Major League Baseball and Steroids: Step Aside, Mr. Senator

Alex Rodriguez tested positive for steroids in 2003.

Golly gee wilikers, the world must be ending. I say we stop right now and forget this baseball thing ever happened.

Or we could forgive and forget, and just move on with this whole idea of the game of baseball.

Do I care that Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Rodriquez or Joe Schmo tested positive for steroids? Yes. Does it make me less of a baseball fan? Not really. It makes me less of a fan of the player. Not the game.

What makes me less of a fan of the game is the way the Steroid Era has been handled.

Should Congress ever have been involved? I mean, is this a joke? Most of these guys and gals do not know which direction the pitcher's mound is. Why should they be deciding the futures of the baseball stars who tested positive?

Even inside the game of baseball, the suspensions have been a joke. Is a 10, 15, 25, and 50-game suspension enough for a player who tainted the game? And now A-Rod receives no penalty at all, yet J.C. Romero gets suspended 50 games for something that appears to be on the fault of the league?

That is messed up. Real messed up. The MLB themselves has ruined the integrity of the game. Not the players.

So now is the time we change this. From this moment on, you take it, you face it. You want to juice up? Fine, then have fun working in a pizza parlor for the next 20 years.

No suspensions. No warnings. No slaps on the hand. You take it, you face it. You are out of the game no matter how much you took nor how long you took it.

First, get Congress' nose out of baseball's business. That's the top priority. If Congress really cared about the situation, they would be going after every single player who tested positive and not just Bonds, McGwire, Sosa, A-Rod, Clemens, Palmeiro, etc. If you want to charge Bonds, then you need to charge J.C. Romero as well.

No more pick-and-choosing. No more games. This and baseball and lets keep it like that. Let baseball clean this up, not the government—who really should be focusing on other things these days. It's not like we are at war or in an economic crisis. Nope, everything is all peachy perfect.

I do not care if you take the smallest amount of  performance-enhancing drugs, or load up every single day on them. You take it, you face it. It is sad to say it, but that is the way it has to be done.

An 18-year-old kid who has no clue in the world and just wants to get better should not be banned from baseball in normal circumstances. But this is not normal anymore. This is crunch time. This is when Major League Baseball gets their own test. They either pass or fail. There is no way in between.

The fact that we are at the point we are at now is a shame. So from now on, the shame ends. The only way to get this stuff out of the game is to get the people who use it out of the game.

Do you take away A-Rod's records? How about Bonds'? No, you cannot. You cannot penalize them for a rule that was not in place when they took steroids.

But from this day on, from Feb. 16, 2008 on, any player who tests positive for PED's should be banned from baseball and have their records taken away. You do that, and I guarantee you that you will get this junk out of Major League Baseball.

There is just one problem. Major League Baseball is too afraid to do this. You do this, and you will likely lose many of your top players in the coming years.

So what. You get new superstars. You get new home run king's. You get new strikeout leaders. Most importantly, you get clean players.

Will there always be that certain few who decide to cheat? Duh. That is the world for you. I mean, people actually eat other people. I think some are going to juice up every once in a while. It is only practical.

It is plain and simple, there is no way to completely clean baseball of steroids. Every sport has them, every sport always will. But banning any player who uses any form of a substance that is not allowed will no-doubt lower that number. Drastically.

I do not hate the game of baseball for the Steroid Era. I actually like baseball more now than I did a few years ago. It is the players who I do not like. So get rid of those players.

I will find new favorite players. I have to do it every decade or so anyway when those players retire. Players retire and leave the game, so just get rid of them earlier. It is not like you are going to run out of superstar's.

Is my idea really going to ever happen? No. Do I wish it would? Obviously, yes. Why else would I be rambling like this? But hey, that is why I am a fan and not the Commissioner. Maybe I will be the Commissioner some day, but for now, I can only babble to you, the readers, about my meaningless thoughts.

Just remember—you take it, you face it.