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Originally Posted by JonnydaJibba
I'm not arguing he did use steroids so I don't care how good he is, he still cheated, therefore he is a gay, end of story. He WAS cool when he was good without the aid of drugs. Same deal with Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire.
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Actually, McGwire *didn't* break the rules... he was using some crazy horse tranquilizer or some shit because it had similar effects w/o being on the banned list. So he wasn't "technically" cheating. As far as Sammy and Barry... the jury's still out.
To be honest, I don't think that the guys that were that much in the spot light would risk using steriods. They're not stupid people... so they would have attempted to keep some level of plausible deniability. My guess is that they were probably using the same shit McGwire was on. So they too weren't "technically" using, and therefore they weren't cheating either. Perhaps they're violating the spirit of the rules, and that *does* tarnish their achivements, but IMO it no way invalidates what those guys accomplished...
All three changed the way baseball was played by being such great hitters, even in an era of unbelieveable pitching ability. Ruth, Aaron, Mays, etc... they didn't play against bullpens, they only had to face one or two pitchers. And with the exception of Ruth, those guys were rarely walked. Meanwhile, Barry's such a threat, he's been walked with the based loaded because conceeding one run is better than 4.
So, to all the people that get their panties in a bunch over the use of steroids... I think you need to realize that those drugs will make a mediocre hitter into a decent hitter, but they will never make a good hitter into a great hitter. To be "great" you've got to have a different skill set... it's not about raw power, it's about hand/eye coordination, and the ability to get inside the mind of the pitcher you're facing. A top fuel dragster makes a shitty rally car... all you need is 300hp, as long as you have great suspension and a good co-driver.