First, let me say that the congressional hearings on the use of steroids in Major League Baseball are a joke.

Of all the things our elected officials could be investigating, I think baseball should be dead last.

Second, I do not believe that baseball players should be ashamed of themselves. That sounds so petty, so juvenile. We can't give those players named in the Mitchell Report a spanking, send them to a corner, or place them in 'timeout'.

I also don't think their punishment should be limited to forced, fake, and farcical apologies. I don't care to hear their excuses because there are no excuses. There is only one reason: Money.

Better performance means more money, no matter the profession. I don't think we should asterisk their bios or stats. I think we should simply erase them.

We can't take back their years in the limelight. We can't take back McGwire and Sammy's magical year, competing for a home run title as they shared rehearsed handshakes. We can't take back the countless trots around the bases with thousands of screaming fans cheering them on. We can't back their fame or money, nor should be give them infamy and fines. We can't take back Barry's record either, nor should we.

No matter if you search on Espn.com or the baseball almanac, or any resource for that matter, when you look up the 1998 St. Louis Cardinals and scroll through the roster for No. 25, you shouldn't find it.

These men went from baseball players to the boys of summer to kings of diamond, to future Hall of Fame inductees. No, I don't think we should asterisk them, or berate them any further. We should just get rid of them all together. 

They got what they wanted; now they should get what they deserve.