Leave it to a legend in the rap game, Sean “Jay-Z” Carter, to give us all the insight we need to get into the mind of some of the key players in the sports entertainment game.

In his latest album, American Gangster, Jay-Z celebrates success in a song called, “Roc Boys.” He gives a shout-out to everyone involved in making his hustle in the “game” possible, helping him vault straight to the top.

The same song could be used to describe what is likely going through the mind of many players implicated lately in the Mitchell Report — an investigative document pointing out alleged steroid and performance-enhancing drug users in professional baseball.

The professional sports “game” is similar to the “game” Jay-Z speaks to. Both games involve people who would do seemingly whatever it takes to make money, even if rules must be bent every which way.

The Mitchell Report only scratches the surface of what appears to be a very widespread amount of PED use through not just professional baseball, but also in the entire pro sports realm. Players of all ranks and classes have been implicated, showing us that not only are the minor leaguers doing what it takes to get rich, but also, players at the top are trying hard to maintain their already high-end lifestyle.

Just looking deeper into the first verse of “Roc Boys,” we get a glimpse of the modern performance-enhanced athlete’s mind, as it runs a parallel to Jay’s version of his “game” –

Line:

“First of all I wanna thank my connect,
the most important person with all due respect…”

Translated: BALCO’s Greg Anderson, Brian McNamee (former Yankees strength and conditioning coach) and Kirk Radomski (former Mets clubhouse attendant) have all served as a main connection for athletes to gain access to supplies of steroids and performance-enhancing drugs. Without theses connects, there may not have been as much “juice” to put into the various players’ backsides. The connects were the initial door needed to enter into the long hallway of enhancements that led to fame and success for quite a few players.

Line:

“…thanks to the duffle bag the brown paper bag
the nike shoe box for holding all this cash.”

Translated: Know all that money getting placed in the pockets of the users? The money changing hands via FedEx packages or checks to purchase the enhancement drugs? Who knows where they stored it, but cash was more than likely the deciding factor in both ends of the decision to use PEDs — it was needed to access the PEDs, and was the main goal by which the PEDs were supposed to help attain.

Line:

“…boys in box who put greed before the badge…”

Translated: This is a shout-out to the owners, general managers, union leaders and anyone in a position of power who turned their head while the steroids flowed like champagne at one of Jay-Z’s 40-40 nightclubs. According to ESPN’s Peter Gammons, from 1995 to 2006, the industry grew from $1.3 billion to $6.2 billion; including the years in question in the Mitchell Report. The one thing we can agree on in this whole mess is that greed motivated people on all fronts, even the watchdogs whose job was to keep the game clean.

Line:

“the first pusher who ever made the stash”

Translated: Chemists, the BALCO lab folks (Victor Conte & the gang) and that initial person who thought that, “Hey, I bet I could make a little change of my new innovation called Human Growth Hormone…” I’d like to see the increase in revenues of those companies! Surely they’re bobbing their head to this song.

Line:

“the roc boys in the building tonight
oh what a feeling I’m feeling life”

Translated: This is the cheer for all the users listed not named Clemens or Pettitte, as well as those listed. The Mitchell Report essentially rehashed a lot of what we already knew about steroids and PEDs in baseball — it exists, and is widespread on all levels of the players of the sport. The report was enough to have the court of public opinion bring down cries of outrage, but no one really knows how to proceed from here, including Bud Selig. He opened Pandora’s Box and now, whatever move he makes to punish players will come back and haunt him.

Line:

“thanks to the lames ni***s with bad aim
thanks to a little change I’ll tear you out the game”

Translated: Thanks to those who tried to stop the steroid game, but failed; those initial whistle blowers who went unheard or ignored. There had to of been plenty of these types around, other than Jose Canseco. Or was it up until recently, when salaries skyrocketed (thanks to all the Scott Boras types out there!), along with game statistics, where people began to allow themselves to take notice? At any rate, greenies, steroids, PEDs and general enhancers to boost energy are around, they’ve always seemed to be around in some way, shape or form, and really, what can the league do to regulate them?

Line:

“bullet wounds’ll stop your buffoonery
thanks to the paster rapping at your eulogy”

Translated: The Chris Benoit situation brings pause to anyone who wants to think of the most extreme link to what could be the downside to using steroids or PEDs. We don’t know enough about the situation to make a direct connection. On this front, we will just say that no professional baseball player has been linked to gunshots related to using PEDs. But because many of the various forms of steroids are considered illegal drugs, we never know how far some people would go.

