Tainting America’s Pastime

Ivan MunozTHE SANTA CLARAJanuary 16, 2014Performance-enhancing drugs have once again found their way into public discussion in light of recent news about New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez, one of Major League Baseball’s notorious users. Let me pose the PED issue in a more relatable manner. You are studying for a final. You have dedicated countless amounts of hours to this final and hope that your hard work will pay off. Meanwhile, a classmate of yours has been constantly partying, which means that they will not dedicate the time to study. Come the final exam, you are prepared and feel sharp. Your classmate enters the room at ease, with an index card full of useful information up their sleeve. You get the results back and find out your classmate does better than you.This is obviously unfair. Your classmate had an unfair advantage.Rodriguez decided to cheat the system as well, but he is fighting for his side. The slugger sued the MLB and the league’s Players Association in hopes to overturn his recently restructured 162-game punishment for PED use.Rodriguez and his lawyers filed a suit in the U.S. District Court with the premise that arbitrator Fredric Horowitz implemented the 162-game ban on Rodriguez in an inherently biased manner. The complaint filed explains that Horowitz failed to consider the Joint Drug Agreement, which calls for a 50-game suspension for a first-time offender. Rodriguez engaged in negotiation talks with the MLB last spring, but both parties failed to compromise. Rodriguez rejected the deals that would have most likely reduced his suspension length. By contesting his sentence, Rodriguez has endangered his chances of returning to the game. He faces not only a prolonged trial, but also the possibility of an even longer suspension due to new witnesses that have come forward in the investigation, one of whom is Anthony Bosch. Bosch was the owner of the clinic where Rodriguez was given his PEDs. Bosch is a key witness that could very well hinder Rodriguez’s career by either extending his punishment or shedding light to new details that will make Rodriguez shameful to the world of baseball. The MLB does not need players like Rodriguez. Not only do they taint the name of the league and make fans question the authenticity of other players, but PED users also compete in an unfair manner over players who have played genuinely both in the present and in the past.Rodriguez should have settled with the MLB last spring and accepted punishment. He would have most likely been able to play during the second half of last season, although I surely would not want him anywhere near my team.  Ivan Munoz is a junior political science and English double major.