McGwire refuses to say if he used steroids.

[slugshooter]

Saw this snippet on the rolling news ticker at the top of my browser, didn't read the whole story though. What do you guys make of this, unfortunately, in this country, if you don't outright deny something then most people's first reaction is to assume guilt, but given the situation celebrities are in, if they deny many people think you are lying. He did get really big though, I remember when he was a rookie, he was muscular but scrawny, it almost seemed overnight he became an ox. I would like to think that he didn't, because he seems like a really good guy, but who knows anymore. The fact remains though that MLB never made steroids illegal until recently, so any question as to removing records for anyone should be out of the question, you can't make something illegal and then punish people retroactively.

[tedicast]

Re: McGwire refuses to say if he used steroids.

He definately didn't sa anything to make people thing he didn't use steroids. I personally think he made himself look guilty of using steroids.

[buckbuster11]

Re: McGwire refuses to say if he used steroids.

After watching him yesterday I have a completely different opinion of him. There is no doubt in my mind he used steroids. He was fighting back tears in his opening statement, before the questions even started!! Everybody else on the panel seemed to speak freely and honestly. McGwire either had to think about everything he said or not say anything at all.

[Guest Finn]

Re: McGwire refuses to say if he used steroids.

That was one sorry public appearance for McGuire. Stand up like a man and admit what you did, right or wrong. Your career is over either way, at least have some dignity.

Here's a great article on this by Jayson Stark from ESPN: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/st...TC-DT9705204233

[MUDRUNNER]

Re: McGwire refuses to say if he used steroids.

I don't have a doubt in my mind that he used steroids.But it is in the past.I don't see what good it is doing to bring it up 5 or 6 years after the fact.I can see that it is probably putting a strain on him and his family when everywhere he goes he is getting asked if he used steroids.I think the media sees this as a perfect opportunity to make an athlete look like a bad guy and get tons of publicity.

[snapper]

Re: McGwire refuses to say if he used steroids.

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I don't see what good it is doing to bring it up 5 or 6 years after the fact.

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Doesn't he hold some records that could be taken away if he used roids?

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I think the media sees this as a perfect opportunity to make an athlete look like a bad guy and get tons of publicity.

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If he did use them...then he isn't much of a role model...maybe not a bad guy, but he would have brought it on himself...not the media!

[MUDRUNNER]

Re: McGwire refuses to say if he used steroids.

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Doesn't he hold some records that could be taken away if he used roids?

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I don't know for sure if they can take his record away his home run record because i don't think at the time it was illegal to take certain drugs by the MLB.I guess that's yet to be determined.

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If he did use them...then he isn't much of a role model...maybe not a bad guy, but he would have brought it on himself...not the media!

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I agree he would not be much of a role model for our youg ball players,but i guess it just seems to me that that more often than not the media always brings up the negatives about people more often than the positives.

[DSGB]

Re: McGwire refuses to say if he used steroids.

I don't know what I would have done in his situation. As much as people talk about their right to free speech, innocent until proven guilty, etc., you forget he has a right to remain silent, gauranteed by the fifth amendment.

I don't know if he used steroids. Maybe he knows who does. Maybe he's doing what he thinks is best and wants to forget about the past. Barry Bonds does the same thing when the media confronts him about it. Is he guilty? I don't know and neither does anyone else on this forum.

I agree that it doesn't look good for him to remain silent, but that's his right.

[slugshooter]

Re: McGwire refuses to say if he used steroids.

The problem I have with the whole McGwire deal is 1) He refused to deny he used steroids when everyone else on the panel did, except for Canseco, if he denied it they would have laughed him out of the room. and 2) When this Canseco book came out he made implicit accusations about McGwire, I mean, we are talking about Mark injecting Jose and vice versa in the clubhouse bathroom. If that were a lie then that is a definite lawsuit against Canseco. All I know is that if I were McGwire, and Canseco said what he said about me and it were false, I would have been filing the lawsuit the next day. McGwire has yet to file one and said he had no plans to do so, that, and coupled with his refusal to deny using yesterday really diminshes a lot of respect that I had for him. He seems like a really good guy and I remember after he set that homer record he was on TV talking about the fund he set up to help abused children. His records should stand without an asterisk and so forth, because you can't take away records that were set before steroids were made illegal in MLB, but if he did use steroids, he has compromised the game that he is supposed to love, set a bad example for young ballplayers, and possibly hurt his chances for the Hall of Fame, because regardless of his records, HoF voters like to hold a grudge, if they relied solely on records Pete Rose would have been there a long time ago.