Maybe I'm Stating the Obvious, But Oh Well.

I just got pretty angry, unexpectedly.  I went back in my drafts and found these images of some Lineage cards that I haven't posted on yet, and that got me thinking.  Disclaimer: I am going to loosely speak about the whole steroid issue, so if you're really that sick of it, I guess stop reading here.  I hope you won't though.

The first card I came across was the one above, Andre Dawson.  Dawson was an awesome player.  He didn't use steroids to increase his ability because he didn't need to.  He was just that good.  There are no questions as to the integrity of Dawson's stats...or should there be?  This is what I am mad about.  Because of the steroid era, because of poor choices by what I hope is the minority of players in baseball, I now question every single baseball player who is a star. And even some who aren't. Can you blame me? So many stars have come out and admitted to using.  Jose Canseco, Andy Pettitte, Alex Rodriguez, Jason Giambi.  David Justice.  All of them allegedly juiced.    What does that mean for their stats?  Do they hold less weight?

What I am irked about is that I even have to think of this.  Why did these guys see a need to do steroids in the first place, and change the perception of the game forever?  Screw whoever introduced steroids into baseball first.

What about Frank Thomas, who played during the steroid era? Thomas emphatically denies using, but so did others. How do we know? Thomas hit 521 homers during his career and was a big guy.  Due to those who did cheat, it now hurts Thomas' credibility, even though he presumably never took the drugs.

What would Cy Young have thought about all this?

And then there are the newer guys.  What the Ryan Braun saga has done is bring that doubt back into the forefront of the minds of many fans.  Whether you believe Braun is guilty or innocent, the fact of the matter is that you are now once again thinking about steroids in baseball.  What makes me mad is that I thought that the processes that were in place made this a non-issue.  You're either clean, or you're not.  Well now we have technicalities that have come into play.  Human error factors in where there shouldn't have been room for error at all.  FedEx issues.  Where was the sample left? Did someone taint it?  How could that have happened?  Question after question after question after question lingers on, and will all season--or at least in the beginning.

I truly believe that this would be much less of an issue had it not been perennial good-guy-mvp-who-can-do- no-wrong-likable player as the subject in question.  I would think most would agree with me.  No one wants to believe that Braun could have been up to no good.  No one wants to believe that it was even possible that Braun, NL MVP, could have secretly taken some sort of substance to improve his stats in the playoffs.  All I'll say is that he wouldn't be the first seemingly "good-guy" to mess up.  It's easy to hide behind the mask of charm.  On the flip side, if the results were cooked, that wouldn't be the first time either.

I've heard so many theories, so many ideas, so many scenarios as to what went on.  I'm trying to rationalize all of it in my head, and the best way I can do that is just to accept it.  Period.  The steroid issue is back in baseball, whether the fans like it or not.