All Things Must Pass

By Karlsie

Back in August 1987, Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Kevin Gross was caught cheating. He had glued some sandpaper to his glove and was scuffing the ball. He was immediately ejected from the game and then suspended for 10 days. He appealed his suspension, citing other players who had suspensions that were less than his.

On September 1, 1987, A. Bartlett Giamatti submitted a written denial of the appeal writing:

"Cheating corrodes the integrity of any game. It undermines the assumption necessary to any game declaring a winner, that the contestants are playing fairly, i.e., under identical rules and conditions. It destroys public and participant confidence, moral and goodwill."

There in lies the problem with Barry Bonds and other players that take steroids.

Cheating carries other consequences. When players take to the field, we trust that they are going to give it their all - you know, win it for the home town and such. We look at those nine players on the field as well as the ones in reserve and our hopes, dreams, fantasies and expectations are there along side of them. They are the examples of excellence, they are the best of the best of the best, the elite that only few will ever be destined to achieve.

Barry Bonds deserved our trust and support until he became involved with BALCO. It would be one thing if he was a middling nobody that would be the answer to bar bets and trivia questions, but he wasn't. He was on his way to snagging the brass ring of athletics: he had a hall of fame career going before taking supplements from BALCO.

Barry Bonds cheated because he was getting old.

Growing old in sports is not a good thing. As you age, your numbers start to fade. There's that desire to just hang on to one more good year, and another and another. No one wants to step away from the spotlight and let the next young turk take their place. No one wants to listen to the crowd roar for the next guy - the guy you used to be - but that's how time works. In spite of desire and theoretical concepts, time is still a linear unit of measurement.

I know what it's like to feel old. Twenty five years ago, in the prime of my youth, I was 125 pounds of solid muscle. I could go all night and then some - from work to class to homework to party and then home to crash for a couple of hours and start it all again the next day. After raising four kids - the youngest of whom is in 7th grade - I may still be 125 pounds of solid muscle, but there's a lot of extra winter padding (to be nice) covering that muscle now. My hair is graying and there are crows feet around my eyes and furrows in my forehead. I fall asleep in the chair watching TV the way my mother did before me and the way my kids will after me at some point.

I could cheat. I could go make a visit to a cosmetic surgeon and with a vacuum and a little nip/tuck here and botox there, I could once again look 25 years younger. The problem is I'm not really 25 years younger. Instead I would be a pathetic woman clinging to an era that belongs to my oldest and her peers.

Barry Bonds tried to cheat to avoid the reality faced by all players including Ted Williams, Mickey Mantle, Joe and Dom DiMaggio, Roger Maris, Carl Yaztremski, Hank Aaron and on and on and on. I'm sure none of them wanted to step aside and give up the spot light either, and yet that's how it works. Some are more graceful than others - choosing to retire before being cut or offered a minor league deal while others cling on until the bitter end.

Life can be cruel, just ask the ghost of Lou Gehrig, but that's how it is.

To those who say, "Just strip away the five years of BALCO and you still have a hall of fame player," all I have to say to you is that we will probably agree to disagree. The reality is when you cheat, there are consequences and this is one of them. You can not just polish up your reputation; you have to be accountable for your actions. It's what we teach our kids. (Isn't that why Super Nanny and Nanny 911 are so popular? Watching hardcore British nannies hold little brats and their parents accountable for bad behavior?)

Imagine a kid showing up for an interview with you and saying, "Well yes, I was thrown out of college my senior year for plagiarizing my senior thesis; however, the three years previous to that, I was on the Dean's list on my own. I just felt pressured to make sure my senior thesis was perfect and cut a few corners - but trust me, if you guy by my high school and college record leaving out my senior thesis, you'll see I'm the best person for the job...."

You'd ask for a hit of what they were smoking.

The old saying "be careful what you wish for" comes to mind right now. Bonds didn't want to give up the spotlight, I just don't think this is the one he wanted.

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