The first wave of steroid accusations came in the form of Jose Conseco's book, "Juiced." Congress held a hearing; Sammy Sosa forgot English, Conseco forgot what his own book was about, and Mark Mcgwier went from hero to shriveled man in a day. The only person who came out of the steroid hearings looking good was Raphael Palmeiro, period.
      Palmeiro simply deigned any use. He even verbalized his punctuation, he was that clear. "Let me start by telling you this: I have never used steroids, period. I don't know how to say it anymore clearly than that"
     Straightforward enough, I believed him, and a lot of other people with their willful ignorance did too. So it appeared, at the time, that the way to dodge the steroid accusation bullet was to firmly deny deny deny. Then Palmeiro tested positive for steroids the very next season…oops.
     Since then the prescription for tackling the steroid pointing fingers has been a mixed bag. Bond's just yelled at anybody who pointed out the fact that there were briefcase loads of evidence pointing that he juiced up. Some, like Mcgwier and then Palmeiro have gone into hiding, their names only to resurface when a hall of fame ballot comes up. And Sosa still doesn't remember English.
     The new wave of accusations that have come out this winter however are backed by major league baseball…and several stars have been indicated. Most notably Roger Clemens, Andy Pettite, Brian Roberts, and the retired David Justice. This has left these players in a tricky situation, knowing that with Palmeiro's test results the firm flat out denial no longer works.
     Roger Clemens has come out on the offensive. Letting anybody and everybody know that his accuser, Brian McNamee, was a troubled soul who would lie to get himself out of trouble. Yes, Clemens wanted us to feel bad for him. He covertly taped conversations, filed lawsuits, held two press conferences and even went on 60 minutes. So how does Clemens come off looking so bad? Isn't this what fans wanted? Hadn't we always told Bonds, 'well if they're lying…sue?'
        Maybe it's the effect of Bonds that has made the Andy Pettite's and the Brian Roberts come off looking the best in this whole ordeal. Oddly enough it seems that those who have admitted using steroids are looking better then those that deny it! Could it be that fans are just sick of being lied too? Are fans just sick of having their intelligence insulted by people like bonds who question our ability to say…read?
      It makes sense to me that it would turn out that way. The whole thought process behind using steroids in the first place is that, 'I'm above the law,' or, 'I'm more entitled then anyone else.' To me that's the part of the steroid era that bothers me the most.
But if the key to looking good coming out of the steroid era is to own up to it…what if in the off chance…Clemens didn't do steroids? What is he to do then? Let his legacy be tarnished? Or fight back in what looks like a non-genuine attempt to find what he wants us to believe is the truth?
     It appears then, that the lasting legacy of the steroid era, will not be that players cheated. It will not be the false hope given to young fans of the 90's like myself. It will be the loss of trust of the fans to even their favorite players. It's a catch-22, and unfortunately for some, it may be the best thing for baseball if we all just move on…