Line:

“to little kim and them you know the women friend who
carry the work cross state for a gentleman”

Translated: This covers agents, clubhouse managers, and “clubbies” who do whatever they can, as go-betweens, to cover for the actual steroid and PED users. Of course, some of the players mentioned in the Mitchell Report wrote direct checks or used their own personal credit cards to make these shady transactions – idiots. If you’re going to use and abuse, at least have the brains to use a middleman/middleperson so you don’t get burnt if, say, your own professional sports league investigates itself, despite allowing the chaos to run rampant for years.

Line:

“yea, thanks to all the hustlers, and most important to you, the customer”

Translated: The baseball clubhouse unwritten code is what kept the players from outing each other until recently. But even when the issue of steroids or PEDs came up, or became controversial and in the public eye, we fans continued to buy tickets, team gear and watched games on TV. We continue to do so, despite all of the accusations of baseball being “tainted” by superhuman athletes.

Without us, their efforts would be worthless. We have enabled them to carry on in this “arms race” to be the most entertaining at what they do. We, the customer, will continue to because we seem to like watching superhuman athletes take on fellow superhuman athletes. They can do what we can’t. Although we may sometimes ask who’s behind the scenes pulling the strings and causing the amazement before our eyes to happy, in reality, we don’t care. We just want to be entertained.

*This article was originally posted on www.mindritesports.com

Fashion designer Marc Ecko dropped $752,467 on the table in order to “democratize” the decision whether to ship Barry Bonds’ record-breaking no. 756 to the Hall of Fame, or to the moon — quite literally.

On Ecko’s new website, he gives visitors the option to vote between three options of what fate the historic ball will have:

1. Bestow It: “Give the ball to Cooperstown. The ball that broke Hank Aaron’s career home run record belongs in the Hall of Fame.”
2. Brand It: “Burn an asterisk into the ball, with a branding iron, adding a permanent footnote to the record. Then, send it to Cooperstown.”
3. Banish It: “Put the ball into a rocket ship and launch it into orbit, a moon shot for the ages. Out of sight, out of mind.”

A fun assortment, but the vote should be simple: Brand It.

If you’ve read my pieces on Bonds and the record-chase, you may be confused. Hear me out.

By branding and shipping no. 756 off to Cooperstown, the ball serves its purpose whether or not you believe Bonds is reached the historic mark legitimately.

Those who view Bonds as the ultimate villain in the world of performance enhancers in baseball, and believe his mark should be tarnished forever, get their wish. What better a way to be tarnished than to have his record-breaker in Cooperstown with a people-branded asterisk on the historic ball?

Those who view Bonds as the ultimate scapegoat in the world of performance enhancers in baseball will have evidence of how one man was “burned at the stake” in order for major league baseball to attempt to save face and detract onlookers from the larger issue that goes well beyond one man.

What you choose to believe is up to you. Call Bonds a cheat or a scapegoat, but either way this goes beyond one player.

Since the BALCO investigation, numerous high-profile players have been linked to rings of steroids, including Yankees first-baseman Jason Giambi who admitted to using “stuff” during his playing days but has yet to receive a punishment or reprimand from the league. In fact, he received a free pass!

At this point, if the public wants to vilify Bonds for allegedly reaching no. 756 in an illegal manner, it needs to do more research into the league and determine whether or not they will be consistent with the scrutiny. Mark McGuire is another famous player who has been accused of steroid use but had never tested positive, yet it appears as if he will need a miracle to make it into the Hall of Fame. If the MLB chooses to put an asterisk on Bonds’ records, will they put one on McGuire’s season of 70 home runs? The Oakland Athletics pennant winners where he and teammates, including admitted steroid user Jose Canseco, won the World Championship? What about Gaylord Perry’s 314 wins and 2 Cy Young Awards, despite admitting to doctoring baseball throughout his 22-year career?

Baseball cannot choose to give a pass (neither the public nor the MLB has yet to cry out for the aforementioned records to be asterisked) to hundreds of admitted and proven cheaters for years but then pick out the most disagreeable, hated player linked to cheating – who just so happens to have broken the most hallowed record in the game – and crucify him in the name of “cheaters” now and forever more.
It doesn’t work that way.

Baseball needs to find out where the line is between fair play and cheating before they can move on and not been seen as hypocritical.

At the rate they are going, dragging their feet about a new testing policy which may out some of baseball’s most profitable stars, the MLB might as well either put an asterisk on the entire Hall of Fame if they plan on doing so to Bonds’ real records. Otherwise, they should move forward and look to improving the league and its integrity from here on out.

So, Marc Ecko, please go ahead and brand the ball with a large asterisk. Fans and, more importantly, all of major league baseball need to never forget the chase for Hammerin’ Hank’s 755. It marked one of the most important times in history where confusion, celebration, division and hypocrisy surrounded one bitter man’s attack on one bitter league’s imperfect — yet somehow still sacred — record books.