Baseball’s Big Embarrassment

Based on some of the most recent news in Major League Baseball, I thought I'd rant about a few things that are making me mad in the sport. These are issues that mostly revolve around the steroids debacle that have been irking me for quite some time and I feel I must get them off my chest.

1) Where's the Tougher Steroid Policy?

The brass of baseball — i.e. the commissioner, the owner's union, and the players union, have still not agreed on a tougher steroid policy.

We're seeing this season that players are still using steroids. Nine players have been caught using steroids, including Rafael Palmeiro of the Orioles and Juan Rincon of the Twins. Yet for this form of cheating, the commissioner's office hands down a pathetic 10-day suspension.

And if Congress hadn't made a mockery of the original policy, it would have included a clause that would keep the guilty player's name out of the public eye, along with another clause that would have allowed a guilty player to pay a $10,000 fine to get out of the suspension. Is that the best these guys can do? Bud Selig has said he's lobbied for tougher punishments, but he has had no luck going against the player's union. What's new?

Don't the fans deserve more from baseball and its superstars than cover-ups and shoddy information regarding issues that put into jeopardy the integrity of the sport?

Baseball should adopt the Olympic form of testing for performance enhancing drugs. In the World Anti-Doping Agency's regulations, the first offense is a two-year ban, and any positive test there after is an automatic lifetime ban.

The World Anti-Doping Agency also tests for other performance enhancing drugs outside of steroids that baseball doesn't test for. The W.A.D.A. tests for amphetamines, masking agents, and cocktails (groups of four and five drugs that enhance performance). Baseball doesn't test for these performance enhancers and yet they say they are ridding the sport of these drugs.

It may not matter what baseball wants to install for its drug-testing policy. Congress may end up deciding that fate for them in the long-run. Several high ranking government officials in Washington are tiring of the on going saga in Major League Baseball and are looking for decisive and quick action regarding steroids. John McCain, Joe Biden, and several other Congressmen and Senators are fired up about the issue and are intent on having the Olympic model of steroid-testing become the norm throughout all major professional sports: the NFL, NHL, MLB, and NBA.

The W.A.D.A. plan sounds fair to me, it should be what every major sports organization strives for. To me, steroids are just as big a form of cheating as betting on your own team. It's gaining an unfair edge over a competitor by using something illegal. Current and past users of these drugs have brought into question baseball's most crucial aspect: its numbers and traditions.

Sixty-one will never have the same significance because of the false achievements of Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, and Mark McGwire. The home run race of '98 and Bonds' assault of 70 in '01 are nothing more than mirages and false illusions to me now in light of recent revelations. All of these records that should have been a crucial part of the next chapter in baseball history will now forever be linked with the "steroid era" and will always be viewed with an asterisk.

For the game of baseball to be America's sport again, it must be cleaned up and vindicated of all the drug accusations. The playing field must be leveled for all athletes and innocent athletes should not have a black cloud of suspicion and doubt surrounding them.

2) Rafael Palmeiro Should Be Banned

Not only should he never play baseball again, Palmeiro should be probed for lying to Congress. If a normal citizen of this country would have been caught red-handed lying to Congress, they'd be in prison so fast they wouldn't know what happened to them. Palmeiro should receive no leniencies because of his celebrity status, especially because of his finger-pointing self-righteous attitude during the Capitol Hill showdown.

A recent news story really exemplified Palmeiro's true colors. Raffy, always the consummate teammate and professional, came just short of blaming Baltimore star shortstop and former AL MVP Miguel Tejada for his positive steroid test. Palmeiro claimed that he believed his steroid test came out positive because of a legal B-12 injection that he received from Tejada. Tejada was recently cleared of any wrongdoing by a MLB review board. And, of course, this makes Raffy look even worse. Raffy is on his last breath and it looks like he's trying to take Baltimore's best player down with him. I've got news for Mr. Palmeiro, he'd better keep those ear plugs he wore in Toronto in for quite some time because he's not going to hear the end of this one.

3) Sammy Sosa Can Speak English

Sammy has been living in this country since he broke into the major leagues in 1989. In 16 years, he's had to have learned English. In fact, I know he's learned English because I've seen him in those ads for tourism in the Dominican Republic and Pepsi. So why when he was called up to Capitol Hill did Slammin' Sammy become a mute? Why did Sammy seem like he had just stepped off of the boat? Why did his attorney read a written statement for his client?

Maybe it's the same reason that Sammy corked his bat when he was in a funk. Maybe it's the same reason that he refused to take the drug test Rick Reilly offered to him to be the first to prove he'd never done steroids. Sammy seems scared of being discovered. The results are rather obvious, anyone can draw their own conclusions as to what has happened to the deflated Sosa just by his production.

The last two years he's spent significant time on the DL, and his power numbers have decreased significantly, along with the size of his arms. Sammy's .221 batting average and 15 homers this season speak for themselves. The Orioles can only sit and scratch their head and wonder why they traded Jerry Hairston, Jr. to pick him up.

4) Stop Cheering For Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi

Both of these men should be outcasts. For one of the first times in my life, I can agree with Jim Rome. Rome said on his show a few weeks ago when Bonds first came back and went hitless in his first home game, "What is it going to take for fans in San Francisco to boo Bonds? Does he have to shoot up on the field in front of all 40,000 of you?"

He's exactly right. Bonds admitted to unknowingly using steroids, which is a crazy argument for anyone to believe. Bonds takes care of his body like it was his own personal temple, and he knows everything that he puts into it down to the amount of calories in a Coke. So how does he not know that he's putting a steroid into his system? According to documents obtained by the San Francisco Chronicle involving the BALCO scandal, Bonds was given the designer steroid THG, testosterone, growth hormones, insulin, the stimulant modafinil, and Clomid, a female fertility drug. How do you not know your putting all of that into your body?

Giambi admitted to the grand jury that he used steroids throughout his career. That is the only thing I can commend Giambi for — at least he came clean. However, that was only after he had adamantly denied that he had used steroids in several interviews. In an interview with ESPN, Giambi repeatedly denied steroid use in his MVP season, stating he just worked harder than everyone else. He still hasn't admitted on camera that he used steroids, but he did tell his fans and the media that he was sorry for whatever he did that everybody seems to be so mad at him about.

These two individuals and everyone else that has used steroids should be punished not praised. The public needs to stop making excuses for these deviants and start accepting them for what they are: cheaters. Pete Rose was banned for life for cheating these people should at least be booed every time they step in the on-deck circle.

And another thing about Barry. Barry shouldn't be telling Congress what they should and shouldn't be investigating. I agree that there are more important things that Congress should be worrying about, but I don't like Barry's super ego using the Katrina disaster to deflect heat from his situation. No matter what Bonds says, he will never escape the questions and suspicions of his "accidental" steroid use.

If Jason Giambi wins "Comeback Player of the Year," they should end the award all together. I can think of nothing worse than awarding a guy that shouldn't have even played this season an award such as that. I think Brian Roberts should get the award. His breakout year should be much more celebrated than someone that has disgraced the game in the way that Giambi has.

5. Hey, Mark, Crying Doesn't Make Things Any Better

McGwire's, "I'm not here to talk about the past," didn't really do much for his credibility. Not even the emotion that was stirred up in him after hearing of the deaths of the two young high school baseball players could salvage his reputation after the Capital Hill hearings. McGwire's choice to remain silent only solidified his guilt in my eyes. If he was truly innocent, he would have come out and said it. But he backed away and admitted defeat in my eyes.

The hearings in August really hit me especially hard because I was such a huge McGwire supporter when he was with the Cardinals. The 1998 home run chase was one of the most exciting baseball summers in my lifetime. The McGwire/Sosa home run race saved baseball from the depths of despair following the strike. I think that is why baseball has never revived itself from that last strike. Baseball's saving grace turned out to be a farce.

The point of all of these ramblings is that I want baseball to reclaim the position it had once had as America's pastime. Baseball is purely an American creating that we should all be proud of. But if those in charge of the sport don't change what is happening to their game in an appropriate manner, they will lose their fan base permanently.