By now, I am thinking we have all seen at least clips of the 60 Minute interview featuring Tony Bosch and Bud Selig. I know my 12-year-old daughter has and she saw the ugliness of lying in high definition as she and I watched the "ARod Show" on Sunday. Now, after the interview, she said very little. She went to bed and said nothing about the interview over breakfast. But, then, she hit me with her thoughts, 24-hours later.
“Mom, ARod really lied. I mean, that is not a little lie, that’s a big lie. He made us think he was a great player. He really wasn’t. And he hurt a lot of people, including baseball. I’m sad and I’m not really that into baseball. And the other guy who gave ARod the stuff, he is really a jerk. You know what I mean, Mom,” said Katelyn with this pensive look on her face. I didn’t know what to say. I mean I always have something to say. But, I just stopped in my tracks. Finally, after a few seconds of dead air, I answered her with a question:
“What does this say to you about lying?”
“Not to do it. It hurts too many people.” Now, this is coming from a little girl who has been caught in a number of lies over the last few months; part of being a pre-teen, but still, very costly to her and trying on me.
So when everyone else is screaming foul to ARod, I am saying, thank you! I mean, I’ve been struggling, as a parent, to figure out a way to stop her lying and bam, ARod taught her!
There are actually a number of take-aways from that interview, some obvious and some a little less lucid. Firstly, there are a number of ways to cheat. Whether you are providing the mechanism to cheat or asking for it, you are still a cheat, any way you slice it! Pretending to be someone you are not is considered cheating. Bosch is not a doctor and ARod is not a superstar. Using substances that are banned is cheating. Tempting players with these substances is cheating. Using code words to hide the cheating is cheating. And masquerading illegal substances as candy-like “chewies” is cheating.
Secondly, not all baseball players cheat. Bosch’s assertion that everyone is doing it is a fallacy. And even if they were, it does not make it right. Bandwagoning is a fallacy, an error in reasoning. Guess what, Tony, not everyone takes PEDs. There are a number of athletes, like Derek Jeter for instance, that utilize a real fitness program that includes working hard, eating right and taking care of themselves. And despite the fact that the job is demanding because of the intense travel schedules and pressure to perform, that’s part of the game. When a potential player takes this job, he is fully aware of what is at stake and if it surprises him, he needs to learn to adjust, without taking PEDs to do it. Business executives travel and have pressure. Teachers, administrators, lawyers, doctors, all have intense schedules and adjust. And school kids and teens have pressures and deal with them. What makes pro-baseball players any different?
So, what better way to learn a lesson about what not to do, than ripping out a page from life and using it as an example for your pre-teen? Now, does that make me bad, because I am making an example out of ARod? If so, that’s okay, I will adjust. And ARod’s suing everybody, so let’s just call it even.
--Suzie Pinstripe, BYB Opinion Columnist
Twitter: @suzieprof
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