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February 13, 2012
Binyamin Rose: Back to the Bunker: How a life-risking act by a Christian family during the Holocaust saved a family and built a thriving community a world away
Menachem Wecker: Business Schools Teach Real Estate Despite Troubled Housing Market
February 10, 2012
Lisa M. Krieger: Man with defibrillator demands access to his own heart's information
David G. Savage: Why activists may not be in a hurry to have High Court rule on alternative marriage
February 9, 2012
Laura McMullen: 10 Least Expensive Public Schools for Out-of-State Students
Kimberly Palmer: How to actually enjoy -- relaxing, financially -- your vacation
February 8, 2012
Warren Richey: Why momentous Prop. 8 ruling might not satisfy gay-rights groups
Menachem Wecker: Though Controversial, LL.M.'s Can Lead to Specialized Legal Jobs
The Kosher Gourmet byDana Velden: Going to the bother of making soup? You know it better be good. This CREAM OF TOMATO SOUP certainly is! And it's a cinch to make, too (Includes techinques and serving secrets)
February 7, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Caught off-guard? President's Super Bowl interview with Matt Lauer gives those who need a reason not to vote for him, a darn good one
Suzanne Bohan: Leaping lizards! Tiny reptiles advancing robot design
February 6, 2012
Jonathan Tobin: Iran Threatens Israel With Destruction, But the New York Times Doesn't Hear It
Jeffrey Fleishman: In newly democratic Egypt, tens of democracy activists jailed, to stand trial; their groups are 'threatening the stability of the homeland'
Julie Deardorff : Researchers say antioxidants may not be that effective and could do more harm than good
Mark Clayton: How did Anonymous hackers eavesdrop on FBI and Scotland Yard?
February 3, 2012
Edmund Sanders : Israeli official says Iran is creating missile that could reach East Coast of US
Victoria Kim: Immigrant-smuggling ring used black drivers to avoid racial profiling
February 2, 2012
Jim Carney: Wrong number call may have saved her life
Reza Kahlili : Ex-CIA spy in Iran's Revolutionary Guard: What Obama doesn't grasp about striking deals with Tehran
Tina Susman: For woodchuck rescuer, every day is Groundhog Day
February 1, 2012
Brian Bennett: US officials see increasing threat of domestic attack from Iran
Emily Brandon: How to Take Advantage of New 401(k) Fee Disclosures
January 31, 2012
January 30, 2012
Paul Richter and Ramin Mostaghim: Misreading Teheran's limits -- deadly and economically devastating as they may be -- is a risk administration, Europe seem willing to take
Suzanne Bohan: Warning: Nap-deprived tots missing more than sleep, study finds
Meg Handley: Banks Revamping Rewards Programs to Woo Customers
January 27, 2012
Caroline B. Glick: Obama: Of course I intend to prevent a nuclear holocaust . . . in a few months
Yochonon Donn: In liberal New York City, fervently-Orthodox Jews may soon be getting a district to call their own
Jeannine Stein: An inflated ego and thinking you're 'all that' doesn't just make others sick of you, it can make you ill
Katy Hopkins: New budget rules may affect how much money you get for college
January 26, 2012
Ed Koch: To the New York Times, calling for the murder of Jews by those capable of having their incitement taken seriously isn't news
Jeannine Stein: Mental illness struck one in five U.S. adults in 2010: Report
January 25, 2012
Richard Simon: House passes two bills endorsing the use of religious symbols at military memorials
Fred Weir: Putin: Multiethnic Russia cannot survive as a US-style 'melting pot'; must find its own way
Susan Johnston: 5 Sneaky Coupon Strategies Consumers Should Watch Out For
January 24, 2012
Carol Clark: The price of your soul: How your brain decides whether to 'sell out'
Caroline B. Glick: America lost most in 'Arab Spring'. Sadly, many voters still don't grasp the extent
Warren Richey: Drug criminal scores win in GPS ruling from conservative-leaning high court
Erika Bolstad: Black conservatives gather to talk about gaining strength
January 23, 2012
Melissa Dribben: Jewish voters to play a key role in Florida's Republican primary
Jordan Rau: In quest to grow, Catholic hospital system will announce this morning its break from church
Ali Safi: U.S. envoy gives Taliban terms for peace talks
January 19, 2012
January 18, 2012
January 17, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney Jr.: No-kidding red lines: U.S. response to an Iranian nuke may be bluster, but Israel's won't be
David G. Savage: They sued their principals after slandering them online --- now the cases are headed to the Supreme Court
David Francis: Where to Invest in 2012: With stocks expected to rebound, opportunity abounds for investors
January 13, 2012
Ben Lynfield: Israeli lawmakers move to annex Jewish Judea, one museum at a time
Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz: Thriving through touch: Gentle massage helps older people with low mobility improve in mind and body
January 12, 2012
Warren Richey: Landmark Supreme Court ruling a 'resounding win' for religious groups
Warren Richey: Supreme Court says no to new rule on eyewitness testimony
John Fauber : Statins found to raise diabetes risk in postmenopausal women
