And Ted Haggard threw away his crystal meth...

Petite is a tool. He should have confessed when Barry was being nailed to the cross. Confessing now when he has been nailed means nothing.

I agree, all this steroid crap is nonsense, but the Yankees should return the subway series ring. Just cause I loathe them.

I wonder if Rocket was juiced when he threw the bat at my boy Piazza.

The Christian thing to do is not to be such a jerk in the first place. The Christian thing to do is be humble that you get paid to play a game and be wise enough use Christ as an example not a slogan. That way when you make a human mistake like everyone else, and get tempted by money and power, you can say sorry and hopefully no one will want to light you on fire for being a hypocrite.

"Like many baseball fans, I do not care at all about performance-enhancing drug use among pro athletes and think that the Mitchell Report should be filed under “Shows, Dog and Pony.” "

I'm not a big sports fan, but doesn't cheating take a lot of the fun out of watching sports? It seems like the drugs qua drugs are irrelevant.

@4 - As an avid sports fan, I can tell you that the apathy toward performance-enhancing drugs felt by so many of us stems from the fact that finding ways to enhance performance, whether chemical or whatever, has always been and will always be a part of professional sports, so why not just let 'em? I liked watching Jose Canseco blast home runs when I was a kid - all the shit he was injecting himself with didn't rob me of any enjoyment.

If Jesus used HGH, he'd probably still be alive today.

Jesús is still alive and was probably juiced, but it didnt help him any. He still sucked and finished his career in the Mexican leagues, he was supposed to be the best of the Alou brothers.

this is a tricky one... or does anyone here think someone should have to announce every mistake they've made? certainly not. if you've made a mistake, can you no longer advocate healthy living? once again no.

what would be wrong -- what we are justified in disliking -- is when they criticize and condemn others for making the same mistake. if this player did that, was unforgiving, judgmental, and the like, then he should be ridiculed.

otherwise, he's human. we all make mistakes we'd rather not be known to our co-workers or friends.

Of course, overturning the money-changers' tables *does* sound like classic 'roid rage....

Heh, SeMe - I remember reading The Rocket's lips in the replays of that *altercation*: "I THOUGHT IT WAS THE BALL!". Always a chuckle.

Chicagofan, next season's attendance figures will tell you whether your indifference toward steroids and HGH is shared by "many" baseball fans or not.

I care because I like sports for the competition, not the entertainment, not to mention what this says to gullible kids who have no shot at a pro sports career but dream of one anyway. (No one is as conformist as a high school jock.)

What is it you're professor of, anyway? Surely not ethics.

Hey Matt:

Steroids have been dominating the discourse of the purists and the moral scolds around baseball for four or five years. And every year for the last four or five years, MLB has set new attendance records. Fans in the seats--fans who, like me, buy season's tickets--do not care about performance-enhancing drugs. We are there for the performance, and the bigger the better.

But you are right: if the fans stop coming to games next year, we will know that the purists and the scolds are in the majority.

Finally, the key to the Mitchell Report: the players involved range from minor leaguers to marginal major leaguers, to journeymen to superstars, and the report itself admits that it's only the tip of the iceberg. So, that's an admission that performance enhancing drugs permeate the game, making it totally fair: Barry Bonds homers off a juiced pitcher, or a juiced pitcher strikes out Bonds. It's a level playing field.

Chicago Fan - not in a dick tone, but perhaps, as well, we've been going during your time above time frame for *not-steroids*. For the good kids. I'm going next year for that - again.

It's level if the use is 100%. Since it's allegedly more like 25% then it's not level.

If you just like home runs and strikeouts, that's fine. But if your school has a baseball program then get used to roid-raged jocks in your classroom.

Crap, I thought I posted a response already. I know I wrote one...

Point the first: The estimates of steroid use that I read were around 25% of players. That's a lot but still far too few to say that the playing field is level.

Point the second: This has repercussions way beyond what happens on the baseball field. I won't bore you and repeat what Mitchell said, but I will ask you to think about it.

I'm led to believe that you're an academic, so if you're going to argue do it from that standpoint. I don't need to know the bonehead fan's point of view.

Okay, something is wrong with my browser. My comment @ 14 was not there before I posted @ 15.