Just in time for the holidays comes a sad reminder of baseball's great shame: the widespread use of performance-enhancing drugs. An Associated Press poll showed that newspaper editors chose the ongoing steroids scandal in baseball as the top sports story of 2009.
Not even the disgusting exploits of Tiger Woods could knock steroids off the top of the list. And that's right because Woods is really hurting himself and his poor family. The damage that baseball's steroid users caused to the game, their teammates who played without cheating and fans knows no bounds.
The New York Yankees are right in the thick of this scandal. Pitcher Sergio Mitre, who just got another contract offer from the Yanks, was suspended for 50 games this season for his use of a banned substance. But the biggest name in baseball to be outed as a steroids user this year was Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez.
ARod, alongside starter Andy Pettitte, played a key role in the team's latest world title. As happy as I was to see the Yankees clinch their 27th World Series title, I'm also full of ambivalence when I see Pettitte pitch or ARod hit a home run, feeling that they have somehow managed to get away with something that the rest of us would be punished for. The ultimate punishment may be denial of the Hall of Fame, which I fully support.
Not even the disgusting exploits of Tiger Woods could knock steroids off the top of the list. And that's right because Woods is really hurting himself and his poor family. The damage that baseball's steroid users caused to the game, their teammates who played without cheating and fans knows no bounds.
The New York Yankees are right in the thick of this scandal. Pitcher Sergio Mitre, who just got another contract offer from the Yanks, was suspended for 50 games this season for his use of a banned substance. But the biggest name in baseball to be outed as a steroids user this year was Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez.
ARod, alongside starter Andy Pettitte, played a key role in the team's latest world title. As happy as I was to see the Yankees clinch their 27th World Series title, I'm also full of ambivalence when I see Pettitte pitch or ARod hit a home run, feeling that they have somehow managed to get away with something that the rest of us would be punished for. The ultimate punishment may be denial of the Hall of Fame, which I fully support.
Thanks to Randy Oostdyk via Wikipedia for the photo.
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