Ozzie Guillen Making Sense? Impossible!

Baseball is one of my biggest passions. The sport is so simple, yet at the same time so complex. Unfortunately the sport has had to deal with the ugly cloud of steroids for around 10 years now, and frankly it's getting a bit absurd.

Enter Ozzie Guillen. Now personally I'm not a huge fan of his, I think he can be overbearing and a bit of a drama queen. However, he has his occasional moment, and Thursday he hit the nail on the head in light of the David Ortiz steroid allegations.

When approached for an interview Thursday, Ozzie told the reporters that Major League Baseball needs to get its act together and release every name that appears on that "anonymous" Drug Survey from 2003. I could not agree more.

So far seven names from that list of 103 players who tested positive has been released, and as Ozzie said, every time a name has been released the media goes into a frenzy. I feel the problem goes deeper than that.

Back in 2003, before steroid testing was even established, Major League Baseball requested all its players take a drug test to establish how big the steroid problem really was. Players were told the test results would be kept anonymous; thus no players could be tied to a positive test result. In all, 103 players tested positive for steroid use.

Slowly, the names of players from that list were being discovered by the media and thus creating the circus that we must deal with. Back in February, when Alex Rodriguez was discovered to be on that list; the media had a field day. For what seems like two months, all we heard about was A-Rod tarnished his legacy and "if he is on the list anyone could be". 

As a Yankee fan I am by no means defending A-Rod; he cheated to get an advantage and he deserved to be found out. What I will say is that it is unfair for A-Rod to be persecuted in the court of public opinion while about 100 other players are free to go about their business.

Fast forward to yesterday, when it was revealed that both Ortiz and Manny Ramirez also failed the same drug test as Rodriguez. The media backlash and cries for the truth began, and rightfully so. As with A-Rod, they were caught using steroids and deserved to be exposed. However, now we have to go through the same old song and dance for the next month or so, or until the next name is leaked.

Here is Ozzie's major gripe: Why should only certain players' names be discovered, while others skate under the radar. Release them all at once so all the steroid users are exposed at once. That way we just have to sit through one massive media circus instead of about 50 smaller ones.

I think it's vital for the sport that all names be released. Yes, the test was supposedly anonymous, but with names getting leaked, it is no longer fair for certain players to get a pass while others must be thrown into the fire. The media opened up Pandora's Box when it started discovering the names of players from that failed drug test, and now MLB must step up and fix the problem for good.

There is some fear and trepidation if the list is made public. What if Albert Pujols is on the list, and more personally for me, what if Derek Jeter's name is on there? However, the truth must be told so MLB can finally get past the black eye that was the steroid era.