Steve said, "A point to remember about baseball. When many of these
alleged transgressions were alleged to transpire, these were not
illegal.
Further, baseball had no policy against it, and did not drug test. Did
Barry Bonds take steroids? My personal opinion is yes; I am convinced
he did. However, it was not against baseball rules back then, and he
never tested positive after major league baseball instituted an
anti-steroid policy and testing process."
Sorry, Steve, but I have to disagree. You are right: MLB did not have a
policy against steroids until 2002; however, the federal government did.
Anabolic steroid use without a prescription was made a felony drug
offense by The Anabolic Steroids Control Act of 1990, which placed
anabolic steroids into Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act. I
would say that these athletes violating federal law is much more
egregious than violating any policies of their respective leagues. The
abuse in the leagues is very much a question of federal law enforcement.
If the feds (or states for that matter) legislate records retention
requirements for individuals and corporations, I think they would also
have jurisdiction over professional and amateur sports leagues, given
the amount of money generated by the teams and leagues, publicly held
teams like the Packers, and the antitrust exemption status enjoyed by
the leagues. Competitive balance concerns - whether in the form of PED's
or Patriot 'Spygate'-type issues - are in my opinion very much an issue
of public concern. If I am going to shell out $4,000 on Super Bowl
tickets, go to my sports book and bet $500 on my favorite team, then I
had better be assured that the competition is as fair as possible, that
the outcome is not predetermined, and that the leagues are doing their
part to ensure these facts. If they are not, then I think it is
reasonable for Congress to intercede and convince them to do so.
Those are my two cents.
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