Michael
Arnott
Exploratory
Journal #6
For my final exploratory journal, I
read two articles that best answered some of my final questions such as the
comparison between drug and gambling addiction as well as the changing
information from the time Pete Rose was banned.
I also looked into whether or not Pete Rose was involved with baseball
outside of the MLB since the time the previous article was written. I came across “Gambling on the Brain,” a
report written by Ferris Jabr, and “Pete Rose Gets a Taste of Baseball Again,”
taken from the Associative Press. The
first article discusses gambling and how it shifted from being considered as a
compulsory disorder into the category of addiction. It was made official by the American
Psychiatric Association when research concluded that gambling produced the same
effects as drug addiction. The release
of dopamine when taking drugs is the same as winning in gambling. It makes your body want to keep winning. But when you keep winning, you get less
excited and need to win more to satisfy the need to win. This is where gambling can become a serious
addiction. As it gets worse, less
activity occurs in the prefrontal cortex and the person is more likely to make
rash decisions rather than weighing the risks.
These same occurrences are present when addicted to a drug. Most of this research is fairly recent and it
definitely was not present around the time that Pete Rose was caught
gambling. There is more treatment around
for it since it is now considered a serious addiction rather than back in his
era where is was a fault in personality.
In the second article, it explains Pete Rose’s first step back into
baseball through guest-managing an Independent Atlantic League team, the Bluefish,
for one game. Rose claims it was “to
show [I] could be a good ambassador for the game.” But the article goes on to say that Rose
would never full-time manage an independent league team due to the lack of
income compared to his signing sessions and meet-and-greets.
In McCarthy’s article, he claims
that Rose blamed other’s, such as the MLB, for lack of help in dealing with his
gambling problem. Rose was not
necessarily wrong. The American
Psychiatric Association classified gambling as an addiction on the same level
as drugs and alcohol. That means that
the person with the addiction builds up a dependence on the dopamine that it
released when they win. This leads to a
tolerance to dopamine and a need for more winning to satisfy their urge to feel
good. The MLB should have offered help
for Rose as treatment through medication and therapy increase as more research
comes out regarding it. It makes sense
with the claim that Rose began with betting on football and basketball before
betting on baseball since he needed more and more to get his mental fix. His betting on his team was part of his
addiction as well as all the other teams he gambled on. In turn, the MLB and the Hall of Fame should
reconsider their ban on Pete Rose since modern information suggests that he was
enveloped in an addiction he could not shake rather than performing an act of
hubris. McCarthy also mentions how Rose
could have taken his love of baseball to alternative leagues instead of
fighting and lying for years. Rose
finally heeded that advice when he stepped in as manager of an Independent
Atlantic League team, the Bluefish, for one game. Later, he explained that he would never
manage an independent team due to the lack of money coming out of it,
supporting my earlier claim that Rose was accustomed to a certain style of
baseball.
With the confirmed information that
gambling is in the same category of drug addiction, I more firmly stand by my
claim that the MLB should look into ways to help such problems instead of
punishing them like they did in Pete Rose’s case. The rules need to adapt with the new
information that is coming out just as they adjusted when steroids broke onto
the scene. Except this time, they need
to focus on what can be done to help instead of banning someone for life. Pete’s addiction took over his life to the
point where he was in debt to bookies despite being a star professional athlete
and it eventually got him banned for life from the life he loved. Seeing as how Pete Rose has apologized for
his mistakes, I think that the MLB and the Hall of Fame should apologize for
theirs for not fully understanding the situation they were dealt. When I compare players that physically
cheated through PEDs to a person with a gambling addiction, I favor the side with
the mental dependency that is not easily controlled rather than those who
falsely improve their skills. Especially
in the case of Rose being reinstated to baseball while admitted steroid-user
Mark McGwire and others can still participate around the league. In the previous source, I bring up the idea
of Rose taking baby steps to get back into the game to show Bud Selig and the
MLB his worth to the game. He did just
that. He guest-managed an Independent
Atlantic League team for one game as he was “trying to show he could be a good
ambassador for the game” as he sparked a jolt in an otherwise humdrum team and
league for that matter. My previous idea
appeared to also be right that Rose was accustomed to a certain style of
baseball after having played professionally for years. He claimed he would not full-time manage an
independent team since the pay was so low.
He is used to the bigger scale ballgame where it means more.
As I prepare to write the first
draft for this topic, I plan to come up with a definitive claim. Mine will involve Pete Rose eventually being
reinstated into the MLB and gaining eligibility for the Hall of Fame but I need
to come up with concrete reasons why. I
want to say, “Pete Rose should be reinstated to the MLB and the Hall of Fame
due to his skill compared to that of any other player, the MLB not properly
handling the ban, and his case compared to that of other baseball criminals,
such as steroid users, despite having broken very clear rules that state
gambling in baseball is strictly prohibited” but it is lengthy and seems like
it might need to be narrowed down.
No comments:
Post a Comment