Who misses the old days of Major League Baseball?

[BengalszoneBilly]

The days when you didn't have to worry about players using juice with anything but vodka. The days when player salaries and owners profits weren't the focus of baseball sports news. The days of of baseballs greatest coaches by the names of Earl Weaver, Sparky Anderson, and Tommy Lasorda ruled the day. The days of players like Ripken, Rose, Yastrzemski, Gibson, Puckett, Hunter, Banks, Seaver, Robinson, Bench, Jackson, Clemente, Brooks, Jenkins, Morgan, Cepeda, Fisk, Winfield, Brock, Sandberg, Mays, Ryan, Boggs, Perez, Mantle, Smith, Gwynn, Carew, Stargell, Yount, Koufax, or McCovey.

Can baseball ever make a comeback? Personally I hope it does.

[agreen_112]

I miss the old days as in it not having such a bad image. But, baseball, IMO has never died. The players are getting better than ever before... No offense, but try to remove the blinders, steriods where HUGE in the 70's and 80's too, yes during our Big Red Machine era. Steroids were banned in 1991 in the letter sent to all clubhouses fom then-commisioner Fay Vincnet. MLB didn't begin testing until the spring of 2003, so what does that tell you?

Steroids date back to the 30's. Other substances, like speed, were very common and were used by a huge percentage of professional athletes. Steroids are an image nightmare for the MLB today, but you can't say they didn't make the game more exciting.

And the reason MLB is facing so many problems with Steroids, as opposed to the NFL, is because MLB did NOT take a proactive approach to testing for steroids. The NFL has thousands of tests throughout the year and they have been testing for many years. MLB heads turned their backs on steriod usage. When Ken Camineti came out and said HALF of the players are using, he wasn't lying. Ken was in/around the league for a looooong time.

Another reason MLB isn't very popular is because America has eloved. We want violence and speed. The best example is the MMA and Boxing. There's a lot of history here with Boxing just like Baseball. But people want to see a guys face pummeled with bare knuckles now. Baseball doesn't get as much attention because there is no violence in the game.

The NBA is in the same boat. The general public isn't interested. Why? Because it's portrayed as a Thug League. IMO, that's far from the truth. If any league is the "Thug League" its the NFL. NFL players are the ones getting into trouble. As a matter of fact, it was at the NBA All-Star game in Las Vegas, where Pacman Jones decided to go postal. The NBA is just as exciting today as it was during Jordan's Bulls dynasty. Kobe Bryant is every bit as good, if not BETTER, than Michael Jordan. And I hate Kobe, you just can't deny it when watching him play.

[agreen_112]

While we're on the topic of steroids, I found this to be entertaining. It seems Vincent is blind as a billy goat:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3255716

Here's the blindest statement ever:

Vincent contended that the differences between the two sports [football and baseball] make football a less fertile ground for performance-enhancing drugs. Baseball players working their way through the minors or trying to stay in the league into their 40s are more likely to try to gain an edge, he said.

"I'm dealing with 20-year-olds popping with God-given ability," he said.

These 20 year olds are the reason guys are using HGH in the NFL. How can a guy like Seau or Romanowski stay competive for that long? How can he compete for a starting postition against guys that have that much ability. Its easy, take the sauce. When you have a youngster trying to take your job, and he's on HGH, you as a veteran have to make a decision. Take the sauce and compete or loose your job to a guy on the sauce. You don't have a choice if your jobs on the line... This was explained to me by a user of steroids/HGH. Its not entirely my opinion, its basically coming from his perspective as a user... Another fact is that there is a higher percentage of men in their 30's using roids/hgh.

"We did talk about steroids to the emphasis of how far ahead of the other sports we are," Vincent said of Wednesday's meeting.

The NFL has had year-round random testing for steroids since 1990.

The NFL does NOT test for HGH. Its bigger than you think Vincent.

The NFL and other leagues don't currently test for HGH