Diary of a Cage Fighter (Journalist) In Training

I don’t know if anyone cares about baseball anymore, but the news today of Rafael Palmeiro’s suspension upset me as a sports fan. For those of you not familiar with Palmeiro’s career, he is the first baseman for the Baltimore Orioles and someone who many writers consider a potential hall of fame candidate. He recently earned his 3000th major league hit and has over five hundred home runs in his career. During the steroids hearings on capital hill, Palmeiro firmly denied that he had ever taken steroids and acted indignant that Jose Canseco would even suggest such an outrageous allegation. What a phony. I mean, I would like to believe him when he continues to deny the suspicions, I really would. He now states that he never “knowingly” took any steroids. Why, in this era of heightened testing would you take anything that could possibly be contraband? This is someone that most people consider a hall of fame candidate! Does he not care about having credibility or a legacy? Whatever happened to baseball being America’s pastime? I have heard many analysts say that baseball has long been subject to rampant cheating and rules violations. If that’s the case, maybe I don’t want to associate our country with major league baseball anymore. Palmeiro was supposed to be one of the good guys. I didn’t think of him in the same light as Sosa, McGwire and Bonds. Now he is just as tainted, and so is the game of baseball. Just when it seemed as though baseball was emerging from the cloud of suspicion created by the steroids allegations, another player, this time a big one, is caught. Baseball is now just a novelty sport to me. Until my trust is restored, the athletes are just juiced-up sideshow attractions competing in a modified home run derby. Perhaps I am just naive, but I don’t feel betrayed by the other major sports like I do with baseball. Having said all this, I will probably still watch because the game has embedded itself deep within my heart. There are too many honest, hard-working players in the league for me to abandon it completely. Sorry if everyone is bored out there, but I had to get that off my chest.

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