#a-roidriguez

[a-roidriguez]

Save America's Favorite Pastime

Baseball has been called America’s favorite pastime, but lately it’s been on a downward trend in ratings. Baseball was trending upward during the steroid era thanks to amazing hitters like Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds, but this all changed in 2005. Ever since MLB Commissioner Bud Selig changed the policy on steroids in 2005 baseball has been going down in the ratings. Selig gave the MLB the toughest drug-testing and disciplinary policy in professional sports. The NFL’s policy doesn’t even compare to the MLB. For example, a first offense in the MLB results in an immediate 50 game suspension while the same offense results in a 4 game suspension in the NFL. The MLB also tests its players for a broader list of banned substances and much more often than the NFL. Steroids make professional sports more entertaining and thus more profitable for the organizations involved. If we want baseball to stay America’s favorite pastime, as it should, steroids should be allowed in the MLB. Athletes get paid millions of dollars and if they want to harm their bodies to better entertain the fans, they should be able to.

[a-roidriguez]

Watch this video of Barry Bonds hitting a walk off homerun out of the stadium back when baseball was exciting. Everyone in the stands is going crazy and is completely into the game. This video from TV relates to my issue because Barry Bonds was caught using steroids. Bonds used steroids, but clearly he made the game more exciting for everyone. This is a positive representation of steroids in baseball because it is clearly making the sport more exciting to watch. Here's a link to the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXC-GyjaLeU

[a-roidriguez]

The Reason Behind the MLB's Downward Trend

For those of you that don't know, Bud Selig is the commissioner of the MLB. Selig has given the MLB the toughest drug-testing and disciplinary policy in professional sports. Selig has established year round testing on a very broad list of substances. Thanks to Selig the MLB is one of the first sports to have random blood tests for HGH and testosterone levels. The MLB has adopted a policy with immediate punishment far more strict than any other professional sport. Selig proposed his new steroid policy in 2005, and since then the MLB's ratings have been on a downward trend. Steroid use makes the sport more exciting, and Selig is taking away that excitement with his strict steroid policy.

[a-roidriguez]

"I did not take steroids to get any gain for any strength purposes... I've always had bat speed. I just learned how to shorten my bat speed. I learned how to be a better hitter. There's not a pill or an injection that is going to give me -- or any athlete -- the hand-eye coordination to hit a baseball. A pill or an injection will not hit a baseball."

Mark McGwire was arguably one of the best hitters in baseball. He was caught using steroids and isn't allowed to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. This quote is from an interview after McGwire was suspended. Can injecting yourself with steroids really make you an athlete?

[a-roidriguez]

You can call me Pablo Picasso.

[a-roidriguez]

What is the best why to enforce this rule? Would steroids be legal? Encouraged? Required? Or would they still be illegal, but officials would simply ignore any use of steroids?

Steroids should be made legal in baseball. It shouldn’t be required that players take steroids, and it shouldn’t be encouraged either. It should be the player’s choice whether they want to take the risk of harming themselves in order to better entertain and make baseball popular again. Players definitely shouldn’t be getting these huge suspensions for taking steroids. It has been a part of the game for a while so it should just be made legal.

[a-roidriguez]

Sweet Caroline is a classic by Neil Diamond. It is played at every Red Sox game during the 8th inning, and if this is news to you then you must not be a sox fan.

[a-roidriguez]

Context

The lens that I wrote about in unit 2 was that I come from a military family and am a member of Army ROTC here at UMass. This lens didn’t directly play into me choosing my topic, but it did in a way. I wrote my unit 2 essay about serving your country and my unit 3 essay was all about going to war with ISIS. These are pretty similar topics, and I wanted to do my blog on something completely different so that is why I’m writing about steroids and baseball. I’ve played sports all my life and I’ve always liked a little action, so I guess that is the reason I believe steroids should be a part of baseball.

[a-roidriguez]

Interview

For this assignment I interviewed my roommate Zach...clearly he has a strong opinion.

Question 1: How often do you watch baseball?

Answer: "Never."

Question 2: What do you think about steroid use in baseball?

Answer: "I love it. I think professional athletes should do anything scientifically possible to make themselves better for our entertainment."

Question 3: What about the negative health side effects that come with taking steroids?

Answer: "They're getting paid ridiculous amounts of money, they can afford the co-pays."

