McGwire Admits to Steroid Use During Record-Setting Season

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2010/01/mcgwire-used-steroids-says-its...

In a bold and courageous move Mark McGwire confirmed what many had believed for years, he took steroids while playing baseball. Be sure to read the PBS NewsHour report above since I will not repeat any details. I will just editorialize for a few minutes.

Personally I've not followed baseball one bit since I stopped playing before my teenage years (I was a pitcher). I've always found watching sports to be pretty boring, except for those rare moments of amazing shots, or hits, or kicks, or match points, or whatever is specific to the sport. So thankfully some people stitch those segments together and I don't have to watch hours of game to see the few moments I consider interesting. That disclaimer aside, I must admit I was nonplused when this issue first came up, and even continue to be.

The only thing that agitated me, and still does, is that the multibillion dollar sports industry, which seems to be overflowing with machismo, didn't seem to contain the guts to scrutinize and regulate itself. So therefore the rest of us, aka the U.S. government, had to play "Daddy" to the cowards running these sports industries.

For shame.

Speaking of shame, it was a nice change of pace to see yet another "drug user" come out of the closet and admit it. If you've come to this post from the forums I should point out I also filed it under the the Despise the Shame section of the website.

Yes, he knew he would face shame and humiliation with his admission, granted he put it off, but he finally faced up to it. Better sooner rather than later.

So this is a kind-of warning to people in positions of power, authority, huge wages, etc… and even those who are not. If you're taking kick-backs from dealers, big Pharma, various unions with a conflict-of-interst, or if you realize that your use of (currently) illegal drugs has not ruined your life — that you either continue to use or like the overwhelming majority of people, quite on your own — and say, you became president of the U.S. or won a lot of gold medals, or even if you are barely featured on local news, let alone national news, now is the time to meet with the appropriate group and get your story out there, accurately, before it finally comes out — and probably in a way that's meant to cause you much more pain.