The Year of Bringing Athletes Down
The Year of Bringing Athletes Down by Joe Brackets:
Even though 2013 is just six weeks old, I’ve already noticed a disturbing trend. One that needs to stop. Every major sports story this year has been about one athlete or another falling from grace, either by their own actions or someone else.
First we had the Baseball Hall of Fame vote, a damning indictment of the stars of the Steroids Era. Public opinion about Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and the rest of the suspected users has never been favorable, and most people figured that they wouldn’t get in. But a complete shutout? That speaks volumes. Bonds, Clemens and some other might eventually get in, but if this election proved anything, it’s that guys like Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire never will. Guilt by association/suspicion is even enough to keep you out. Just ask Jeff Bagwell and Mike Piazza.
Then there’s Lance Armstrong, who finally admitted after all these years that he’s been lying to all of us the whole time. I’ll admit it. He had me fooled. And that’s exactly what I feel like. Armstrong took PEDs for 15 years, including all seven times he won the Tour de France, then tried to take down anybody that dared challenge him through bullying and intimidation. My perception of Lance Armstrong is forever changed. Although, I do give him some credit for finally coming clean. But, like I said after I watched his interview with Oprah, I’m not sure if he even knows what the “truth” is anymore.
Right after Armstrong’s admission we got the truth about Manti Te’o. Te’o’s story seemed too good to be true. He led Notre Dame to an undefeated regular season and finished second in the Heisman Trophy voting in memory of his girlfriend, who died of leukemia the same day his grandmother died. The story seemed too good to be true. Turns out it was. Te’o’s girlfriend isn’t dead. She never existed. He got “catfished,” the victim of an online hoax. It’s almost enough to make you feel sorry for him.
Except the details don’t match up. Te’o found out she wasn’t real in mid-December, but kept up the rouse for another month, not revealing the truth until after Notre Dame played in the National Championship Game. If you were a victim, why keep up the charade? At the very least, stop using it as a storyline when you know it’s not true. As more about this truly bizarre story has come out, more and more people have held firm in their belief that Te’o was completely uninvolved in perpetrating the scam. Regardless, this isn’t a feel-good, inspirational story anymore. At best, Manti Te’o is a little too trusting and gullible. At worst, he was behind all this. Either way, people will never look at Manti Te’o the same way again.
Next up was the Super Bowl, which was all about Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis. Lewis had already announced that this was his final season, and Baltimore was aiming to send him out on top. Then the news came out during Super Bowl Week that he received deer antler spray, which is on the NFL’s banned substance list. Once again the steroid issue jumped into the limelight, bringing somebody’s entire career into question. It didn’t help that Ray Lewis was once accused of murder (the day before the Super Bowl in 1999). Even though he was acquitted, that’s something a lot of people still don’t forget.
But all of that pales in comparison to the two most recent stories. First, we have the mess involving Anthony Bosch’s now-closed Biogenesis Lab outside Miami, which evidently provided PEDs to a number of Major League Baseball players, most notably Alex Rodriguez. A-Rod, of course, admitted to PED use during his time with the Rangers, but claims he hasn’t used them since. Bosch’s records indicate otherwise. For a guy who a vast majority of the public and media already found totally unlikable, that wasn’t exactly the best way of improving A-Rod’s image. And regardless of whether or not this proves to be true, his legacy is forever tarnished.
A-Rod wasn’t the only name implicated in the Biogenesis scandal. And it looks like there’s too much there for it to be nothing. Some of them have already been suspended for PED use (Melky Cabrera, Bartolo Colon). Ryan Braun had a steroid suspension overturned last offseason, but he, too showed up in Bosch’s records. Since people like Ryan Braun, that’s kind of been swept under the rug. Why? All it says to me is that Braun’s suspension really shouldn’t have been overturned.
It also doesn’t help these guys that there seems to be plenty of substance behind all this. Francisco Cervelli, who was named in the report, has come out and admitted he did consult with Bosch while rehabbing from an injury. That gives credence to the entire report. I’m also more inclined to give guys like Cervelli the benefit of the doubt. He had the integrity to be forthcoming about his involvement and that it was a mistake. It’s like when Andy Pettitte admitted using HGH after he was named in the Mitchell Report. He explained and apologized. That explanation was plausible, so his apology was accepted and people moved on. I have a feeling it will be the same way with Cervelli.
The capper, though, has to be the Oscar Pistorius murder case. Talk about a rapid fall from grace. While I’ve never been a fan of Oscar Pistorius (I think he’s a publicity whore, among other reasons), I was always in the minority. Millions were inspired by watching him “overcome his disability” to qualify for last summer’s Olympics. NBC couldn’t shut up about him.
Well, things have certainly changed, haven’t they? His family “strongly disputes” the charges (what does that even mean? Do they think she’s still alive?), but you’d have to be a fool to look at all the evidence and not think the obvious. The latest report is that they’ve also found steroids in the house. Does that come as a surprise to anyone either? From a South African national hero and an inspiration to millions to a murder suspect in the span of just a few months. It doesn’t matter what the truth is. Oscar Pistorius is never going to be looked at in the same way again.
My only hope is that he’s the last sports hero to fall from grace in 2013. We’ve got more than enough time for this year to turn around. If anything, we at least know it’s not possible for this year to get any worse.
Is it?