Question 4: Some say baseball is a dying sport, what do you think could be done to save it?

Answer: "I think they should play with golf balls, aluminum bats, and scientifically enhanced human beings."

[a-roidriguez]

Remix to GW#6

A room that is very important to me is locker room 1 at the Hobomock hockey rink in Pembroke, MA. It is where I first learned to tie my skates and where I made many of my friends. My team had that locker room for every home game and practice. I've made so many memories in that room that I could never pick a single moment to write about. It is a fairly small and cold room with dark blue and white walls with a black rubber covered floor. A cold plastic bench runs along all the walls lined with my teammates and friends. There is a little bathroom in the corner that has extremely inconvenient tiles that prevent you from using the bathroom mid-game with skates on. There is also a little shower that the freshman on the team had to get dressed in and that has probably never been used for a shower.

In just a few days I'll be back in Pembroke and will definitely be watching my old High School hockey team. Our coach always has the alumni talk to the players when they're home and he'll definitely have me say something to them since I was a leader on the team last year. I'll also be playing goalie in the annual Alumni hockey game that happens every Christmas break. This will be the first time I've been in that locker room since our final practice. I haven't skated since we lost in the second round of the state playoffs last march, so it's going to be a lot of fun.

[a-roidriguez]

Look at this guy sleeping at a Red Sox vs. Yankees game. This guy is now trying to sue the MLB and ESPN for filming him as he slept through a good game. First of all this is ridiculous but I'm not going to talk about him trying to sue. You would never catch someone sleeping through a game during the steroid era. Baseball was a lot more exciting then and steroids should be allowed to save the American pastime. Here's the link to this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FDrcWTSczs

[a-roidriguez]

I think we all heard what the old guy named Cha Cha said, but I'll give you a recap. He said "Major League Baseball knew these guys were on steroids, and they did nothing about it because it livened up the game. The game was dead." Baseball was a dying sport before players started taking steroids and the MLB just looked the other way when players started juicing because it made them more money. Ticket prices and sales went up because it made the game more exciting. It's not fair for the MLB to outcast players like Barry Bonds when the MLB administration looked the other way on the issue and let it happen. 

[a-roidriguez]

This video shows highlights from Barry Bonds' tremendous career. We all know Bonds took steroids, but so did most other players and they didn't put up numbers anywhere close to Bonds. If you took some juice head monster and gave him a bat do you think he would even make contact with the ball? Probably not because there is a lot more to hitting a baseball than just how strong you are. Bonds should be in the hall of fame regardless of him taking steroids. Here's the link to this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3EHr90pkew

[a-roidriguez]

This interesting video shows an MLB player with his identity hidden being interviewed. This guy argues that steroids are everywhere in professional sports. He says about 80% of players in the MLB today take or did take steroids. He also says about 95% of guys in the NFL take steroids, but we never hear about it in the media.

[a-roidriguez]

More Blogs to Follow

http://cewilson89.tumblr.com/ - This blog is all about the issues with college sports. It talks about a lot of things and the use of drugs, so it relates to my steroids in baseball issue. I found this thanks to mcassano6696.

http://breakingsportsnews247.tumblr.com/ - This is a very up to date sports news blog. It posts a lot about the trials that athletes are involved in. This relates to my issue because the athletes that are caught juicing go on trial and typically get very long suspensions. Found this thanks to jvigneault10.

http://thebroadcastblog.tumblr.com/ - This blog is all about gender inequality in sports, so it doesn’t directly relate to my issue. However, it is up to date on women’s sports and there may be some posts about drug use. Found this thanks to clearlycorinna.

[a-roidriguez]

Holiday cards came in the mail this week from Major League Baseball, featuring pictures of cheering crowds with this greeting: 'Tis the Season ... To celebrate our 79,502,524 fans.

In this article from USA Today, Ben Walker argues how the steroid era saved baseball. Viewer ratings and ticket sales were at an all time high in the 90's, thanks to steroids. People don't like watching sacrifice bunts, they like 500 ft. homeruns. At the end of the day the MLB is a business, and they need ticket sales and viewers to make money. Baseball would be a lot more popular if the MLB allowed steroids. We'd all watch baseball a lot more if we were watching people like McGwire and Sosa hit upper deck homeruns.