From Steroids To Smudgegate
What does Smudgegate mean to this World Series? It's how far we've fallen from the never-ending fatigue of steroids and the national pastime.
Barry Bonds is lampooned as the cheater who stalks Hank Aaron's homerun record without the slightest bit of embarrassment. Records today are not real and spurts of athletic brilliance are scoffed upon as another testimony of results from means other than hard work.
Whether Detroit's Kenny Rogers' scoreless inning streak is by way of a long simmering tenacity or the benefit of classless cheating, the most troubling question is that we all latch on the very possibility. Call it the loss of a sporting innocence or brazen cheating, the specter of Barry Bonds' dirty deeds will linger for generations.
Bonds and Rogers share many traits in common. Both are scoundrels to the press and carry tales of bratty and boorish behavior. We know Bonds is a selfish primadonna and the memory of Rogers pushing over a cameraman in Arlington lingers. More telling, both are defying the aging processes by posting statistics more suited and believable from more elastic and toned muscles of 22-year-olds.
This sort of behavior makes it easy to advance the logic that both are cheats. Their actions beg the question as to why good things could happen to bad people. The belief system of most Americans don't subscribe to this notion. If you work hard providence will take care of the rest. If crooks get away souls intact with dishonesty, the very fabric of the nation and our personal view of the world would come crashing.
You would have to be silly to believe Bonds did not knowingly breach his moral by using performance-enhancing drugs before our penetrating eyes. Did Kenny Rogers commit the same act with an pine tar-enhanced baseballs? Listen, to your common sense and know the answer.
Barry Bonds is lampooned as the cheater who stalks Hank Aaron's homerun record without the slightest bit of embarrassment. Records today are not real and spurts of athletic brilliance are scoffed upon as another testimony of results from means other than hard work.
Whether Detroit's Kenny Rogers' scoreless inning streak is by way of a long simmering tenacity or the benefit of classless cheating, the most troubling question is that we all latch on the very possibility. Call it the loss of a sporting innocence or brazen cheating, the specter of Barry Bonds' dirty deeds will linger for generations.
Bonds and Rogers share many traits in common. Both are scoundrels to the press and carry tales of bratty and boorish behavior. We know Bonds is a selfish primadonna and the memory of Rogers pushing over a cameraman in Arlington lingers. More telling, both are defying the aging processes by posting statistics more suited and believable from more elastic and toned muscles of 22-year-olds.
This sort of behavior makes it easy to advance the logic that both are cheats. Their actions beg the question as to why good things could happen to bad people. The belief system of most Americans don't subscribe to this notion. If you work hard providence will take care of the rest. If crooks get away souls intact with dishonesty, the very fabric of the nation and our personal view of the world would come crashing.
You would have to be silly to believe Bonds did not knowingly breach his moral by using performance-enhancing drugs before our penetrating eyes. Did Kenny Rogers commit the same act with an pine tar-enhanced baseballs? Listen, to your common sense and know the answer.
