Lapham on 'Roids

I have to say, Lewis Lapham is not the first name that springs to mind when I seek baseball coverage, but his "Notebook" in last month's Harper's about the steroid scandal was entertaining (even if his fall-of-the-Roman-Empire tone wasn't perfectly suited to the subject). He claimed government’s threats of meddling in the game are "un-American and behind the times." The last line of this excerpt was my favorite:

What else is the American dream if not the theory and practice of self-invention? How otherwise define the American way of life if not as a ceaseless effort to boost performance, hype the message, enhance the product? Deny an aging outfielder the right to inject himself with human-growth hormone, and what does one say to the elderly philanthropist who steps out of an evening with a penile implant and a flower in his lapel?