Has it Really Been That Bad?

So the latest victim is Sammy Sosa. The “breaking news” broke last week that former MLB slugger Sammy Sosa tested positive for steroids back in ’03. No shit. Really, no shit. Its been everyone, Barry, Roger, A-Rod, even Manny. And who can honestly say they saw that one coming? A-Rod was supposed to set the career home-run record after a nice long and clean career. That will not happen, and his clean image is going down faster than Madonna’s marriage. One thing about the steroid era is the guys that cop to it and admit succumbing to the power of the ‘roid are forgiven and their transgressions forgotten. Take the coolest player in baseball, Jason Giambi, and Andy Pettitte for example. The assholes who fight it are just made out to be bigger assholes. E.g.: Barry, Roger, A-Rod and now even Manny. But the point here is not to categorize the douchebags and the so-called “good guys.” I don’t even see it necessary to name every goddamned player who did roids at some point. Come on, that would take weeks, months, hell it would take us back to the Dead Ball Era. The point is, we spend so much damn time talking about steroids, complaining steroids and declaring those that will make the Hall and those that won’t. Why can’t we remember the good times? (and there were many) Was the summer of ’98 not awesome? Seriously, Sammy and McGwire duking it out for the single season home run record great? I know I remember exactly where I was when McGwire hit 62. Every kid, in every ball park, in every town and city across the country pretended to be one of the two men that summer. Were the Bash Brothers not the only cool thing, other than Catfish Hunter’s mustache, to come out of Oakland ever? Has it not been fun to make fun of A-Roid or watch the Viagra man Rafael Palmero wag his finger at congress, only to be named later as a former user. Really, there have been good times, there have been bad times and there have been funny times. But let’s just take the last 20 years for what they were. It was the steroid era folks, just like the 60’s when everybody did drugs. It will pass, just like the spit-ball, but let’s not forget the players, the numbers, and the records. Cause, even though Barry Bonds might be the biggest asshole in sports, he did bring relevance to one of the most historic baseball teams ever for about 10 years, and did provide us with another summer full of home runs and walk records. In reality, it wasn’t that bad, it was fun, we had a few good laughs. Mark McGwire cried and Sammy Sosa regressed linguistically, but I sure as hell enjoyed it.