MLB recently announced that San Francisco Giants outfielder Melky Cabrera has received a 50-game suspension without pay after testing positive for Testosterone, a performance-enhancing substance in violation of Major League Baseball’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program. Cabrera responded by accepting the punishment, apologized to his team and his fans and admitted he did it.
What more needs to be said? Apparently the baseball media just can’t believe that there is still cheating in baseball and any sports station or blog you visit wants to know why Cabrera did it. Why would a guy leading the league in runs scored and in hits and plays for a team just one game or so out of the division lead do such a thing? To me the answer is simple, when you want something so badly, you do not spend a lot of time thinking about the consequences of getting caught because you think you are smart enough to avoid getting caught. This kind of thinking is human nature and we all do these kinds of things, just maybe not on the same level. When you drove in to work this morning did you speed, go faster than the speed limit? You know it is illegal to go faster than the speed limit but yet you went ahead and did it because the odds are that you won’t get caught and besides, everyone is doing it. You know that if you get caught there will be a fine and a probable increase in your insurance rates but you didn’t give those possible issues a second thought did you? What about people who rob a bank, they know there is a chance they will get caught but they do it anyway. What about the people who cheat on their spouses, they know the consequences will be severe if they get caught but in their mind they won’t be one of those that will get caught.
That is the way the life is, people are always looking to better their personal situation or satisfy their needs, it is not about the consequences. If consequences were upper most in our minds we would not be doing the things that society says are wrong or immoral. We as humans always want more, we want to be the best at everything we do. How much time do you think that Melky Cabrera or any other baseball player for that matter that has taken performance enhancing substance has spent thinking about the impacts that their actions will have on their teammates, family or friends? Not much I think, there are few among us who are in a position to cast stones. We do the best we can in our lives and life goes on, I am not defending Melky Cabrera or what Melky Cabrera did here, I am just saying that we all need to understand that we are all far from perfect and we need to understand that these kinds of things have been going on since the beginning of time and that they will go on long after we are gone. It is called life.