Mickey Mantle: Cheater

"Your Honor, my 'roid rage client is the real victim here."

 

Not exactly an accurate choice of words.

Because it makes it sound like if everyone was clean, no one would be forced to "risk failing at his job." Simply choosing to attempt to be a pro athlete is to risk failing at your job. Every day.

Fact is, the great percentage of athletes "fail" in that they do not reach and/or stay at the highest level. PED users fail. Clean athletes fail. Players are demoted/waived/released every day. It's all risk all the time for everyone but the upper elite on the pro level. What you are discussing is the tiny bridge that separates a handful of PED users that "make it" at the expense of the clean ones who didn't (but would have had everyone been clean).

Exactly how big do you think this bridge is?

 

While he's answering that, I'd like Dick to ponder what makes his anti-PED crusade any different from Deadspin's views.

 

I'm just distinguishing it from corking. You pressure your colleagues to cork, they may get a five-game suspension. You pressure them to juice, they may get federal prison time.

 

It's not an anti-PED crusade. It may very well be that they should be legal. The proper place to handle that is via Congress.

 

Pressure how?

 

Pressure in that if the guy in the next locker over is trying to take your job and he's juicing, you may feel pressured to do it, as well.

 

Could you tell me what athletes have gotten federal prison time solely for using PEDs? I'd be curious to hear this list.

 

Then you turn him in and (in theory) watch him go to prison.

He broke the law to try to take your job. Pretty decent justification for being a snitch, wouldn't you say?

Simple solution. Pressure gone.

 

He was charged with perjury and was guilty of obstruction of justice.

As was stated before, it's only the lying that may or may not get you in hot water.

Possessing and/or using the drugs never seems to be a risk.

 

Oh, so now it's "related charges"? My, how we're moving the goalposts today. Nice attempt, Dick, but that's a big ole failure. The crimes of perjury and obstruction of justice have no inherent relationship to steroid possession.

You've been wildly overstating the risk to try to strengthen your arguments. For the average ballplayer, there is no reasonable risk of "federal prison time" for merely experimenting with the personal use of steroids. We've now vast lists of names of athletes who've either admitted, or we know used, but for the life of me, I can't think of a single example of one getting federally imprisoned for mere usage.

As for Bonds, that's obviously a truly exceptional example, his charges had nothing to do with PED usage, pus he DIDN'T GET ANY PRISON TIME either, so even that extreme and off point stretch fails to support your claim.