Today, steroids are a paramount topic in Major League Baseball. Players are constantly being accused and they are almost always found guilty. The government has investigated it and caught players such as Bonds lying under oath. These icons are ruining their careers and letting their fans down. The most recent athlete to be caught using steroids was Alex Rodriguez. He was the face of baseball. He was an all around great player, and many people thought he would be the next “clean” player to break the homerun record. Now, he has probably ruined his chances of ever getting into the Hall of Fame because he has cheated the game. Steroids can easily be compared to the problems America is having today. The War on Terrorism is a prime example. Countries are constantly being accused of supporting terrorism and developing nuclear weapons. The United States then tries to investigate the accusations, but they lead no where; the U.S. isn’t stopping anybody, just like the government investigation on steroids hasn’t stopped players from doing them. The economy can also be compared to steroids. With the collapsing auto industry and high unemployment rate, people are being let down, just like the fans when they watch their favorite players be found guilty of using performance enhancing drugs.
Barry Bonds represents the American ego in the story. Bonds did something no one thought he could do in his baseball career; he broke the record for homeruns in a career. When he first passed Babe Ruth, people didn’t know what to think. He had already been accused of using steroids, so people where upset, yet, the fans love to see people hit the ball out of the park. The difference between the two is Barry Bonds has a poor personality. He does not treat the media or his fans well. Ruth was a man’s man. He never did anything wrong. He was peaceful and always remembered where he came from. Then, when Bonds passed Hank Aaron for the all time record people where disappointed. In Klosterman’s opinion, “Barry Bonds has embodied nothing. Now he will embody only this, and ‘this’ isn’t good for anyone. He’s just compiling numbers we don’t trust, and they are colossal and they are meaningless. To care about these homeruns is to care about nothing,” and he is exactly right. Now, Bonds will always have an asterisk next to his name on top of the list because he cheated in order to get there by taking the easy way out. When he was accused of using steroids, he lied under oath, which is a federal offense. Once the evidence had become clear, Bonds was found guilty and now, he will, more than likely, serve some jail time. He will never be vindicated in the public opinion. Millions of Americans have followed in Bonds’ footsteps in taking the easy way out. High school students have copied each others homework and cheated on tests. Plagiarism is taking the easy way out. Criminals also take the easy way out. For example, when they rob a bank, they are taking the easy way out. Instead of making money, they are stealing it, just like how Bonds stole the homerun record.
When the steroid era began in the late 1990’s, baseball was changed forever. Baseball has the richest history in all of sports. Klosterman points out the fact, “baseball is the only sport where numbers always seem meaningful, and it is the only sport where a numeric comparison between players of different eras is even half way reasonable.” With steroids now ruining the game, it is impossible to do this. Steroids are a tragedy in baseball. This tragedy represents the rich American history and culture. Klosterman alludes to the 2000 Presidential Election, September 11, 2001, Enron, gas prices, the Olympic basketball loss to Puerto Rico, and bad movies which won awards, all events which changed American history and culture forever.“The Breaking Point” by Chuck Klosterman is not a story about baseball, Barry Bonds, or steroids. Rather, it is a story about American flaws. These flaws are only represented by baseball.
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