'dubious' (though I'd call it realistic) morality.

And let's be honest here, steroid use was rampant in professional sports before the crackdown. Baseball got the most attention because the huge statistical jumps, but football was just as bad, if not worse (*cough*Romanowski*cough*).

Its worth remembering that different steroids do different things, and you don't necessarily become utterly massive as a result of taking them. We should all recall that Lance Armstrong took steroids in order to develop respiratory system.

I hate that professional sportsmen are role models. I wish when asking the boys in my classes what they want to do when they're older, 90% of them didn't answer "footballer!"
Gah. Crap like that is why boys do so friggin poorly in school.

Da Boss wrote:I hate that professional sportsmen are role models. I wish when asking the boys in my classes what they want to do when they're older, 90% of them didn't answer "footballer!"
Gah. Crap like that is why boys do so friggin poorly in school.

Well to be honest, shouting out "mindless worker drone!" just doesn't have the same panache now does it?

They could say SOMETHING that requires academic work or is beneficial to society.
Policeman!
Doctor!
Fireman!
Scientist!
Builder!
and so on. Footballer? Really? That's who you look up to? That's like looking up to me for playing 40K.