So, one more dumb baseball player got caught. Who's to blame? Jason Grimsley? Yes, but not really. I personally blame Don Fehr and Gene Orza and Bud Selig.

But mostly, I blame myself.

Back 12 years ago when we almost killed the game, the issue of testing came up at a player representatives meeting and when I stood up and asked for better testing throughout Major League Baseball, I was shot down by many other player reps. They spoke of privacy issues and many other stupid reasons for not testing.

Well look at the sport now. People doubting the records, Fans doubting the players, and everyone making excuses.

Thank God for Jose Canseco. And no, I don't think ratting out players was right, but what if he didn't get the ball rolling, where would we be? Who the hell cares how long some #### player gets suspended when the entire sport looks bad.

Enough is enough.

Start testing everyone across the board with the most extensive program you all can find. I'm sorry I wasn't strong enough to stick to my guns, but hopefully the majority of the players will stand up and take back their union and get honesty back in the game. If heads have to roll to get what you want, then stop protecting the minority of players who don't care what happens to the future of the game.

First posted on Thursday, Aug. 11

When Congress wanted to hold hearings on steroids I was amazed. Don't we have bigger problems in this country?

I had just been to Iraq six months earlier and found out there is a giant war going on. And when I was a player with the Cincinnati Reds, my teammates and I helped raise money for the homeless.

Just examples of the far more pressing questions in this country than why does Rafael Palmeiro use steroids, or why did any of the eight out of the 1,200 major-league roster players get caught using a banned substance?

Let me get this straight, one more time, baseball is the root of all the problems in America?

If I take 1,200 policemen, 1,200 firemen, 1,200 doctors, 1,200 politicians and 1,200 airline pilots, how many of them do you think would test positive for a banned substance? Yeah you got it, more then baseball. So why is it when baseball has a problem it's more important to clean it up than the rest of the country? I can't figure that one out either.

I was driving into work today and heard this bleeding-heart writer on a radio show. He said, "If I ever have children, and maybe one is a boy, and 20 years from now, if we are at a ballgame, and someone hits a pitch out of the ballpark and he asks me who hit the most home runs ever? Well, if it's a steroid user, or a rumored user, how will I explain to him what has happened to our game? The cheaters have taken that away from us."

Are you freaking kidding me? I almost crashed my truck.

I am a father of two children and I do get asked way tougher questions everyday. Like "Dad, why is that man living on the street? Dad, why are all those men and woman dying in Iraq?"

I'm sorry I got political on you, but let's get serious. Baseball is a game, it's not a social issue. I played it, I should know. AIDS, cancer, war ... these are social issues, and of far greater importance than Major League Baseball.

Can we all just wake up, and stop crying about baseball and stop trying to fix the world through baseball? Enjoy the game, it's a distraction, it's entertainment. But I don't think it will cure cancer; I should know, my father died from cancer.

To me it's simple, let baseball clean up its own act or else. And let the government clean up the country.

First posted on Friday, Aug. 5

Now that Baseball has finally caught their "Big Fish" and other baseball players of the Steroid Era have admitted to using steroids, whether it be injecting it into their ####, or in their stomach, or rubbing it on injuries, thinking it was flaxseed oil and not the clear and the cream, the Hall of Fame voters should rethink their position on how players get into the Hall of Fame.

Forget the numbers, forget the 3,000 hits and 500 home runs. Forget the players who may have some kind of cloud of su####ion hanging over their heads. It's time to put worthy candidates into the Hall — players like Dale Murphy and Andre Dawson, Bert Blyleven and Jim Rice. Players like Gil Hodges and Ron Santo, who may have not have reached the 500 or 3000 mark, or set a record for something at their position.

The hall and baseball need to lower the bar so to speak and raise the level of excellence for players entering the Hall of Fame in the future. If MLB and the Players Union can't return the game to it's rightful place maybe the Hall can.

Somewhere along the road we lost our way, somewhere players thought they had to use other means as a way to be the best. Players should be put back on the right path. The path that was paved by hard work and dedication, not injection or swallowing a magic pill.

The game is bigger then a few bad apples, and should be a place of honor and sportsmanship, not deception and greed. If it takes setting a new standard for reaching the game's most hallowed place, so be it. Baseball should be looked up to, as a great game, not a job or a paycheck. We need to EVEN the playing field. Now! Before it's too late.

First posted on Monday, Aug. 1

First, I'm physically sick and disgusted that this has happened. I've defended the players from Day One, and I feel embarrassed and cheated that Rafael Palmeiro has gotten caught using a banned substance.

The fact that he was so adamant in front of Congress that he never used steroids makes it even worse. Now he has the nerve to say he wasn't careful enough and didn't intentionally take them. Why do you need to be careful if you've never taken anything illegal?

I am sick that ANY player needs to cheat to play the game of baseball. Now the rest of the players and former players have to try and defend the sport because someone is so selfish and greedy.

I have a lot more feeling on this subject because anytime Palmeiro's name came up I was one of his biggest backers. I was always telling people, 'Look at this guy, he's got these great numbers and he's not as big as some of the other players, he's not a hulking guy.' What is really perplexing is that the players who have the most to lose and the least to gain should be the most careful.

If you really want forgiveness, don't stand behind the players' union — come out and be a man the way you were back in March.

One last thing: When Jose Canseco's book came out, Rafael Palmeiro was one of the only players who was going to sue Canseco over what was in the book. Now we know why he never did.

I and many other baseball fans feel very foolish today. To not be fighting mad that you came up positive... if it were my name, no union or lawyer could make me keep quiet about it.