Is Rocker wrong?

For my first post, I'll offer my thoughts on the recent comments from John Rocker, the former Braves reliever. As a Braves fan and someone familiar with his background, I don't find it shocking whenever Rocker says something people find outlandish. Recently, Rocker was interviewed on an Atlanta sports talk radio station, and among other things, said that Bud Selig was partly to blame for the abuse of steroids throughout baseball. I've heard Rocker be criticized, mostly for not accepting responsibility for his own steroid use and instead passing the blame on to others. In my view, however, Rocker is not entirely wrong.

By most conservative estimates, at least 1/4 of baseball players in the late 90's and early 2000's used performance enhancing drugs. As Rocker put it, he believed it was a level playing field, because those wanted it could get it and use easily without fear of discovery nor the threat of punishment. Who is to blame for that? Is it the players, who are paid millions of dollars to compete at their highest possible level on the field? Well, yes it is for the most part, but not entirely. As the commissioner of a professional sports league, when that many of your players are using illegal substances, Bud Selig and others in control should share a large portion of the blame.

Sure, what the players did by using PED's was undeniably cheating, but let's not forget those who let them get away with it. Rocker said that he actually failed a steroids test, that MLB was aware of the results, and he got nothing more than a slap on the wrist. What kind of control is that from the commissioner's office? It's arguable whether or not the teams knew of these results, but in any event, can they be expected to police every single player when other teams are not guaranteed to do the same?

My point is basically that the whole steroids era in baseball is a black eye on all of baseball, not just the players who have been identified thus far. Let's not single out individual players for trying to get that competitive edge in a system with no useful boundaries. Granted, the players should have known better, but it's asking a lot of the players when you're talking about huge money deals and a commissioner's office turning a blind eye to this conduct.