As you have all heard by now,
Toronto Blue Jays’ first baseman Chris Colabello was suspended by Major League
Baseball for 80 games last Friday after testing positive for a banned substance. Colabello
was informed of the positive test for dehydrochlormethyltestosterone (better
known as Turinabol, for those of us who don’t speak scientist) during Spring Training.
Perhaps the test weighing heavily on his mind was the reason for his lowly .069
batting average over the first three weeks of the season.
Colabello said, “The only thing
I know is that I would never compromise the integrity of the game of baseball.”
That is usually the typical response from anyone busted using performance
enhancing drugs (PEDs). But I’m not going to judge him. I don’t know what he
did or what he didn’t do, what he mistakenly or inadvertently took.
All I know that he is simply the
latest in a long line of players who have been accused of PEDs since Major
League Baseball instituted its drug-testing program in 2006, many years behind
schedule. The fact of the matter is that it will never end. Some scientist out
there will develop a new type of PED that the regulators won’t detect. Those regulators will eventually discover a way to test for this new drug and be
able to bust more players. Then some other scientist will unearth something
different. It will be a never ending cycle.
I used to ask myself, “Why?”
With all the team doctors and trainers and nutritional experts that all MLB
teams have, why would any player not consult with those team officials to see
what they may or may not be taking? Why would you put something in your body
without asking to see what it contains when there’s a chance that you could be
busted some day?
But I don’t ask question anymore
because I know the answer. The players don’t care. They are willing to
sacrifice their integrity, or the integrity of the game in order to get that
big paycheque, or the popularity or the endorsement or—in Colabello’s situation—a
shot at the Bigs after so many years in the minors. That has to be the answer. “I
don’t care, I just wanna get paid.” Why else would you jeopardize a future in
baseball after seeing so many others fail tests in the past?
And trust me, once busted,
always under suspicion. Is there anyone out there who doesn’t think “Juice!”
when they see a Milwaukee Brewer hi-lite featuring Ryan Braun? And then there
was Melky Cabrera, who after failing his test, set up a fake website containing
false contents in order to dispute his failure by claiming he took a substance
sold on the website. Uh, yeah, MLB figured out he was lying.
Or how about Manny Ramirez, who
retired before his test result was released?
The list could go on, but I won’t
bore you with that. I will finish up by saying these busted players no longer
have to lie about jeopardizing the integrity of the game. Nobody buys that
anymore. What all these failed tests do is make everyone suspicious when someone has a break-out
year, or a comeback year. And that’s really unfair because not everyone tries
to circumvent the system.
But I have to honestly say that
I don’t know what the answer is to get PEDs out of baseball because I think it’s
impossible, and I’m sure MLB would think that as well (but probably would never
admit it.) If an 80-game suspension and loss of a half-season’s pay isn’t
enough of a deterrent, well……..
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