Okay, now my faith is shaken. Bonds took steroids? Who cares, no one likes him anyway. Canseco writes a doping book? Who cares, he was always a jerk and a crybaby. McGwire took steroids? I was never caught up in the McGwire hype, even during the battle with Sammy Sosa. They were so selfish, hugging each other and patting each other on the back. I liked it better when players on the opposing team treated each other as enemies and did not fraternize.
But Palmeiro? This one hurts. Here's a pure hitter who didn't need any help. He's quiet. Modest. Consistent. He doesn't hit .200 like McGwire. He doesn't treat everyone else like they are unimportant, like Bonds. He's not a nut case, like Canseco. He's a classic major league ballplayer.
He says he did not intentionally take steroids. I want to believe him. Especially after his testimony to Congress. But think about it. These guys are professional athletes. Except for 3 hours of "work" during the ballgame, they really have nothing else to do other than focus on what it takes to be a professional athlete. Conditioning and nutrition are normally a big part of that. Most athletes know exactly what goes into their bodies. They know how many grams of protein they've had each day. How many milligrams of each vitamin, etc. You're telling me Palmeiro didn't know something that was going into his body was a banned substance?
I want to believe him, but it's really hard.
In the meantime, I want to begin a player evaluation discount to account for the steroids, so that we can normalize the doped to the un-doped (not unlike a ballpark adjustment). I plan to call it the Genetically Normal Equivalents (GNOMES) or the Biologically Adjusted Discount (BAD), but I'm open to other suggestions.
