Sorry, Tim. I was just directing those questions at anyone or the sky in general, not you. Apologies.
Take care,
PK
More ammunition for the anti-ESPN crowd
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DivotMaker
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In case you're curious PK:pk500 wrote:And too bad about nine-tenths of your readers can't access Buster's blog. I'm sure the MLB PR execs in New York are pleased. Well done.
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HGH issue suddenly eruptsposted: Wednesday, June 7, 2006 | Feedback
The powers that be in baseball claim ignorance about steroid use in the 1990s. We didn't have enough information, they say. Red flags didn't go up until the summer of 1998, they say. The media didn't do any stories, they say (as if that is a litmus test on whether they should do their jobs). We didn't knowingly turn a blind eye to the problem, they say.
They cannot say that now, as another performance-enhancer scandal breaks. Check out the stunning details contained within the affidavit on the Arizona Republic Web site: According to court documents, Jason Grimsley acknowledged using human growth hormone after feds anticipated a delivery of the stuff to his home and confiscated two kits. The IRS agent who prepared the affidavit also quotes Grimsley as saying he thought "boatloads" of players were getting HGH from the same source he was using, and Grimsley allegedly named names of players within the game; those names are blacked out in the public version of the affidavit.
Court documents do not equal a conviction, but the information within the affidavit is going to frighten folks within the game. Just like we knew that the details within the Ken Starr investigation on Monica Lewinsky would leak, you can bet that the blacked-out names in this affidavit will get out, and remember -- Grimsley played with the Phillies, the Indians, the Royals, the Angels, the Yankees, the Orioles, all over the map.
According to the documents, Grimsley told investigators he has used human growth hormone exclusively of late. Something like this was inevitable, because the current science of testing and the framework of baseball's drug-testing program effectively funnel all would-be cheaters toward the ramification-free option of HGH.
Human growth hormone is on baseball's banned substance list, and at the same time, there is no reliable test to detect HGH. But there are means of deterrence, and baseball has not taken those steps. It's as if the Players Association and Major League Baseball told everybody not to speed down the HGH highway and then failed to deploy any radar guns to catch the would-be cheaters.
Labs are still attempting to develop a reliable test for human growth hormone; in late February, some experts said they expected to have that test in place by late summer. But, as one baseball executive noted, "We've been hearing that for years."
What the Players Association and Major League Baseball could do is to draw blood samples and urine samples from players and store them indefinitely, and tell the players: Look, we don't have a test for HGH yet, but when we do, whether it's in six months or six years, we are going to test your blood and your urine, and you will be held accountable for what we find.
But there are no blood tests of any kind within Major League Baseball's testing. The samples are not stored indefinitely; they are eventually discarded. This could be a strong deterrent, the big stick to hold over the head of the would-be cheaters. And baseball is not using it.
In fairness, Major League Baseball has been the driving force behind the current testing system; Bud Selig deserves credit for pushing the union this far. It's time for the player representatives to instruct union Don Fehr and Gene Orza to step up and do what they failed to do in the '90s and earlier in this decade: Adopt all possible means to protect the interests of the players who don't want to take performance-enhancing drugs.
In the '90s, players who didn't want to take steroids were compelled to consider the use of the drugs because they believed -- rightly -- that players they were competing against for jobs were using steroids. Some clean players who wanted to stay clean became dirty.
We have stepped back in time now. Same situation, different drugs. Unless the union leadership finally becomes vigilant in its effort to clean up the sport, clean players again will be forced to consider taking performance-enhancing drugs. Players, executives and scouts strongly believe there are those using human growth hormone in baseball, and now we have the first tip of the HGH iceberg. It's time for the commissioner to scream for an immediate adjustment to the testing system -- to include blood tests and sample storage -- and for the Players Association to serve the silent majority within the union and embrace the necessary changes.
The powers that be have learned that their failures of the '90s have led to the diminishment of the accomplishments of an entire generation. A dark cloud will forever hang over the legacy of Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire and other stars. The commissioner and the union must do everything possible to eliminate the shrouds of doubt that will hover over the next generation.
This time around, they have full knowledge. This time around, the media has sounded the alarm. This time, they know what the problem is and how they can attempt to solve it.
The fallout from the BALCO case forced the union leadership to take its steroid problem more seriously. Let's see if the Grimsley case forces the union to address the HGH problem in the same way.
