Who'd have thought the Congressional Baseball hearings would provide the best television of the day? Legendary slugger Mark McGwire lit up the hearing room with his opening statement, slamming steroid stool pigeon Jose Canseco and his now-infamous book "Juiced," (which touched off the chain of events leading to the hearings) as a liar and pointedly saying that while he welcomes the committee's participation in spreading the word about the dangers of steroids, and though his heart goes out to families who have been touched by steroid related tragedies, he, for one, will not use his testimony to implicate his friends and fellow colleagues.
Before McGwire took the stand, Canseco played the role of Elia Kazan, even going the late McCarthy-era snitch one further, blaming the whole steroid mess on baseball, whingeing over the fact he was denied immunity, and trumpeting his willingness to come before the committee ("I am the only one who did not resist the subpoena") and name names.
That left McGwire, Kurt Schilling and Raphael Palmeiro fuming, and they proceeded to let the rat have it.
Raphael Palmeiro: "I have never used steroids -- ever. I don't know how much more clearly I can put it."
In their statements, McGwire, Palmeiro and Schilling basically called Canseco a liar, denied ever having used steroids themselves, and refused to rat out other players before the committee.
In a tense scene, Canseco sat at the same table as the other players as he told the lawmakers that he could not fully answer their questions because of concerns his testimony could be used against him. [Note: He had been denied immunity]
Choking back tears, his voice cracking, McGwire said he knows that steroid use can be dangerous and will do whatever he can to discourage young athletes from using them. "What I will not do, however, is participate in naming names and implicating my friends and teammates," said McGwire, who ranks sixth in major league history with 583 homers.
This hearing has been snubbed as "chemical McCarthyism" by at least one player, Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Randy Wolf, and you know what? He's right. What business does Congress have hauling private citizens to Capitol Hill to try and compel them to either incriminate themselves or stain their own records or the records of others? This hearing has a definite McCarthyite tinge, whatever the good intentions of the committee.
You've got to feel for the families of young people who have died as a result of using substances they thought would make them more like their heroes, and as a onetime baseball fanatic, it really sucks to think that the game's record breakers may have had "help," but I can't help wondering if this is a wee bit of St. Patty's Day grandstanding by a Congress facing its lowest approval ratings in years, not to mention a major breach of civil liberties...
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url = "http://www.aspbasics.net"
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"[T]he practice of arbitrary imprisonments, have been, in all ages, the favorite and most formidable instruments of tyranny.' Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 84, August, 1788
