Friday, September 07, 2007

TRYING TO KEEP AN EVEN ANKIEL ABOUT THIS

Here's a link the New York Post story stating Rick Ankiel used HGH during his long road back to the National League after switching from pitching to playing the outfield.

Worth keeping in mind, maybe:

"Ankiel, 28, has not been accused by authorities of wrongdoing, and according to the Signature records obtained by The News, he stopped receiving HGH just before Major League Baseball officially banned it in 2005. MLB does not test for HGH, but a player who is known to have used it or even possessed it from the time it was banned can face a 50-game suspension."

Nothing is cut-and-dried in this world. It's so ironic that there's a St. Louis Cardinals slugger getting pinched for performance enhancers now. What is Mark McGwire doing these days?

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Don't get me started on PED's in MLB!

I think Ankiel will get off easy in the press because his is a feel good story, the Cards if they make the playoffs ( NL Central is a farce again, can the Jays switch spots with somebody in that division? ) will be a huge feel good story, Hancock, LaRussa, Ankiel... overcoming adversity... blah blah.

I think it's only the press and the chattering classes ( me included ) who care about this subject. MLB is about to set another attendance record, 78,000,000 + this season. How pissed can the fans be if they are coming in record #'s? I even think that fans enjoy hating Bonds. Don't underestimate the pleasures of hating.

Tao of Stieb said...

But how much are we going to love Troy Glaus?

http://taoofstieb.blogspot.com/2007/09/oh-god-please-no-glaus-gets-fingered.html

Unknown said...

Nice find TOS! Hadn't seent this anywhere else today!

Loyal Jays fans will be hard on Glaus because he's having a crap year and the press will be hard on him because he is uncooperative with them. The great glut of casual fans though are indifferent.

Shouldn't the story be not who is taking PED's but who isn't? How naive are we?

One of Stephen Brunt's columns this week was about how the NFL is bulletproof when it comes to off the field stuff, he was referencing Vick primarily but not solely. He also comments on how steroid use in the NFL is not subject to the same scrutiny and moralizing as is MLB. I.E. Ankiel & Glaus are recent examples of ballplayers who's names are coming up in the investigation of illegal Web steroid distribution. Football players Rodney Harrison and Wade Wilson name's surface in the same investigations and there is little written about it and the stories fade from the papers quickly.

OOLF readers, do you care about PED's in the sports you enjoy? Why, why not?