August02

I Swear, I Didn't Know... Well, Kinda

Some big news in baseball happened yesterday when Rafael Palmeiro was suspended 10 days when tested positive for steroid use. This guy is a 3,000 hit and 500 homer player... which means he's pretty much got a seat at the Hall of Fame table. It's bad enough that he failed a steroid test, what's worse is that he lied to Congress earlier this year about not being a doper.

Here's what Raffy had to say:

"When I testified in front of Congress, I know that I was testifying under oath and I told the truth," he said during a telephone conference call Monday. "Today I am telling the truth again that I did not do this intentionally or knowingly."

I don't know whether I believe him, or not. I think I'm leaning in towards the not-believing camp. Why? Because I NEVER take a pill, or medicine, without knowing what it is and what it could do to my body (luckily, I don't operate any heavy machinery, either). That's a pretty simple, and hardfast, rule.

It's pretty hard to imagine that Palmeiro just takes medicine on a whim. Here's what's more troubling, what team doctor, or physician, agent, whatever, is going to give him something that would cause him to fail a drug test? If I were Palmeiro, and I REALLY didn't take the steroids willingly, I'd be suing – or beating the crap out of – someone.

Let's get off the drugs, please. Make the sport legit. And stop treating the general public like idiots, not everyone has a halo floating above their head.

+ original post date: August 2, 2005 03:22 PM
+ categories: Sports