MyTenSense.com

Manny Ramirez’s 50-game suspension for steroid use is understandable, but it would be wrong to keep Alex Rodriguez, Sammy Sosa, Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire out of the National Baseball Hall of Fame because of steroid use.

Sure, it’s a Major League Baseball violation to use steroids, which is why Commissioner Bud Selig was right to suspend Ramirez.

But if A-Rod, Roger, Sammy, Barry and Mark are held out of the Hall, Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio and Hank Aaron should be kicked out of Cooperstown because who knows if those slugging legends used steroids back then. Plus, Babe and Joe sure did not play against the best because during those segregated days blacks were forced to play in Negro Leagues. One of my readers said it best:
“Everybody knows that all pre-1947 (MLB) players competed against less-than-the-best opposition, because Blacks were prohibited from playing in the major leagues. It is generally thought that the Negro Leagues fielded as good, if not better players than the MLB teams of that era. Is that not a competitive advantage right there, to refuse to play against the best?”
Good point. If more blacks were able to play with Babe and Joe, blacks would have matched or exceeded the two legends before Hank Aaron came around in the mid-1950s.


And as far as Aaron, baseball just started testing players for steroids in 2003, more than three decades after Hammerin’ Hank became baseball’s home run king in the 1970s and more than a half century after Babe Ruth and DiMaggio retired and passed away after putting up eye-stretching numbers that Barry has blasted into oblivion and A-Rod is threatening to crush.
Since steroid-testing has only been in place for six years, it’s only fair to throw out or place an asterisk by players’ accomplishments for the years they tested positive during that time frame. It’s sort of like when a college football team violates NCAA rules and has to forfeit wins and championships, like Florida State’s Bobby Bowden, who has been voted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
Even if Rodriguez, Clemens and the rest are only judged by their pre-2003 performances, they still have accomplished enough and contributed so much entertainment for baseball fans that their busts should be displayed in Cooperstown.

By Teneshia LaFaye
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Selena Roberts is out-of-line writing a slanderous book about A-Rod.
Not only is the Sports Illustrated writer committing a journalism sin of using unnamed sources, but she is spreading information that may not be true.
You would think Roberts learned her lesson three years ago, when she wrote numerous New York Times columns condemning Duke’s lacrosse team for raping a stripper. It turns out the rape claims were false, and Roberts never retracted.
Now, she’s ripping New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez in her book A-rod that was released today. She makes a lot of claims and just about all of them rely on unrevealed sources.
I don’t understand the purpose for writing the book because if it’s not based on substantial facts, it should be classified as fiction and Roberts should have changed the names of the characters.
Rodriguez already admitted to steroid use. But why do we need to read about his bad pickup lines, his need for attention and about how he paid someone to take a test for him back in high school?
What guy hasn’t used bad pick-up lines? Who isn’t needy at some point in their life? Hasn’t everyone cheated on a test? Who cares?
How would Roberts like it if someone aired every misstep she’s taken in her life?
I’m so tired of writers and radio personalities using their platform to condemn athletes and celebrities. How would they like it if their dirty laundry was aired in a national newspaper or radio broadcast?
Just stick to the facts. If there’s no proof and a source won’t talk on the record, forget the story. That’s Journalism 101.
Anyways, everybody has dark secrets they’d like to keep hidden. And no one, but that individual, has a right to reveal those secrets to the masses unless they have to be revealed for prosecution.
And shame on anyone who digs up and reveals someone else’s secrets by using sources that are too chicken to reveal themselves.
This hits home for me because I was very popular growing up, and I had so many lies and false rumors told about me that it’s amazing that I was able to rise above the falsities to graduate near the top of my high school class. I can only imagine how I would have coped if a reporter decided to believe the lies and write a tell-all for everyone to ridicule me.
I commend A-Rod for refusing to comment any further on Roberts’ allegations. Like the saying goes, if it isn’t true, why get mad?

By Teneshia LaFaye
www.mytensense.com