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Waxman, Davis: We're Looking At Steroids in Baseball -- Again!
Remember that fateful day? March 17, 2005? When House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Tom Davis (R-VA) held his hearing into steroids in baseball, and Mark McGuire disgraced himself for all time? When Jose Canseco named names? And Sammy Sosa pretended not to speak English?
Well, there may not be do-overs in baseball, but it's time for a rematch of sorts. Davis, now the committee's ranking member, and Henry Waxman (D-CA), the chairman, announced today that they'll ask steroids investigator George Mitchell, baseball commissioner Bud Selig and players' union chief Don Fehr to testify next week. Unfortunately, none of the implicated players -- Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, the whole gang -- will be "invited" to speak. However, reliable sources tell us the official soundtrack for the hearing will be Bruce Springsteen's "Glory Days."
Full statement after the jump.
Here's that Waxman/Davis statement:
“This is a sad day for Major League Baseball but a good day for integrity in sports. It’s an important step towards the goal of eliminating the use of performance enhancing substances.“The Mitchell report is sobering. It shows the use of steroids and human growth hormone has been and is a significant problem in Major League Baseball. And it shows that everyone involved in Major League Baseball bears some responsibility for this scandal.
“We are going to ask Senator George Mitchell, Commissioner Bud Selig, and the President of the Major League Players Association, Don Fehr, to testify at a House Oversight and Government Reform hearing on Tuesday, December 18. We look forward to their testimony on whether the Mitchell report’s recommendations will be adopted and whether additional measures are needed.
“We want to commend Commissioner Selig for authorizing this investigation and thank Senator Mitchell for his dedication to this effort."
Comments (9)
LOSERS wrote on December 13, 2007 5:12 PM:Great because there is nothing else to do
UNBELEIVEABLE
Rusty Austin wrote on December 13, 2007 5:17 PM:What a colossal waste of time...for the love of god...
What the f@*&^ wrote on December 13, 2007 5:21 PM:With the wax man gone
it's all over
ain't no one left to stick up for real people
BStu wrote on December 13, 2007 7:17 PM:Baseball is NOT the problem. Honestly, nothing has stunned me more than the media-led perception that the problem with steroids in sports revolves around BASEBALL.
Not track and field or cycling where performance enhancement is part of the culture? What, they aren't popular enough? Well, then how about football? You know, the sport that's leading untold thousands of high schoolers to start using steroids. Steroids IS football. I've known this since high school and near as I can tell, the sports media isn't completely daft and they all get this, too. They just don't report on it. I guess since everyone knows, its not news. So, why do NFL stars get busted for performance enhancement and everyone acts like its no big deal but when average baseball players test positive, we here all about what a scandal it is. We've become WAY too obsessed with steroids in baseball and are forgetting sports where performance enhancement is WAY more embedded in their culture.
Tyrone Biggums wrote on December 13, 2007 7:53 PM:"So, why do NFL stars get busted for performance enhancement and everyone acts like its no big deal but when average baseball players test positive, we here all about what a scandal it is."
Because causing mass panic and mayhem "Making It Rain" in a strip club, carrying enough guns to start WWIII in the trunk of your car, and last but certainly not least, bank-rolling illegal dogfighting rings are much juicier stories in the sordid world of pro football....
JSG wrote on December 13, 2007 11:22 PM:Given all the other stuff going on (TraitorGate, misplaced billion$ in Iraq, Saddam's illusionary WMD stash still at large, the Bush family's ties to Osama Bin Laden, the White House's war crimes, etc etc etc...) do we really, REALLY give a shit about this?
My sources say NO, not even remotely.
kjoe wrote on December 14, 2007 2:44 AM:Mark McGwire---hit a home run every 10.6 times he came to bat---no human being who ever played the game hit them that often---not even Babe Ruth or Barry Bonds. We are not sure exactly what he did---doctors banned the legal substance andro when they found out taking it in large quantities made it behave like any other steroid. We know he clammed up in front of congress. He needs 75 percent of the baseball writers to vote for him to get into the hall of fame. He will probably never make it.
Rudy Giuliani, by comparison, cheated on his wife, billed inappropriate agencies illegally for expenses related to his booty calls, stole money from the government through his corporation, lies to the American public and giggles about it on a daily basis. and like McGwire and steroids---we are not exactly sure just what all he did with his gangster friend Kerek. He could be elected the most powerful man in the world by less than half of the half of the American voters who bother to vote.
As bad as baseball's sins are---it would be nice if we had as high standards for choosing senators and presidents as we do for choosing baseball players for the hall of fame.
hbdgaf wrote on December 14, 2007 9:52 AM:I am still trying to figure out the relevance of this whole thing. Why is the United States Senate investigating MLB?
I have been working out in Gym's for better than 30 years and know that steroids are all over the place. Why MLB, what happened to NFL, NHL, NBA, US Tennis, track, field, World Cup skiing, etc. etc. etc.?
If anyone in America is angry about hearing that baseball players use steroids they need to take their heads out of their refrigerators, put down their remote controls and wake up out of their coma's.
Are people really this Naive?
This is purely another distraction to keep people's minds focused on anything but what really matters.
Is anybody out there.....?
Tsumbra wrote on December 14, 2007 12:35 PM:"Steroid Age Mutant Baseball Players"
www.ilovepoetry.com/viewpoem.asp?id=83382
Could this scandal lead to an unexpected much bigger scandal outside of baseball?