Friday, May 8, 2009

Reblog: Manny's the New Star...

Excellent piece by Ray Ratto in today's SF Chronicle on Manny Ramirez and the steroid problem. Here's a quote I liked, but read the whole thing.

"It's a universal tale in that everyone who pays attention to sports has lived it, and it's perennial in that we will live it time and again. It will remain so until athletes, coaches, parents and associates understand all the reasons performance enhancers are the third rail of competition.

It's not the damage to the record book, either, or the hole in the Hall of Fame. It's the public-health issue. It's the notion that athletes would ingest or shoot up illegally obtained drugs made in uncontrolled conditions, in typically unsanitary conditions, without a licensed physician delivering them for a legitimate medical reason. And it's the notion that people would think that was all right as long as the home runs, the world records, the game-winning touchdowns kept coming."