"It is essential that we put an end to steroid abuse and set a better example for aspiring young athletes to follow, so that some day, when they make it in the All Star Game, it will be because of their own natural talents, and not because of a performance enhancing product"
About this Quote
Sensenbrenner frames steroid policy as a moral cleanup job, but the real move is political: shift a messy tangle of labor rights, league profits, and medical reality into a simple, televisable story about kids. The phrase "essential that we put an end" sounds like public health urgency, yet it’s also a declaration of control. Congress can’t decide who hits a slider, but it can decide who gets subpoenaed, regulated, and publicly shamed.
The quote’s engine is the "aspiring young athletes" pivot: an emotional shield that makes punitive measures feel like protection. Once children enter the frame, nuance becomes suspect. That’s the subtext: steroids aren’t just unfair; they’re contaminating the national lesson plan. "Set a better example" turns professional sports into a civics classroom, and athletes into reluctant role models who owe the public virtue in exchange for fame.
There’s also a carefully curated fantasy of meritocracy. "Natural talents" implies a clean baseline, even though elite performance is already built on unequal access to coaching, nutrition, surgery, cutting-edge recovery, and tolerated pharmacology. By singling out "a performance enhancing product", Sensenbrenner draws a bright line around one kind of advantage while leaving the rest of the sports-industrial complex unchallenged.
Context matters: this is post-1990s/early-2000s baseball, when home-run inflation collided with a cultural hangover from the myth of the wholesome national pastime. The quote sells enforcement not as governance, but as restoration - a promise that the All-Star Game can be an award for virtue again, not just spectacle.
The quote’s engine is the "aspiring young athletes" pivot: an emotional shield that makes punitive measures feel like protection. Once children enter the frame, nuance becomes suspect. That’s the subtext: steroids aren’t just unfair; they’re contaminating the national lesson plan. "Set a better example" turns professional sports into a civics classroom, and athletes into reluctant role models who owe the public virtue in exchange for fame.
There’s also a carefully curated fantasy of meritocracy. "Natural talents" implies a clean baseline, even though elite performance is already built on unequal access to coaching, nutrition, surgery, cutting-edge recovery, and tolerated pharmacology. By singling out "a performance enhancing product", Sensenbrenner draws a bright line around one kind of advantage while leaving the rest of the sports-industrial complex unchallenged.
Context matters: this is post-1990s/early-2000s baseball, when home-run inflation collided with a cultural hangover from the myth of the wholesome national pastime. The quote sells enforcement not as governance, but as restoration - a promise that the All-Star Game can be an award for virtue again, not just spectacle.
Quote Details
| Topic | Sports |
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