No Hall of Fame for You(Confessions of an American)

I was checking up on sports and lo and behold there’s outrage within the sports writers who cover baseball that has led to no players be nominated to the Hall of Fame. So let me get this straight, these same guys who cheered through the 90’s about records being broken and baseball game scores suddenly looking like football scores are shocked that people were trying to please them and make a fortune in the process? Way back in the years of 1975-76 I read a book by a football player named Bernie Parrish who penned a bestselling book, “They Call it a Game”. This book was published in 1971 and, it was a damn good book. Parrish laid out in great detail how performance enhancing drugs were being used in professional football. At the time I was reading it I personally knew a young High School athlete who was desperately trying to land a football scholarship and, using performance enhancing drugs. Ok, I’m coming clean, it was me! I never got the scholarship and in fact by the time I was a senior I was tired of playing football. The ugly truth of all this is that the motto in all American Sports is, “If You Ain’t Cheating, You Ain’t Trying! Take a clear look back and, you’ll see that throughout history athlete were using performances enhancing techniques. The Greeks stripped themselves naked to run faster and the race has been going on ever since. I’m sorry but, as long as some kid living in poverty is offered the deal, “Look you can either just play the game without and take your chances or, use every angle to try and become a millionaire”, we all know who Americans will reward? I’m not listing the usual suspects; their names don’t matter because, for every athlete who had a shot at the Hall of Fame there’s millions just like me. If every guy who used steroids, speed, pain killers…..ect suddenly became a superman the world would be a much different place. Sure the drugs make some difference but, these guys were extraordinary athletes anyway. I’ll believe we’re serious about all this when ESPN, Sports Illustrated, Team Owners, College Presidents…ect come forward and, offer to give all the money back they made from this little endeavor we call American Sports instead of pretending to being shocked folks were cheating to get ahead. Until then, shut up and take the vote! Near as I can tell the athletes today were no different than the Greek runner long ago who stripped naked to run faster. The truth is we are looking for super people in all aspects in life. Ask yourself this, “How many people did you know who had somebody else write a college term paper or cheat on an exam to get that college diploma”? Before, we all want to punish a handful of athletes we better clean house on society itself first. Maybe, just maybe, if the sports writers just voted and, were honest, society would change. If you don’t have that courage then, just shut up and vote please because, until then you’re no different than the athletes you make a living covering.