In recent years, we've seen the government get involved with the steroid investigation in baseball, the issue between cable companies and the NFL over their channel the NFL Network; and finally, the cause of this piece, the recent suspensions of NFL players over their use of a banned substance. First, take a look at the investigation over steroids. Whether you are a fan of Barry Bonds or not; whether you think he took steroids or not; do you realize this man faces years in prison as he's been charged with purgery? Take a second….now think about why Barry Bonds could be sentenced to prison. He allegedly lied….to Congress….about taking steroids. Can someone please answer me why he had to testify in the first place? Why should the government get involved when MLB chose to ignore it…. and it's their product.

In the case of the NFL; by far the most successful of professional sports; they were threatened financially by the government over keeping NFL Network only on DirecTV. Why wasn't it on cable? Because the cable companies refused to pay the asking price of the NFL. The price couldn't have been that bad, as the satellite companies paid it. So instead of letting capitalism do what it does… there is interference.

The recent incident involved the suspension of 6 NFL players as they tested positive for a banned substance in the NFL. The NFL clearly states that a player is responsible for anything he puts into his body. There is no middle ground on this; if you test positive for a substance that is banned… you are suspended for four games. This policy could not be any clearer; even the fans know this rule. Yet, these players test positive… and then we have a lawsuit. This Minnesota judge prevents the NFL from suspending these players for breaking the rules, they knew, they could not break. So now the courts are preventing the NFL….from punishing it's employees, for violating the rules. Just think about this for a moment.

I suppose I should be glad that no one is in this country is unemployed. No one is starving; poverty is not an issue; we don't have troops fighting on foreign soil; the economy isn't in a recession. I mean, the world must be perfect if our elected politicians have time to investigate something as trivial as a game.

“And with that Mark McGwire has 70 homeruns in one season.”

“Barry Bonds just shattered Mark McGwire’s record with 73 homeruns in one season.”

Barry Bonds who doubled baseballs mortality rate of falling balls from all those homers and Mark McGwire who I can’t think of a good joke for, two names commonly associated with steroids.  And although because of these two names, people think of the punishment for steroids as many bad things, but what is the real penalty for steroids in the MLB and other sports?

If Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire had been Olympic athletes and had tested positive for anabolic steroids (steroids) twice, they would have been banned for life.  Had they been NFL competitors and this was their third offense, there would have been a one year minimum penalty, which is about 16 games, or more if your team makes it to the postseason.  But test positive 3 times in baseball you are suspended for 60 days, not even half a season, a lot closer to a third (and that’s if you’re dumb enough to get caught 3 times).  The only sport not as hard on steroids as the MLB is the NBA except for the NHL which doesn’t test).  Even the minor leagues have harsher penalties than the MLB, which really doesn’t make sense, because as indicated in it’s name the minor leagues prepare players for the Majors.  Also, contrary to popular belief, if your story makes the news, you aren’t suddenly an exception to the rule or exempt from the Hall of Fame.  Rafael Palmiero’s story was on the news and a big deal, yet he was suspended for, huh, 10 days.  Funny how that works.

Even though I think steroid use is wrong and idiotic, (because it’s kind of obvious you’re finding some ‘extra help’ when your arms start looking like logs) maybe steroids, in the big picture aren’t as much of an advantage.  Sure it’s great help at the plate but how do they affect your fielding?  All steroids actually do is increase strength, muscle mass and the ability to train longer and beside the training advantage, wait… do muscle mass and strength increase you fielding ability… no.  So while they are great hitting help, all they really do for your fielding is decrease athleticism and cause tendon and ligament damage, (not to mention some other nasty side effects like liver tumors) which is not good, by the way.  Another not so good effect is that of fan views.  Barry Bonds has gone from sparking conversations like, “Daddy, when I grow up I wanna be Barry Bonds,” to “Daddy why is Barry Bonds so bad?” So the way I figure it is, in the overall picture how much do they help you.

So, assuming I am right is the penalty actually about right.  I still don’t think so.  Even after all I said, I still think steroids are too much of an advantage at the plate.  What I think the MLB should do is pick a side.  By that I mean say either “you take steroids, you die,” or “Let’s look the other way.”  The pretty obvious choice is to go stricter on steroids because of all the benefits they have, and not to mention they are illegal.  Of course that’s just what I and the majority of Americans think.

Now imagine that man being hated: his accomplishments belittled by nearly every magazine, newspaper, broadcast personality and fan across the nation. Imagine the commissioner of baseball himself saying that he will not be present when your boy finally comes trotting down the third base line towards home plate and a permanent spot atop the pantheon of American sports icons. Imagine your boyhood savior's entire legacy reduced to swindling embarrassment because of matters unrelated to sports. Does it hurt?

