Yesterday was a big day for athletics, especially baseball, but it wasn’t necessarily for good reasons. The anticipated drug report by George Mitchell was made public and it listed over 80 current or retired baseball players that have used performance enhancing drugs. From Barry Bonds to Roger Clemens, the baseball players that are listed in the drug report are household names and almost icons of the sport.
The public relations and crisis management for this particular case is very interesting. The players named in this suit are either commenting on the situation themselves, or they are getting legal advice from their lawyers. What does this mean? Well, it shows that the sport of baseball is tainted– and that the athletes that have won a lot of the most prestigious awards and gotten fame and fortune for their success in the sport have cheated. Using drugs is cheating– plain and simple.
But there are several key points that need to be addressed. First, this is going to impact the image and reputation of the sport of baseball. What are the fans going to think about these athletes? What about the future of the sport– will it be always viewed as a sport where in order to be good, you have to use steroids? Also, the report just names over 80 athletes and the more high-profile athletes– what about the rest of the athletes out there? I suspect that there are a lot more people doing this exact thing, and this needs to be addressed.
In order to overcome this crisis, baseball needs to look at the entire picture with everyone involved– trainers, coaches, managers, owners, etc.– they really need to clean house and start fresh. That is just my opinion. 🙂
I hope you all are having a great day! 🙂
Best Wishes,
Karen
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