Thanks a lot, McGwire.

Today, Mark McGwire finally admitted to the press that he used steroids prior to and during his once record breaking season. McGwire was once a man I looked up to as a young boy; I remember vividly following that season and admiring both McGwire and Sosa as they smashed homerun after homerun. But now, all of that season means nothing. Unlike Aaron and Ruth before him, McGwire did not do it the right way.
The phrase ‘right’ itself is one that the media and guilty players alike seem to find repugnant when it comes to discussions of who used what, when they used it and when those same individuals will get into the Hall. For some reason the media has given a free pass to a so called ‘era’ of baseball that has been finally exposed as corrupt and without integrity. So McGwire apologized, sort of. He is sorry that he got caught, he is sorry that he has to admit to hiding things from his wife, he is sorry that he likely ruined the faith so many fans had in him. But when I watch the replays of him giving Sosa high fives during the home run derbies and his celebrations upon breaking records I do not feel as though I am looking at a man worried at all about cheating.
Yes, it is right to admit to steroid use. But, it is wrong to make admissions accompanied by excuses and explanations. The right thing to do would have been to deal with injuries like a grown man, deal with hitting slumps and batting average fluctuations like everyone else should. The steroid ‘era’ should be considered a disgrace to the game of baseball and a disgrace to the commissioner under whose watch it occurred. Hank Aaron and the other clean Hall of Famer’s who did things the right way are being polite by declining the opportunity to make negative comments about the choices McGwire and numerous others made during a time when it seems an astonishing amount of the MLB was morally bankrupt. I watched every game I could of the season McGwire and Sosa were chasing the record; if I get my hands on a time machine I will go back and tell my 9 year old self as softly as possible to turn the television off and just stick with Jordan.