The Doc Was In and Another Shouldn’t Be

Fall is in the air and its MLB playoff time.   Yes, once again,  this is one of my favorite times of the year.  Records are set and broken.    Take Wednesday’s game where Roy “Doc” Halladay of the Philadelphia Phillies pitched a no hitter.  Dream comes true! You bet!   Roy dreamed of being in the playoffs, one dream came true.  Pitching a no hitter, major dream came true; playoffs or not.

So go back 54 years, when Don Larson pitched a perfect game, in the World Series.  Some of us were just kids back them and it is hard to remember.   But these two pro athletes did it on skill and some luck (remember there are 8 other players on the field supporting the pitcher).

Both these pitchers achieved their dreams with hard work.  Back to the present.;  I saw on a news crawl a well know sportscaster Brent Musburger  told Students at University of Montana it is ok for Professional Athletes to use steroids under a doctor’s supervision.   WHAT?!

 How many professional athletes have died from the effects of Steroids?  More than we know and they were at one time or another under a doctor’s supervision.   The flaw with this reasoning is: Athletes are human!   If a little “juice” is good, why not ingest more.  To do that, more than one doctor is needed and I ask, will they share with their doctor’s all of what they are doing…. Probably not!  

Many of these Pro athletes are just out of high school and feel invincible.   And while they are young, they may be close to being invincible.  But let us look at the long term effects and possible consequences.  Steroids are suspected in causing cancer, high cholesterol, mental illness and other maladies.    

If we check with those athletes in say their forties, and fifties, who “played” with the juice, would they support this idea proposed by Brent?   At this point in their lives, are they dealing with other age related illnesses such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, high and back problems, heart problems and maybe diabetes.  Did the use of steroids during their playing days aggravate these maladies?   I don’t know for sure but probably yes.

I say lets go back to old fashion  way of hard work and skill so we can celebrate a milestone like Roy Halladay’s for what it really is someone who plays by the rules and has a great work ethic.  Play ball!!