Friday, April 02, 2004
More Steroid Idiocy
Earlier this week, former White Sox pitcher Jack McDowell linked Mark Prior to steroids on Sporting News Radio:
"He has a tendon injury that's not healing. You shouldn't have a problem like that that doesn't heal in a month. That's what happens to guys who use steroids."
McDowell quickly added, "I'm not saying I'm suspicious of Prior." I assume the Stanford-educated McDowell knows the meaning of the word "disingenuous."
Not to be outdone, CNN and USA Today commissioned a Gallup poll to ask the public whether Barry Bonds has used steroids. By a 64-19% margin respondents voted Yes, with only 17% either unwilling to express an opinion or willing to accept that they have no way of knowing what the correct answer might be.
(I recently had an unpleasant experience along these lines. Two weeks ago, as part of the promotion for Baseball Prospectus 2004, I was interviewed by a pair of sports-radio hosts in a medium-market city who had just one thing on their mind: whether Barry Bonds had used steroids. They got very frustrated when I refused to take either side of the argument; "I don't know" and "let's wait for the facts" seemed to be alien concepts. After all, they have a lot of time to fill each day, and if they had to support their conclusions with facts, their three-hour show could be comfortably shortened to air during an NFL halftime with plenty of time for the out-of-town scoreboard.)
Intrerestingly, although the CNN/USA Today found that fans supported random steroid testing of major league players by a 91-9% margin, even among those who favored testing, a 47-44% plurality said they wouldn't be upset if the players aren't tested.
I wish I could dismiss these two articles as April Fool's Day jokes...
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Earlier this week, former White Sox pitcher Jack McDowell linked Mark Prior to steroids on Sporting News Radio:
"He has a tendon injury that's not healing. You shouldn't have a problem like that that doesn't heal in a month. That's what happens to guys who use steroids."
McDowell quickly added, "I'm not saying I'm suspicious of Prior." I assume the Stanford-educated McDowell knows the meaning of the word "disingenuous."
Not to be outdone, CNN and USA Today commissioned a Gallup poll to ask the public whether Barry Bonds has used steroids. By a 64-19% margin respondents voted Yes, with only 17% either unwilling to express an opinion or willing to accept that they have no way of knowing what the correct answer might be.
(I recently had an unpleasant experience along these lines. Two weeks ago, as part of the promotion for Baseball Prospectus 2004, I was interviewed by a pair of sports-radio hosts in a medium-market city who had just one thing on their mind: whether Barry Bonds had used steroids. They got very frustrated when I refused to take either side of the argument; "I don't know" and "let's wait for the facts" seemed to be alien concepts. After all, they have a lot of time to fill each day, and if they had to support their conclusions with facts, their three-hour show could be comfortably shortened to air during an NFL halftime with plenty of time for the out-of-town scoreboard.)
Intrerestingly, although the CNN/USA Today found that fans supported random steroid testing of major league players by a 91-9% margin, even among those who favored testing, a 47-44% plurality said they wouldn't be upset if the players aren't tested.
I wish I could dismiss these two articles as April Fool's Day jokes...
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