One would assume that someone like Mark McGwire, a middle-aged man who's been through a hell of a lot, would learn from his mistakes. But after Big Mac's touching, heartfelt confession of taking steroids in the 1990s when he broke the single-season home run record, it is clear that McGwire hasn't learned a thing. He blatantly lied to the sports world once again.
McGwire actually stated in his interview with Bob Costas that steroids did not help him hit all of those home runs. When asked if the steroids made him better, all he did was deny that rationale and dodge the question just like he did in front of congress.
McGwire replied:
"There's no way a pill or an injection will give you hand-eye coordination or the ability or the great mind that I've had as a baseball player. My work ethic that I never talked about with the media, only, you know, coaches or teammates that used to see me, you know, being the first one in, you know, working out. I was always the last one to leave. I was always hitting by myself. I took care of myself."
(... But it will help you hit the ball 400 feet, right?)
This immediately caused me to raise some of my own questions.
Does he actually think anyone is going to believe that? How stupid does he think the public is? Has he learned anything from his mistakes in the past? How is it possible for someone say something so mind-numbingly illogical? What kind of reaction did he expect from this "confession?"
Here's one hell of a reaction.....
McGwire said that he used steroids strictly for health purposes. He took performance-enhancing drugs so he could heal faster and stay on the field. That excuse alone, makes denying that steroids helped him hit home runs completely illogical. His "confession" is completely flawed.
What this tells us is that if he didn't take steroids, he wouldn't have been able to stay healthy. Therefore, taking steroids just to stay healthy, ensuring that he would indeed play, tremendously affected his home run abilities. If he wasn't healthy enough to play, then he wouldn't have hit 70 homers in one season. McGwire wouldn't have even been on the field if it weren't for steroids, thus making his denial of the assistance PEDs had on him absolutely ludicrous.
Either way, Babe Ruth certainly didn't have the luxury of being able to take drugs that would make him healthier and stay on the field. I don't think Hank Aaron was able to turn to steroids either. I certainly don't think Roger Maris took performance-enhancing drugs so he would stay on the field.
I understand that he is sorry. I understand that he regrets ever taking steroids in the first place. I do in fact believe that part of his confession.
But McGwire clearly tried to spin this in a way, which makes him sound like the victim in this whole steroids fiasco. Big Mac went on to say,
"This has nothing to do with the Hall of Fame. This has to do with me coming clean, getting it off my chest, and five years that I've held this in."
He's held the burden of cheating for only five years? Correction: McGwire has held this in since he started cheating back in 1993, when he said he turned to steroids to speed up his recovery. Five years just marks the last time he publicly lied about it.
By discussing how painful it was holding it in for so long and how he felt the pressure to live up to his million-dollar salary, all McGwire accomplished was raising more questions, doubts and digging himself deeper into the hole he started digging when he took steroids for the first time in 1989. So congratulations Big Mac - You're still a cheater. - Michael Klopman
Michael, a Penn State Graduate writes for XtraPointFootball.com, AroundtheHornBaseball.com, is a contributor to the Bleacher Report, and works on the sports page at the Huffington Post.
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One would assume that someone like Mark McGwire, a middle-aged man who's been through a hell of a lot, would learn from his mistakes. But after Big Mac's touching, heartfelt confession of taking steroids in the 1990s when he broke the single-season home run record, it is clear that McGwire hasn't learned a thing. He blatantly lied to the sports world once again.
