Hank Aaron has carefully walked a line, keeping his tone unbiased and respected to all parties concerning the league’s hall induction.  Aaron said he had been suspicious when McGwire and Bonds hit more than 70 home runs in a season, unable to believe that the human body could produce such consistent power for a entire season in order to achieve those numbers.  

Obviously, since steroids and other PEDs have been more heavily scrutinized and tested for, the number of home runs hit has dropped incredibly, giving credibility to the argument.

But Aaron doesn’t believe PEDs use should exclude players from being inducted into the Hall of Fame.  Hank Aaron believes in asterisks.  He believes there should be some designation given to the players in question, but their achievements in the league and the performances they put on and how well they played the game comes from more than just a shot of testosterone, growth hormone, insulin or taking other PEDs.

This is where Aaron makes the greatest logical statement in favor of these PED users.

No supplement, steroid, anabolic or other performance enhancing compound will make it easier for you to swing a bat to catch an inside pitch, or track a 100-mph fast ball.  No PED will keep a pitcher’s arm in peak condition without proper training and incredible attention to technique.  Neither will they aid an outfielder in chasing down a ball, tracking it in the sun to make a diving one handed catch and landing in the stands.

No, these feats are performed by players who have skills that took years to refine and perfect, and without them they never would be playing in the big leagues.  The Hall of Fame should recognize these players for their abilities to perform and put on the show the fans want to see, and how well they are able to contribute to their teams.

PEDs or not, McGwire, Bonds, Rodriguez and Ramirez all deserve to someday be enshrined in Cooperstown. Who’s to say that there aren’t several other PED abusers who already sit there, smiling while the world is completely oblivious about their past deeds.

Honda Fit
Price: Obviously prices range, but the average (with all taxes/fees/etc) is mid $17,000s.
Safety: In government crash tests, it earned a 5/5 star rating for protecting passengers in both frontal and side crashes. For back side protection it earned 3/5 stars. In all, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety gave the Fit the highest “Good” rating for “frontal-offset and side crash protection.”
Gas Mileage: approx. 35 MPG
Power/Performance: Features a 109-horsepower engine, which can really get a car that’s mass is 2,500 pounds to really fly. The manual goes from 0 to 60 in nine seconds. And because it’s so light, the Fit can really accelerate, but it’s not very quiet when going highway speeds.
Other: This has a much higher MSRP than other cars of its kind. It also hasn’t really been upgraded since 2001. It’s only been sold in the U.S. for a few years but it’s been sold worldwide since 2001. The 2009 and 2008 Fit are exactly the same. We can expect to see it in Hybrid form within the next few years.

Toyota Prius (Hybrid)
Price: About $25,000. (This is brand new, keep in mind.)
Safety: In government crash tests, it earned a 4/5 star rating for protecting passengers in the front of the car when in a frontal crash. For side impact, it received 5/5 stars for passengers in the front and 4/5 stars for passengers in the back. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety gave the Prius the exact same as the Fit. (”Good” for protection in frontal-offset and side-impact crashes.)
Gas Mileage: approx 46 MPG; Edmunds calls this the most fuel-efficient car on the market
Power/Performance: The gas engine provides 76 horsepower and 82 pound-feet of torque. The electric motor’s net peak horsepower is 110. These two power sources will hit their peaks at different times. Goes from 0 to 60 in 10.4 seconds.
Other: With all new cars, you get can get lots of goodies and techie things. The Prius features an entire screen on the dash that shows everything from the temperatures inside (and outside) to what’s on the radio to how many miles you have left before you need to gas up.

Ephedra was recalled due to a few people that largely shouldn’t have been taking the stimulant in the first place. These people were either morbidly obese (only adding to the current obesity epidemic) and having the full work up of health problems that are listed on every bottle as exclusionary considerations, among the elderly with an already degenerating health status, or one of those that abuse anything because they want it to work faster.

Now fast forward to 2009. Hydroxycut was recalled due to causing supposed liver problems. According to the FDA, 23 cases were reported of people who were taken, or had taken the drug (and there have been countless millions of bottles sold over the last decade, ranging from when Ephedra was still in the product to today) that had elevated liver enzymes, jaundice or brown urine, and possible kidney failure.

Let’s look at that number again. Twenty-three out of how many million? As it has been said, when Ephedra was pulled, most of the noise was political. Pharmaceutical companies wanted Ephedra gone so they could begin selling it as a controlled substance and peddle their own wares; from the major-pharm bust of Alli to the now popular gastric bypass surgery. Gastric bypass is in itself a cheat, but everyone who gets it done is in for a drastic quality of life drop due to their inability to conjure any willpower. That’s a story for another day, however.

What the FDA used then was manipulation of information to spread propaganda, as it did in this case. This time around though, to avoid certain criticism, the FDA even came out and specifically said it “does not know what is in Hydroxycut that causes the problems.” Yet new reformulated versions of Hydroxycut are due out within the next few weeks.

Which leads me to a common sense conclusion: The FDA is trying to appease lobbyists and launch a negative media campaign against the supplement market for doing a better job than doctors at helping people achieve physique goals outside of surgery. People with poor genetics and under-performing bodies have taken Hydroxycut for years without problems, yet 23 people who “claim” to have taken Hydroxycut within the recommended dosages (again, people on a whole are ignorant and want results faster than possible) had liver problems.

Deja vu. So, remove anyone who has a genetic disorder with increased chance of liver or kidney problems, the extremely obese, diabetic, all the millions of adults and teenagers that are on amphetamines for attention deficit disorder, people who drink alcohol excessively or use recreational drugs and I can see a good chunk of that 23 disappearing. There are many things in this world that can cause liver problems, and you are more likely to be symptomatic from those sources than anything you take over the counter from chronic exposure.

As it always is, the FDA hasn’t got its facts straight. It’s listening to the lobbying powers that be and someone has to be a scapegoat.