DownSwinging.com

Cincinatti Reds pitcher Bronson Arroyo certainly has taken a unique approach to the steroids controversy. After admitting to previously taken Andro, the substance made famous in 1998 when Mark McGwire took the drug, Arroyo has said that he still takes many supplements that are not on the MLB-approved list. “I have a lot of guys in [the locker room] who think I’m out of [my] mind because I’m taking a lot of things not on the [MLB-approved] list,” Arroyo said, according to a USA Today report. “I take 10 to 12 different things a day, and on the days I pitch, there’s four more things.

Watching PTI earlier today, Wilbon said that he honestly found Arroyo’s position refreshing. In some ways, I agree. He hasn’t been caught with illicit substances, and he is being straight-forward with the media, telling it how it is, like he did when Ortiz’ name came forward, and that is probably a good thing. Now, I don’t know the types of substances he is taking, but Arroyo made another good point when he said that everyone freaks out about steroids and supplements because of the dangers to the body, but no one complains about McDonalds, Burger King and KFC, which are in fact killers. I can’t deny I agree (although as a vegetarian this is relatively easy for me). At the same time, Kornheiser made a good point about the fact that Arroyo doesn’t have to just go out and be a rebel, it would be easy for him to go to his trainer and ask if the things he is taking are alright. Really, he should do that, and then he can run his mouth all he wants about what he’s taking.

But what was also mentioned on the show, as well as other places, was the question of whether steroids would just eventually become legal. To be honest, I hope it doesn’t go that way, but I can see how it might. Fast forward to the future, a world where all PEDs are banned in professional sports, and the testing is proficient enough to keep it that way. We still have our star athletes and amazing championships. But they’re not really the best. Because all around them are people that are bigger and stronger and faster than them. Because they get to use supplements…supplements that don’t have impacts on health. The average is joe is just as competitive as the best baseball player, because he gets his supplements. People really are going to start to question why we wouldn’t let athletes to use everything they can to be the best. Not saying it’s going to happen exactly that way, but it might.