A-Rod and the Inherent Irrationality of PED Witch-Hunts

I have a piece up at Deadspin on how the attempt to apply a grossly excessive* suspension against A-Rod is an excellent illustration of the arbitrariness and double standards that saturate all moral panics about drugs. It’s clear that PED hysteria isn’t about health or “cheating” per se; as I’ve said before, it’s about something much sillier:

That’s what the war against A-Rod is about. Not all MLB PED-users have been singled out, after all. Prominent accused users like Andy Pettitte, Jason Giambi, and David Ortiz aren’t treated like pariahs, because they haven’t broken certain iconic records or passed certain statistical benchmarks or threatened any sportswriter’s right to remain a child forever. After comparing Rodriguez to a murderous gangster, Bill Madden goes on to complain about “the steroids plague that has tarnished the game’s integrity and made a mockery of the home run records.” In a sentence, that’s what motivates the anti-PED fanatics.

And here’s the thing: It doesn’t make any sense. There’s no such thing as a record set in neutral conditions…

[…]

None of this is to denigrate Maris’s accomplishment—what’s true of 61* is true of all sports records. Lots of gifted players have played in circumstances far more favorable than Maris’s without approaching 61 homers. But the remarkable achievements of Bonds and Clemens and, yes, Alex Rodriguez shouldn’t be denigrated because of the circumstances of their times either. And love him or (much more likely) despise him, Rodriguez deserves the same treatment as other players, no more and no less. Suspend him for 50 games and let him finish his great career on the field.

*I wouldn’t have thought it would be necessary to explain this at any length, but based on the last thread apparently it is. Assuming that the only additional charge against A-Rod is trying to legally buy the Biogenesis records, I don’t think that merits any additional suspension at all. But I can see at least a reasonable argument that an extra 10 or 15 games would be defensible and wouldn’t be a subversion of the punishments that were collectively bargained. But to make the cover up worth more than three times the underlying offense? That’s so absurd that to restate it is to refute it, and if taken seriously would effectively give the commissioner the right to apply whatever punishments to PED offenders that he chooses.