Many sports fans are going to be very well fed for the next week. Thank you, Mark McGwire.
McGwire has finally “come clean” and admitted his steroid use during his would-be Hall of Fame career. This is pure gold for sports fans.
We are in a relatively dead sports period. College bowl season is over. The NFL play-offs grab our attention only on the weekends. College basketball does not captivate the mainstream fan until March --even later for the casual NBA fan. Hockey is even less of a story than the start of a Tiger-less PGA season. Also, baseball’s hot stove league is on a low simmer.
Thanks again, Big Mac.
Regardless of your stance on Performance Enhancing Drugs in baseball (and all sports for that matter), the McGwire admittance and plea for public forgiveness is funny in some unexpected ways. Enjoy it even though it may not be entirely “ha-ha funny.”
It’s funny because everyone, including the Maris family, has acknowledged for about a decade that the guy was on steroids.
It’s funny because he claims that steroids did not help his “gift” of hitting home runs. That’s like Pamela Anderson saying that her looks did not help her become an actress. No, Pamela, it was your strong, classical thespian skills that landed the Baywatch job.
McGwire said “There's no way I did this for any type of strength use." Really. That’s very interesting Mark. Why not just tell us, “My increased muscle size and power were an unforeseen and surprising side effect of taking steroids coupled with working out.”
It’s funny because some comic genius in the media unearthed Grandpa Simpson aka Bob Feller. Lucky for us when interviewed, Bob was just being Bob. When told that Big Mac didn’t think the PEDs helped him hit home runs, Feller responded, "I think that's a lot of horse muffins … If it didn't help him any, what the hell was he taking them for?” Horse muffins? Thanks, Grandpa.
It’s funny because Bobby Knight of all people is spinning for McGwire. This gives us the sporting world’s oddest man-love-triangle: Mark McGwire-Tony LaRussa- Bobby Knight. The casual fan knows that McGwire and LaRussa were co-dependent in Oakland and then again in St. Louis. More serious fans have seen interviews pairing the odd couple of LaRussa and Knight over the years. That by itself is kind of funny. Remember, LaRussa is an animal activist and vegetarian. Knight is an avid hunter, almost always preying on animals without opposable thumbs.
ESPN aired the comments of the legendary coach and current network employee, regarding McGwire. This was priceless. Here is an excerpt of the General’s musing on McGwire, “He is one of the great people I have ever met in sports … I don’t think Mark got good advice in his appearance before the Senate committee. I think that had Tony (LaRussa) and I been advising him, he would have come off a lot different.” Two quick thoughts. First, is Knight suggesting we should hold McGwire in the same esteem as Jackie Robinson and Roberto Clemente? Second, Knight may have just hit on another great post-coaching career path: The Bobby Knight School of Public and Media Relations.
Enjoy the laughs now because McGwire is finally putting his past behind him.
Despite the unintended train-wreck humor, the healing process has begun for McGwire. More twists and turns in the story lie ahead. The jury will not deliver the verdict of public opinion on the PED generation for some time. McGwire’s behavior, from this point forward, will be more impactful on his legacy than the verbiage of his apology. But moving forward, he can say he apologized. This makes him a little more like Andy Petite and a little less like Roger Clemens.
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