Stand Up And Boo Palmeiro
Yesterday Rafael Palmeiro saw his first action since his 10-game steroid suspension. The fans reaction was mixed . Though many cheered there were clearly many who booed too.
I remember when Keith Hernandez returned from a drug ban many years ago (or maybe it was when Dwight Gooden returned). The late Dick Young was writing for the New York Post at the time. I don’t know how many people reading this will remember Young. He was a real tough cookie and seemed to get off on writing controvesial columns. On the day Hernandez (or Gooden, again I forget which one) was scheduled to return the Post had a big headline for Young’s column on the back page. It read “Stand Up And Boo.”
At the time I thought this was not right. Here’s a player who was suspended for doing something wrong, had sought help and worked his way back. Wouldn’t booing be counter productive for the player? Couldn’t it send that player right back to the substance he was working so hard to get away from? Shouldn’t we show the player that we support his comeback?
Interestingly when Palmeiro returned I had no such thoughts. I found myself questioning why there was anybody cheering. In this case I side with the “Stand Up And Boo” philosophy. This man was brazen in front of Congress and then turned around and got caught doing what he just told Congress he never did. Then he revised his statement to say he never ‘knowingly’ took the stuff and hid behind a confidentiality agreement that was certainly his right to break without penalty as his reason for not elaborating.
When you’re a professional athlete you make it your business to know what you’re putting in your body. You don’t take something and just trust that there’s nothing in it. You ask the person giving it to you. You read the ingredients. You research it. So I don’t buy for a minute that he didn’t know what he was taking.
The sign in the stands (that has been shown on every sports show since Palmeiro’s first at bat yesterday and is in every sports section in the country today said it best. “Welcome Back, Cheater”.
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