Red Sox Pitcher Curt Schilling made a number of remarks to HBO’s Bob Costas about Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, and Jose Canseco. As you can expect from Schilling, these comments were biased and somewhat ignorant. At the same time, they all made sense and echoed many fans’ opinions. Schilling has said some things that he shouldn’t have in the past, but these comments make sense on multiple levels. First, that the lack of civil suits by Bonds proves that he took steroids. Second, that cheaters should be punished for their actions and their careers wiped clean.
“It goes to the Mark McGwire thing in Congress. I mean, I’m a huge Mark McGwire fan. But I just always thought it was very simple: If you did something and someone asks you if you did it and you didn’t do it, you say no. Any other answer than no is some form of yes, isn’t it?” Schilling said. Everything Schilling states there makes sense. If someone is attacking your reputation, are you going to stand by and let it happen? Nope, you’re going to go after them. “If someone wrote that stuff about me and I didn’t sue their (butt) off, am I not admitting that there’s some legitimacy to it?” That is exactly what fans across the country believe. Bonds has barely denied his steroid use, even throwing the word “accidental” around (How do you accidentally take steroids?). If he hasn’t denied it and hasn’t gone after the people who accused him of cheating, are fans really expected to believe he didn’t use steroids? By not suing the authors that attacked him with their books, Bonds is admitting to taking steroids. Period.

For those of you stubborn fans who still don’t believe it, suck on this: Anyone who says that there is not “complete proof that Bonds took steroids”, is mistaken. In the leaked grand jury testimony, Bonds admits to taking a substance known as “the clear”, but not knowing that it was a steroid. Whether he knew it or not, Bonds took steroids. Good enough evidence for you?

In the second part of the interview, Schilling states that, “Jose Canseco admitted he cheated his entire career. Everything he ever did should be wiped clean. I think his MVP should go back and should go to the runner-up.” Now the tricky part of these statements is that you cannot just take away one person’s career. If everyone who took steroids admitted it, than you can erase all of their records and take away all their awards. Yet, 99% of players are not going to confess to using steroids. In addition, you cannot punish a player for coming clean. No one else is going to admit to steroid use if they know that they will lose all of their accomplishments. On top of that, how do we know that the runner-up for the MVP wasn’t also on steroids? There is no fair and honest way to wipe a person’s career clean. It is a good idea, but one that will never come true.