Gustavo Chacin vs Barry Bonds : Who should be more Vilified?

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

The two players that we use as examples, Gustavo Chacin and Barry Bonds, are simply two easy targets to choose. Other players have been caught in DUI situations and players other than Bonds have been accused of steroid use. Feel free to sub the names with whomever you like but please don’t reply with “Nothing has been proven on steroids, DUI, etc”. This is not the point of this exercise, so leave those arguments for another day. What we are trying to do is gather opinions on which TYPE of player should be vilified more, the Chacin type or the Bonds type. We’re going to look at this problem in two ways, by judging the likely micro (small) and marco (large) potential problems that both types have caused.

From a micro standpoint:

 

Chacin has put himself and more importantly, others at risk when taking the wheel of an automobile while intoxicated. Serious harm and possibly even death for himself and others could possibly result from this action.

 

Bonds and other accused steroid abusers have only put their own health at risk.

Macro standpoint:

Chacin: From a macro standpoint, the damage is minimal. Chacin will end up being just another DUI statistic. If the worst case scenario had happened, and he had in-fact injured himself and possibly others with his actions, even to the point of death. This would still be an impact, but it carries more weight in the macro (small world) than in the macro setting, based solely upon the number of reported drunk driving statistics.

 

Bonds: This is a little different. Bonds and the other steroid users have had a two-fold impact on the macro state of baseball. Firstly, the increased number of home runs (McGwire & Sosa especially) breathed new life into baseball post 1994 strike. But they have also lessened the trust between the fans and the sport. A future impact of this—especially if cheating continues—could lead to an exodus of many fans from the sports, thus lowering the economic impact of major league baseball and more specifically, the impact that each teams local economy gains from employment, tax revenue, tourist revenue and more.  This could lead to many social impacts.

 

Question

So which player (or type) should be more vilified? The DUI type such as Chacin or the steroid user such as Bonds, Palmerio and company?