Katy Hopkins : Consider This Before You Pay for an Online Degree
The Kosher Gourmet by Joseph Erdos: This mushroom and barley soup has an intense -- almost nutty -- flavor that mixes robust with Middle East. It has creaminess without cream
January 11, 2012
Shari Roan: Millions of atrial fibrillation sufferers at risk for devastating, but preventable, stroke
Tom Hussain: Pakistan -- recipient of more than $21 billion in civilian and military aid -- speeds pursuit of Iranian pipeline, defying US
David G. Savage: High court signals it won't be loosening TV's 'indecency' rules
Stephen Ceasar: Oklahoma's Islamic law amendment can't go into effect, court rules
January 10, 2012
Reza Kahlili: From an ex-CIA spy: US must exploit new split in Iran's Revolutionary Guard
Karen Kaplan: Study: Nicotine replacement products ineffective when used in real-life situations
January 9, 2012
Michael Doyle: Put through legal hell over dream home, couple fought back hard --- all the way to Supreme Court
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Jewish World Review
March 21, 2005
/ 10 Adar II, 5765
Bring on the beakers
By
Mitch Albom
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
If beakers were scales, we wouldn't have a steroid problem.
Baseball players get weighed all the time. So do football players and basketball players. If they are overweight, they can be fined. If they stay overweight, they may be cut.
No athlete has ever complained about being weighed, as far as I know. No athlete has ever hired a lawyer to keep his weight a secret, or taken the Fifth Amendment to hide his weigh-in results.
If drug testing were viewed with the same laissez-faire as weighing-in, we would have no congressional hearings, no legal tap dancing, no Barry Bonds or Jose Canseco frenzies. So why isn't it? For the life of me I can't understand, if you are truly interested in fair competition and protecting your personnel, why stepping on a scale is any different than urinating into a beaker. Sports are physical. That's why players are weighed, tested, stopwatched and examined, head to toe, before every season, by a physician. Bodies are the investment. You wouldn't run a factory but refuse to check the equipment.
Instead, steroids seem to hold a strange and unreachable place on the board, legal but not legal, against the idea but not against the rules, worth checking but only so often.
And so last week, at the now celebrated if inconsequential congressional steroid hearings, we had one guy, Canseco, practically reading from his book on how everyone was juicing up, while a bunch of other players said, "Huh? What's he talking about?"
Does it bother anyone that the summer of 1998, hailed by many as the greatest in the history of baseball, now seems to have been a sham? Does anyone doubt that Mark McGwire, who shattered Roger Maris' home run record that summer, was pumped up on something besides dumbbells?
"Did you take steroids?" he was asked at the hearings, in far more awkward words.
His answer? Always the same: "I'm not here to talk about the past."
Sounds guilty to me.
At one point McGwire, whose body thinned and broke down en route to a quick retirement three years after he set the record, choked back tears when talking about kids who had died from steroids. Was he crying for them, for him, or for the futility of trying to undo whatever he had done?
Canseco, meanwhile, not only admits using steroids but seems ready to provide a live reenactment. Still, he should not be dismissed because he's hawking a book or grasping at the spotlight. Folks said the same thing about Jim Bouton, the onetime Yankees pitcher, when he wrote "Ball Four" back in 1970. Bouton was called a traitor, a liar and a "social leper" because he dared to tell people that ballplayers weren't angels in the clubhouse or on the road.
Today, we're happy if they stay out of jail.
Personally, I think baseball is kidding itself with the wagging-finger drug policy it just installed, making a first offense for steroids no more than a nuisance, all but erasable for a $10,000 fine. I also believe more trouble is on the way, because Bonds seems likely to break Hank Aaron's all-time home run mark, which will spark the all-time asterisk argument.
But baseball is hardly the Al Capone of the steroids problem. Congress should be investigating bodybuilding, where steroids and growth supplements are as common as flexing, and where many teens get their incentive to try steroids in the first place. Check the Web. It is chock full of sites on how to obtain, ingest and avoid prosecution for steroids, and they all contain images of bulging biceps, thick quads and mighty pecs. None of them boasts about hitting the curveball.
But nobody cares about bodybuilding. Congressmen won't get TV time acting as its noble protector. Baseball is in the crosshairs. The national pastime must be saved!
OK. Here's the solution. You treat beakers like scales. You come in, you fill one up, you go out and play. They test only for banned substances. Every player. Every week.
It's only complicated if you make it complicated. And it's only unfair if you like an unfair advantage.
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