ESPN and Seton Hall Poll Fans about Steroids

ESPN and Seton Hall teamed up to poll over 800 sports fans on a couple of steroids-related questions. About 25% of respondents believe that at least half of all MLB players are currently using human growth hormone.

About three quarters of the voters said that performance-enhancing drugs shouldn’t be allowed in sports, and 21% said they should.

Each participant was also asked if Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, and Alex Rodriguez should be elected to the Hall of Fame.  For Bonds, 41.7% voted yes and 44.9% said no. For Clemens, 43.1% said yes and 31.6% said no. For A-Rod, 41.6% said yes, 40.8% said no.

In addition, about 70% of those polled said a further apology from Clemens or Rodriguez wouldn’t be enough for them to change their mind.

Although 75% said they would attend the same number of games this season, of the 25% who said they would be going to fewer games, 78% said it was due to the economy and only 8% said that it would be due to performance-enhancing drugs.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the study is as follows: “When asked their favorite aspect of baseball, nearly 30 percent of respondents who follow sports said home run hitting. If home run numbers decline, 79.9 percent of respondents said their interest in baseball would remain the same.”

So what do all these numbers mean? It’s simple.

1.)     If you are an MLB player and are going to use HGH or steroids, don’t get caught if you want to be in the Hall of Fame. The public is unforgiving when it comes to the Hall of Fame talk.

2.)    Even though they don’t want you to use steroids, the fans still want homeruns. This means you need to help come up with a way to hide what you are using or you have to risk your Hall of Fame career by sacrificing your batting average to swing for the fences at every at bat. After all, you have to keep the fans happy.

3.)    If you aren’t hung up on the Hall of Fame thing, feel free to use what you want, assuming you don’t mind Congress giving you a hard time about it.

4.)    If you do get caught, it’s up to you whether you apologize or not. Because once you are linked to steroids, that’s good enough for the general public to condemn you. Chances are that you might be able to repair your image over time, but if you are able to deny it go ahead. Either way, you’re guilty.

5.)    For the most part, baseball can be drug-infused and unfair as much as it wants and fans will still go because they like the combination of competition and drama. Even when the economy is terrible and players are blatantly cheating, it doesn’t matter, you will still make a ton of money swinging for the fences.

Thoughts?

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