04/24/24
October 11, 2004
Ken Caminiti dead at 41: Earlier this week he was in a Houston courtroom after failing drug tests while on probation.
Damn.
posted by insomnyuk at 12:18 AM on October 11, 2004
So, if any good can come of this, do you suppose Caminiti's death (at age 41), along with the alleged reduction in enhancer use this season due to increased testing, may result in a move by players away from the siren call of building muscles? That the game as a whole may have the pieces in place to start a longer trend away from the muscle-and-homerun culture, moving towards a 60's-esque slash-and-run, Ichiro-like style where excess muscles, and the work/drugs that lead to them, are an anathema? Or do you suppose the longball will always be too attractive, from a Sportscenter highlight reel and paycheck perspective, that any players using dangerous drugs currently will say "nah, it won't happen to me, it was ken's addiction to other drugs that put him over the top- it was the cocaine that killed him"? And is it perhaps even the case that the drugs are getting sophisticated enough that the danger to using them with proper supervision is now no more dangerous than players getting cortisone shots or drinking Beefcake 3000 shakes- that there is a chemical middle ground between "wiry" players and the old-skool shrunken penis/enlarged breasts/heart failure type of steroids that Ken and his predecessors dabbled with?
posted by hincandenza at 01:41 AM on October 11, 2004
it was ken's addiction to other drugs that put him over the top Steroids cause long term health problems, but it sounds like Caminiti got involved with crack cocaine. That will kill you in the short term.
posted by dusted at 02:02 AM on October 11, 2004
Hal, I would think you of all people could appreciate how higher levels of athletic competition could lead one to drugs.
posted by yerfatma at 06:13 AM on October 11, 2004
I don't think I understand that comment... yerfatma, what kind of reputation do I have with you exactly? :)
posted by hincandenza at 07:16 AM on October 11, 2004
do you suppose Caminiti's death ... may result in a move by players away from the siren call of building muscles? Did this happen when Lyle Alzado died? Lyle was loud about how steroids were killing him (it was some brain thing, completely unrelated, but he didn't care). Was there a resulting downturn in steroid use after his death? I was under the impression that Caminiti, with his being vocal about his own and others' use and with his I-don't-care-anymore attitude, did himself no favors with the other players toward the end. So in answer to the question, I'm guessing not.
posted by chicobangs at 08:14 AM on October 11, 2004
You would hope that there is a message somewhere is in his death. We have swept steroid use under the rug and who pays attention to athletes prolems with cocaine? We will sounds concerned for a while and then do nothing, like we always do. Wasnt Lennie B's death supposed to change drug use in the NBA? Wasnt Majic Johnson's getting the Aides virus supposed to change the Sexual habits of the NBA???..... Its fire up the bong and pass under Bud Light!........ Until something steps up and makes a diffenece, things like Cominiti"s death will go almost un-noticed. It's indeed a sad day. Now we hear of the Death of Chris Reaves-Superman. Now there is a case of somebody making a good thing out of a tragidy! He really made a difference from his wheel chair! However, I quess its true that pro sports do reflect society. We tolerate drugs in society, so why not let it go in sports?
posted by daddisamm at 08:24 AM on October 11, 2004
Man, I hope this news doesn't affect Bagwell and Biggio too much today coming the day before the biggest baseball game of their lives. I recall Biggio being pretty outspoken in support of Caminiti when his problems first came to light a few years ago.
posted by trox at 08:27 AM on October 11, 2004
Caminiti'S death at age 42 should make a lot of people take notice. It should make no diffenence if it was the Steroids or other drugs, like cocaine that caused the death. He died way too young. More than likely it was cause bad a series of lifestyle choices>
posted by daddisamm at 08:49 AM on October 11, 2004
yerfatma, what kind of reputation do I have with you exactly? :) "The book centers, if it can be said to center at all, on a pot-smoking teenage tennis player and philological prodigy named Hal Incandenza . . . "
posted by yerfatma at 09:19 AM on October 11, 2004
I read the above linked review and I still have no idea what the writer was referencing. If that book is as undecipherable and overblown as the review of it, forget it. As for Caminiti, my thought is that despite his use of steroids in the past, this death is more immediately attributable to his drug use in the recent past.
posted by wfrazerjr at 10:12 AM on October 11, 2004
Will it have an effect? I don't think so. Someone who's over 35 looks at the death of a 42-year-old and says, "Jeez, that's checking out way too early." Someone who's 22 says, "What's that got to do with me?" Doesn't matter if it's cocaine, steroids, HIV or pork rinds. 22-year-olds are not concerned with something that might kill them in fifty years...or twenty years...or two years. They're barely concerned with things that might kill them in the next five minutes.
posted by lil_brown_bat at 10:58 AM on October 11, 2004
Just out of curiosity, what was Caminiti doing in the Bronx?
posted by psmealey at 11:42 AM on October 11, 2004
his agent/lawyer said he was there helping a friend. i heard this happended in the hunts point section, which hasn't had the best of reputations.
posted by goddam at 11:58 AM on October 11, 2004
happended i'm not trying to imply that he had to be up to no good since he was in this area, i'm just saying that's where he was apparently.
posted by goddam at 12:03 PM on October 11, 2004
The only thing that will stop top athletes from abusing steroids and other performance enhancers is foolproof testing. Athletes who learn from Caminiti's death and stop doping will see their cheating peers pass them by. That'll make it easy for them to find a rationalization for starting up again -- he was doing coke, my drug is safe, and so on. At most, I think a prominent steroid death would cause a pro athlete to stop doping after he signs a giant multi-year contract that ensures his financial future.
posted by rcade at 01:18 PM on October 11, 2004
who..? (waddaya mean this isn't Fark?)
posted by salmacis at 02:12 PM on October 11, 2004
yerfatma: Ha!!! I can't believe I didn't get that... I thought you were referencing some previous outlandish comments I'd made, and not my username. :D
posted by hincandenza at 03:29 PM on October 11, 2004
(registration info via bugmenot) another obit.