There has always been cheating in baseball. It is part of the game itself. Who can forget Joe Niekro being suspended in 1987 when he was caught with a nail file in his pocket, or Gaylord Perry who wrote in his autobiography Me and the Spitter that he used to hide Vaseline on his zipper because he knew the umpires would never check there.
As long as there has been competition; there have been men seeking an advantage.
Unfortunately, the money has gotten so large, and the competition so intense that players have gone beyond the simple tricks of old to employ science in looking for "the edge" that will put them on top.
The world winked and turned a blind eye to the obvious use of performance enhancing drugs during the homerun era in baseball; preferring to root for their choice in the McGwire/Sosa/Bonds race to beat Roger Maris or Hammering Hank Aaron rather than honoring the records and memory of players who limited themselves to their God-given abilities.
Everyone always knew in their heart of hearts that some sports were "dirty," but were somehow willing to ignore reality because it made for more exciting sport.
But we can ignore it no more.
The latest scandal to hit the world of baseball really shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. Oh there are people who truly wanted to believe that Braun, Rodriguez, Cabrerra and the rest didn't really do what they were accused of doing. Deep down, though, they all knew it was true. It became harder and harder for people to continue believing as each new puzzle piece dropped into place; making the picture ever clearer.
The real shame is that most of these athletes never really even needed the added boost of performance enhancing substances. They do things on their chosen field of play that mere mortals like me could never dream of doing. Even the routine play is beyond the abilities of most fans; the spectacular something we did only in our fantasies as a child.
They really don't need to cheat.
Yet they choose to.
While each person is responsible for their own choices and must face the consequences that result from those choices, the fans bear great responsibility in this, as well. After all, it was the fans who went wild and bought lots of tickets and merchandise and adored the players who were putting up big numbers. It was the fans who made the conscious decision to ignore the reality that was before them; to put aside the desire for fair play in the hype of the moment. It was the fans who put athletes on pedestals; making them somehow bigger than life and expecting results that matched those lofty positions.
The sad reality is that no one wins in this whole mess.
Certainly not the players caught cheating; whose reputations are tarnished forever.
Certainly not the clean players whose own statistics and records are somehow tainted because people will always wonder if they cheated, too, but were just lucky enough not to get caught.
And most certainly not the fans. We had a part in creating this mess and now we must suffer through it being carried through to its conclusion. We can only hope that the next generation of fans - those raised on video games and energy drinks - will come to realize that competition isn't about the big numbers and breaking records as much as it is about athletes using their God-given abilities in a spirit of fair play.
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