Causing the Effect

“Looking back, I wish I had never played during the steroid era,” says Mark McGwire, admitting at last what everyone already knew—that he drugged himself silly in the era of his greatest success in baseball.

Over at the Washington Post , Tracee Hamilton has the right response :

The steroid era isn’t something that happened to Mark McGwire. Mark McGwire was one of the driving forces behind the steroid era. Heck, he was—and perhaps still is—the poster boy of the steroid era.

The steroid era isn’t like the Great Depression. Grandma can complain about living through the Great Depression because she didn’t cause it. Richie Petitbon , on the other hand, can’t complain about living through the Richie Petitbon era. You see the difference