Fines

by Dorothy Jo Bourbeau

Created on: November 20, 2007   Last Updated: January 11, 2011

Should Barry Bonds be punished for lying about steroids? Only if every other athlete is going to be punished. The question that should be asked is why he used steroids in the first place. Do we as fans put too much pressure on athletes to perform? Would teams play to a capacity crowd if seven out of nine players struck out a majority of the time?

We watch sports for the same reasons we go to movies or plays or amusement parks or whatever, to be entertained. We love it when a sports commentator tells us that a record is about to be broken. But honestly, are the records really being broken? Babe Ruth hit 60 home runs in one season. A record that stood till Roger Maris hit 61. Did Maris really break the Babe's record?

In my opinion, no. In order to break a record you have to do at least one better than the person who set the record in the same amount of time. I know, Roger Maris hit 61 homers in only one season, but check the statistics, Maris played 161 games that year, the Babe played 151. For anyone not good at math Maris played 10 extra games to get 1 extra homer. Looked at from that angle it is not much of a feat.

Barry Bonds is in the same predicament, his fans want him to keep breaking records. The problem is the season is about as long as it can get. When I was growing up with baseball, the "boys of summer" played during the summer months. Spring training was in the spring. The fall classic did not interfere with Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Ok, that last one is an exaggeration, but you get the idea. There has to be a limit on the number of games played in a season, if for no other reason than the health of the players. A nine inning game is a least four hours long. Take a game that goes 12 or 15 innings, or a double header, we're talking eight to ten hours. Ever try to do strenuous exercises for four to ten hours? Personally I can't last 10 minutes.

In order to live up to the expectations of the fans, athletes have to go above and beyond. The human body is not designed for the demands the fans are putting on these people. They have their physical limits. To overcome those limits, and keep the fans happy, they use performance enhancing drugs. When the fans find out they are disappointed and want the athlete punished. Is it really fair to punish them for doing what we expect them to do?

Over the years baseball has gone from being America's favorite past time to big business. Players go where they can make the most money. Your favorite team this year may be scattered between 15 teams and 2 leagues next year. If the players want to stay in a city they like they have to be better than the best. Unfortunately, that may mean making the wrong decision like using performance enhancing drugs.

Should Barry Bonds have lied about what he did? If you were in his place what would you have done? He made a lot of money and made a lot of people happy. Parents taught their children how to make him a role model. Did we really believe he got where he was without help? If we did there would never have been an investigation and he wouldn't have had to lie. He is not the only athlete to use drugs, nor was he the first. We the fans put them in this position, do we now have the right to punish them for being there?

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