Victor Conte, the mastermind behind the Balco Labs steroid distribution scandal that reached the highest levels of sport, has pled guilty to distributing illegal drugs and laundering money. Due to very weak sentencing guidelines, even if found guilty of all charges, Conte would only have done about a year’s worth of time. As the deal stands, Conte will spend four months in prison and another four months under house arrest.
As an FYI, Greg Anderson, who still is Barry Bonds personal trainer, has pled out as well and will do about 3 months.
An interesting aside…if Bonds’ was given – and took - steroids without his knowledge and Anderson was the person responsible for this deception, why does Bonds still work with Anderson, and why hasn’t Anderson been the target of a lawsuit by Bonds? What would you do if you were given powerful anabolic drugs –, the kind of drugs that change your body – without your knowledge?
Anyway, get ready for a new flood of blather in the coming days - as there will be a deluge of opinion pieces and analyses dealing with the Balco scandal, telling us how steroids have tainted sports and how kids are in mortal danger from the perils of these substances.
We’ll also be told that we need to educate, educate, educate so that we can save kids and athletes from the dangers of steroids. This is, of course, utter crap and a huge waste of time.
To fight the scourge of steroids, all sports need to institute a zero tolerance policy. Using baseball as an example, if a guy tests positive for injectable steroids they get suspended for 162 games. A second positive test results in a 324 game suspension. Three times should be the charm that results in a lifetime suspension. Done.
Having athletes face permanent banishment for using steroids is the best anti-steroid education program.
If the union doesn’t go along with the program, the league should just drop all testing. Challenge the players to show that they are either 100% against steroids or 100% for steroids. No half measures. They’ll have a couple of chances if they screw up, but those screw-ups are going to cost big time.
On the other side of this argument, what is the justification for NOT establishing a zero-tolerance policy? If the argument revolves around the fact that the fans are flocking to games in record numbers and don’t care if the players are juiced or not, then why bother?
Article comments
1 - Tan The Man
"Using baseball as an example, if a guy tests positive for injectable steroids they get suspended for 162 games." The problem with such a harsh first-time punishment is that some of the banned drugs are available in other forms of legal drugs that MLB approves. Sometimes it is just a mistake, so the first time can't be too bad. But the second offense is your own fault and should be much harsher.