CHEATING

It shouldn't take an act of Congress to get the owners, union representatives and players of Major League Baseball to clean up their act when it comes to cheating. After all, the integrity of the game, as in any game, relies upon the belief held by those watching that the games are on the up and up. If cheating is going on, especially if it is widespread, then why should anyone watch. It is no longer a contest pitting talent versus talent, rather it is a contest of who can most deviously out-cheat the other side.

This is the context within which I am watching the steroids scandal play out in Major League Baseball (MLB). It is why I am disappointed that too many of the people that make MLB happen are dancing around the issue. It seems even the "good guys", those who by most accounts haven't used steroids and have spoken against their use, are unwilling to "rat out" their teammates and/or call baseball to account.

Unfortunately, in order to keep Congress at bay, MLB has to clean its own house with vigor. This means, in my view, that the cheaters have to be called out. Their cheating has to be exposed, their reputations ruined, the records expunged (if possible). Until that happens, young people are going to believe that the benefits outweigh the risks.

While it was good to see Mark McGwire suffer during the hearings yesterday, as it seems obvious he did cheat his way to some of the records he set, that is not enough. While it is good to see Jason Giambi have to fight through the embarrassment as he tries to prove that he can perform without steroids, that is not enough. The game's greatest active star, Barry Bonds, has to be brought to account. He is on the threshold of breaking Hank Aaron's all-time career home run record. If, as most seem to believe, he used steroids for some portion of his career, then we are going to be treated sometime this season or next to the unseemly spectacle of MLB celebrating as he breaks one of its most storied records. Can anything imaginable be more destructive to the integrity of the game than to have MLB celebrate cheating on the grandest of scales?

It shouldn't take an act of Congress to get MLB to clean up its act. It is time for MLB not only to strengthen it's testing program to deter cheating in the upcoming season, but also to conduct a thorough housecleaning regarding the cheating that has gone on in the past. While it may be impossible to clean up the record books, it will be possible to cast a shadow over those records set by known cheaters (if they can be known), the better for us to judge when we peruse through the accomplishments of those great players of the past, which is a significant part of the glory of baseball.