Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Will Baseball's Bottom Line Suffer from Substance Revelations? No

The reports on widespread usage of performance enhancing substances in pro baseball came out today (Dec. 13). Several former Padres are mentioned, including Benito Santiago,Gary Sheffield, Ron Villone, Kevin Brown and the late Ken Caminiti. (The players' alleged offenses did not necessarily occur when with they were with the Padres, although Caminiti admitted before his death that he used steroids while with the team.) Brown is the most interesting one. He was signed in 1998, the year San Diegans were voting on the huge subsidy to the Padres for what is now Petco Park. The Padres went to the World Series, Brown was named player of the year, and after the team won the election, he was gone. The big question is whether the report (much of which is old by now) will hurt baseball economically. My prediction: no. There is a phenomenon that psychologists call "cognitive dissonance." It describes the discomfort you feel when one of your cherished beliefs comes up against new, disquieting information. People react in different ways, but one way is just to tune the new information out. Many years ago, a publication asked me to head an investigation into organized crime and gambling industry connections of pro sports owners. Public information on this goes back to the Kefauver investigations on organized crime in the 1950s. I had a talk with a federal government investigator who had long probed the same subject. (It has been written about in books: essentially, gangster money captitalized the National Football League initially, and mob-related owners are still beloved. High rollers own teams in baseball, basketball, hockey, too.) The investigator told me, "Good luck. You will find that people just do not want to hear this. No matter how persuasive the evidence, the feedback will be overwhelmingly negative. People simply do not want this information on their beloved pro sports." The same will be true of the steroids and growth hormone revelations. There is one interesting point, though: the baseball investigators came up with many checks that players had written to drug distributors. Those players should be given IQ tests, not drug tests.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all

Previous article

Temperature inversions bring smoggy weather, "ankle biters" still biting

Near-new moon will lead to a dark Halloween
Next Article

At 4pm, this Farmer's Table restaurant in Chula Vista becomes Acqua e Farina

Brunch restaurant by day, Roman style trattoria by night

The reports on widespread usage of performance enhancing substances in pro baseball came out today (Dec. 13). Several former Padres are mentioned, including Benito Santiago,Gary Sheffield, Ron Villone, Kevin Brown and the late Ken Caminiti. (The players' alleged offenses did not necessarily occur when with they were with the Padres, although Caminiti admitted before his death that he used steroids while with the team.) Brown is the most interesting one. He was signed in 1998, the year San Diegans were voting on the huge subsidy to the Padres for what is now Petco Park. The Padres went to the World Series, Brown was named player of the year, and after the team won the election, he was gone. The big question is whether the report (much of which is old by now) will hurt baseball economically. My prediction: no. There is a phenomenon that psychologists call "cognitive dissonance." It describes the discomfort you feel when one of your cherished beliefs comes up against new, disquieting information. People react in different ways, but one way is just to tune the new information out. Many years ago, a publication asked me to head an investigation into organized crime and gambling industry connections of pro sports owners. Public information on this goes back to the Kefauver investigations on organized crime in the 1950s. I had a talk with a federal government investigator who had long probed the same subject. (It has been written about in books: essentially, gangster money captitalized the National Football League initially, and mob-related owners are still beloved. High rollers own teams in baseball, basketball, hockey, too.) The investigator told me, "Good luck. You will find that people just do not want to hear this. No matter how persuasive the evidence, the feedback will be overwhelmingly negative. People simply do not want this information on their beloved pro sports." The same will be true of the steroids and growth hormone revelations. There is one interesting point, though: the baseball investigators came up with many checks that players had written to drug distributors. Those players should be given IQ tests, not drug tests.

Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Padres's Grandal linked to Florida drug lab

Next Article

Yasmani Grandal Suspended 50 Games

Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader