1.14.2010

More on McGwire - Great . . .

The season has not even come close to starting, but we already have an idea about what a circus it may be in St. Louis.

More commentary today from Christine Brennan at USAToday where she compares Pete Rose's cheating to that of the steroids users, specifically Mark McGwire. I can see her point and can agree, as long as we say this means banishment for all, not reinstatement for Rose.

And to illustrate her point, she mentions this which I had not known -

Then-Commissioner Fay Vincent deemed steroids illegal in 1991 when he sent every team a memo saying all illegal drug use was "strictly prohibited" by law, "cannot be condoned or tolerated" and could result in discipline or expulsion.

Had the new "commissioner" Bud Selig simply followed through on this memo and established severe penalties similar to the Olympics and other international sports, we probably wouldn't be having this debate now. A debate that seems never to go away.

Brennan observes what I had noticed about McGwire claim that the 'roids didn't help his performance -

. . . (McGwire's) line of reasoning goes further, saying that the drugs he took didn't help him hit all those home runs, including the then-record 70 in 1998, the season of McGwire-Sosa. At about this point in the conversation, we have to figure McGwire has become a laughingstock to just about everyone but close family members. And Selig.

That's the real shame. Cardinals fans should be talking about the signings of Matt Holliday and Brad Penny and finding a third baseman. Instead we get to go through the season with the steroid cloud hanging over us.

Because Tony LaRussa, Super Genius, wanted him on the club.

Great.

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