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Big Mac Attack

Mark McGwire’s admission to steroid use throughout his career did not come as a shock. Suspicion has surrounded the once single-season home run king this past decade. However despite numerous reports and accusations, McGwire repeatedly denied having ever used performance-enhancing drugs even swearing under oath before congress in 2005. With “Big Mac” reentering the game as the Cardinals hitting coach this year it seems appropriate that he come clean about his use of steroids and I commend him for doing so. However, in his statement to the Associated Press on Jan 11, McGwire argued that he used the drugs solely to recover from injuries, that they did not enhance his abilities on the field at all. Come On! There is no one on the face of the earth who could be gullible or naïve enough to believe that a decade of steroid use contributed nothing to a 70 home run record-breaking season (at the time) in 1998. The most important thing to do for all those who cheated during this period is be honest so that we can all achieve closure and move on from what will always be remembered as a dark time for baseball. But don’t give us half-truths or deny the intent of your actions. In the end even if he admits to having used drugs he’s still lying to us and to himself if he honestly believes that steroids gave him no advantage over the competition for all those years. In the end, his reputation will never be the same anyway so he might as well be entirely truthful and say “I used these drugs at a time when everyone else was, I fell into the same trap because I didn’t want to fall behind in the level of competition.” Either way no player from this era is ever going to be looked upon the same way we look at Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Hank Aaron or any other true hall of fame players; because they not only tainted themselves, but an entire generation of Major League Baseball. Mark McGwire needs to set the standard once and for all so that we may all finally be able to move on.

Bowden V. Tebow

On January 1, 2010, two of Florida’s biggest collegiate rivals will close their doors on enormous eras. Bobby Bowden will coach the Florida State Seminoles for the final time in the Gator Bowl; Tim Tebow will take his final snaps at quarterback for the Florida Gators against the Cincinnati Bearcats. In one case, we have the departure of Bowden, the renowned head coach who turned a seemingly unheard of Florida State program and turned them into a perennial powerhouse for the next 34 years. On the other hand, there is Tebow, the quarterback who has been the face of college football for the past 3 years, winning the Heisman trophy in 2007 and leading his Florida Gators to a 2008 National Championship title. So the question stands: whose loss will be greater? One cannot deny the turnaround effect Bowden had on FSU, but how could one replace arguably the greatest player in the history of college football? To answer these questions we have to look at the accomplishments of these individuals in more depth. In Bowden’s 34 year run at FSU, he became the only coach in Division 1-A football history to have compiled four consecutive seasons of ten or more wins and have his team finish in the top five of the Associated Press College Football Poll. Tebow became the first player in college football history to both rush and pass for 20 touchdowns in a single season and the first player to win the Heisman trophy as a sophomore. No matter how you look at it, whether you do the “tomahawk chop” or the “gator chomp” the fact is that two of Florida’s top collegiate programs will have very different looks next season. Whose loss will be greater? We’ll have to wait until the final games are over.

Athletes Placed on too High of a Pedestal

     Athletes have always been idols for young people. Has the pressure of being a role model, however, become too much?

     Recently, the Tiger Woods media frenzy has made known the “perfect” golfer’s “imperfect life”. Allegations of infidelity make the front page of newspapers all around the United States and parodies of the events that took place on November 27, 2009, when he was involved in a minor car crash, are all the rage on websites and television shows.

     Tiger Woods is the not the first athlete to fall from grace. Andre Agassi, Marion Jones and Michael Vick are all examples of famous athletes who have been rocked by various scandals ranging from drug use to dog fighting.

     When we place athletes on these pedestals for the entire world to see, they are put in constant spotlight and are scrutinized for anything and everything that isn’t pleasing. If Tiger Woods was just an “everyman,” the allegations of infidelity would have just been apart of everyday life. Because he is Tiger Woods, pro golfer, it’s a big deal.

     Athletes have fallen from grace and recovered. If we were to stop caring about the claims and remember that they all are just humans who have made mistakes, we could admire them more for their recovery and return to glory. The fact that they’ve proven themselves to be normal people, makes them much more extraordinary and worth admiration.