Please, spare me the jokes about trans fats. While Ryan Braun and Alex Rodriquez await the hammer to fall on their heads (the latter’s predicament no doubt putting a smile on the face of one prominent CSTB contributor), USA Today’s Christine Brennan reminds us there’s another recent PED abuser likely to receive a hero’s welcome in Queens next week. And not simply at Flushing Center’s Korean BBQ joints, either, but also at the 2013 MLB All-Star Game. (link swiped from Repoz and Baseball Think Factory)
Why is Oakland A’s pitcher Bartolo Colon, the synthetic testosterone user who was caught and suspended for 50 games last year, allowed to be in the All-Star Game this season, or any season? And why is the Tampa Bay Rays’ Matt Moore, who has the same record as Colon, on the outside looking in?
Colon, and every other performance-enhancing drug user in baseball, should never be allowed to become an All-Star, or win any MLB award. No Cy Young, no MVP, no batting title, no nothing.
Colon is 40 years old, yet he’s having his best season in eight years. Where have we heard that before? Even though last year’s illegal testosterone isn’t still in his system, it helped build the body that he is using today, all 5-11 and 267 pounds of it. As laughable as that sounds, a slight tweak or a little help here or there is exactly what cheaters are looking for at the top levels of sport.
Because Colon and his tainted body are in the All-Star Game, someone like Moore is not.