The Fleury of Fingers

I'm not a Barry Bonds fan. I don't like what he did and I don't like what he is doing. I will not cheer for him to get those 22 home runs he needs to break Hank Aaron's record of 755. I really hope that in spring training, he realizes his body can't do this anymore and he retires. I'm not wishing any ill will on him here, I just wish he would stop.

I don't blame Barry Bonds. I don't blame Mark McGwire. I don't blame Slammin' Sammy, Rafeal Palmiero, or anyone else that did steroids. Sure, I wish they would stop and that nobody else would do this. But I will not put the burden on them. I will put the burden on the media.

Why do I blame the media? Well, it's their fault.

The media made Bonds, McGwire and Sosa into heroes. The media made them bigger than life. They became surreal. Bonds, McGwire and Sosa were labeled as the saviors of professional baseball as we know it. It was the media who hyped up every hit, every home run, every time one of the 'roid boys blasted one to the upper deck. They made themselves giants, but the media made them inhuman.

Now it wasn't just the medias fault. The players did choose to take the steroids. But who knows how deep this whole steroid thing goes? What if the trainers, the coaches or even the owners pressured their young power hitters into beefing up their game. They would all have their own reasons. For the trainer, it looks like he or she is doing a great job with developing these young stars. The coach gets the power hitter he needs in the middle of the lineup. The owner can capitalize off of a long ball bomber, making millions of dollars through rising ticket sales. For a young player hoping to make it in the league, pressure from above may seem like a Godsend if you comply to their wishes.

But the media is who I'm zeroing in on. The media flip-flopped. Right in front of our eyes. And they were successful at it too. They went from hailing these hitters as heroes to dropping them as zeros. They screamed out against the injustices that were done. They said how these bombers deceived us, how they distorted our view of reality and how they put a black eye on the game. The media, the same people that said how these bombers were amazing, who distorted our view of them, and said they were a savior for the game.

None of them cared to discuss how McGwire had supersized practically over night. None of them pointed out how Sosa was sculpted with an inhuman-like muscle tone. None of them were screaming foul when guys that have never hit for power were suddenly belting them out of the ballpark.

I think some reporters need to fall on the sword for this one. I was too young when all of this initially happened to remember names, but I remember the impact it had on me.

Mark McGwire was my hero. I had a shirt with his name on it, I had his baseball cards, I immortalized him when I was a kid. Alot of that had to do with how he was talked about on T.V. They were saying how great he was, how he was dragging baseball out of the dark ages. And I'm sure I'm not the only one out there that fell for that. McGwire, Sosa, all of the 'roid boys were heroes to young ballplayers. We wanted to be like them. We wanted the Big Mac section at Busch Stadium. We wanted the cool nickname like Slammin' Sammy. We styled our batting stances after theirs. We would mimic their every action at the plate and in the field. The media made them Gods in our eyes.

The blame should be spread out evenly over everyone involved in the steroid era. And for the most part, it has been. But one group of people that have never been discussed as influences in the steroid era has been the media. They made their bed, it's time to sleep in it.