"Drugs are bad, mmmkay."

I am trying to recover after reading ESPN the Magazine's article on steroids in baseball. It's all there. Steroids getting cast aside as a non-issue when other things were taking up media space. MLB turning a blind eye when anyone and everyone was hitting homeruns in bunches and then having their oversized muscles fall off of their bones or their overworked tendons snap like Mike Tyson at a press conference. Why did they turn a blind eye? Because fans were coming back to the game after they lost interest because of the strike. Or because they did not want to tarnish the image of McGwire and Sosa. Well both of them survived quite well didn't they?

Whether it's Andro or cork or stealing signs or gambling, baseball players cheat. Obviously there are still honest people in baseball, but we live in a culture that encourages people to get ahead at all costs. Kids today go to school seeing cheating and plagiarizing as the norm. I had a friend in college who could barely read because he had friends who would do his homework and write his papers for him all through high school. They all figure that as long as they don't get caught, it's a victimless crime.

Except everyone becomes a victim eventually. The people who don't cheat don't get the credit they deserve for their talents. The cheaters don't learn, or get hurt, or get caught, depending upon the arena or the situation. The world has to waste money in ways to train people to catch cheaters, test people for drugs, and hope that they don't except a bribe or something to look the other way because once again our culture is embedded with a cheater's mentality. It sucks.

Major League Baseball dug their own grave on this one. McGwire, Bonds, Giambi, Sosa, Palmeiro, all of them are going to get into the hall of fame. Why? Because they cheated. Everyone knows it, but it is too late to prove it. And baseball can't do anything about it. Roger Maris is still the record holder for most home runs in a season. Hank Aaron and Babe Ruth are still the only player who have hit 700 or more home runs in their careers.

Mark McGwire was my hero. I still remember where I was when I saw number 62. We were playing Tekken 3 in Chris and Jared's room across the hall, and either Justin and I would be checking the TV in our room for when McGwire was coming up to bat. Then it happened. It barely made it. It was his shortest homer of the year. And now it is just another symbol of all that is wrong with sports. I'm almost glad that the 62 in left field won't be there anymore with the new stadium being built. And Jim Edmonds did the right thing by getting it down and taking it to Big Mac. Now he can be reminded everyday of how he broke America's heart. I still love baseball, and I still love the Cardinals, but there is a black spot hanging over the past two decades that will never be clear.

Of course after reading what Victor Conte thinks about the new steroid policy in baseball, that dark spot may still be hovering over the sport today.