Now picture this. It is nearly irrefutable fact that within a matter of weeks (perhaps even days) Giants' slugger, Barry Bonds will surpass Henry Aaron and become the all-time home run king of Major League Baseball… Does that hurt? Odds are that if you are a baseball fan and not a resident of San Francisco, California it does. If it doesn't, you probably at least conform to the widely accepted disdain for a man who has come to symbolize all that is soulless and wrong with America's favorite pastime.

To the casual fan or outsider this storybook-like image of one man being responsible above all others for baseball's most zeitgeist problem, demands no second thought. But let us first review the facts before accepting the above: The system for testing major leaguers for illegal substances has been established by Major League baseball and Bud Selig (commissioner of the MLB). The latter made that system more rigorous two years ago solely because of pressures from congress to do so. Even after said changes, the current policy is a complete joke. While a fifty game suspension for a first offence and a lifetime ban for a third offence would seem to be fairly adequate consequences, the odds of being tested are outrageously slim. Furthermore, testing takes place uniquely during the off-season and athletes are not only made aware of the list of players that may be tested, but are also given the dates between which those players might be subjected to such a test.

So how does all of this relate back San Fran's big number twenty-five and our obsession with sticking him on the cover of the steroid era? Well, try this on for size: Barry Bonds has never tested positive for steroids or performance-enhancing drugs of any kind under Major League Baseball's testing policy. In light of this oft-overlooked detail, how could it be that this particular player has been singled out above the hundreds of others suspected of using performance-enhancing drugs? And why has Bonds been painted as the lone bad guy of baseball's steroid fiasco? The answer: because Barry Bonds is the perfect antagonist for fans, the media and big league baseball from a strictly off field perspective, and not from a baseball point of view.

First of all, it is no secret the Barry Bonds is far from the most personable of individuals. His refusal to cooperate with the media and even his own team (Bonds has for some time insisted on working with his own private trainers and doctors, therein abandoning franchise cooperation and distancing himself from his teammates) has long since put a fan and media bull's-eye on his back. The 2006 release of Game of Shadows, an investigative report on “Barry Bonds, BALCO and the steroid scandal that rocked professional sports”, was for many the final assertion of Bonds' true, dislikable colors. The book, in addition to strongly suggesting the slugger's frequent use of anabolic steroids and HGH, revealed love affairs, shady dealings with trainers behind gyms and violent tendencies towards both his mistress and others who at times seem to aggravate him. Bonds' every day, disagreeable personality combined with the lack of support from his teammates, spawned from such, has made Barry an easy target for fan disdain and media hatred.

Another, more structural element of the Barry Bonds saga is the context of the record he is up against. The current all time home run leader is Henry Aaron, an athlete respected for his longevity and consistency of play. “Hank” was the NL MVP in 1957, won three Gold Glove awards as an outfielder and made a stunning twenty-four all-star game appearances (a record no player has yet to approach). More pertinently however, Aaron's career spanned from 1954-1976. His hay-day and passing of Babe Ruth's historic threshold happened in the opening days of the 1974 season. Isn't it curious then, that the vast majority of contemporary sports writers and broadcast personalities are currently between the ages of thirty-five and sixty? Hmm… just the group of young baseball fans who would have grown up treating Aaron as (to quote myself) “the center of their every sports fantasy”. It seems then that history, as it so often does, repeats itself. Aaron was also faced with opposition from the powers-that-were, when he threatened to break The Babe's most hallowed record. Because the men whose opinions were heard around the sporting world at that time grew up idolizing Ruth, they were equally reluctant to see their respective all-time favorite player be surpassed.

This is the cue for an ardent anti-Bonds advocate to bring race into the discussion: “Well the people who didn't want to see Hank break the record were bigots, opposed to a black man beating a white man, not the broadcasters of the time. Barry hasn't had to deal with any race-based discrimination!” my father for example might say in a smug, resolute tone. Sorry dad, but not true. Another hugely important part of Bonds' being cast in the role of villain is in fact the color of his skin. It is easy to praise professional sports in general, as genuinely diverse entities. That however would be nearly a complete fabrication. While the percentage of white players in the game has declined, there is a clearly disproportionate force driving African Americans out of and Hispanic players into Baseball.

This phenomenon has to do with fundamental economics. Take two seventeen year old, un-drafted, infinitely but equally promising, pitching prospects. On of these is a black kid from Chicago's south side who has grown up knowing that if he makes it to “The Show” he will be paid an incredible sum of money and made into a big star. The other is a poor Nicaraguan who grew up in a home with seven siblings and made his first glove out of a milk carton. Obviously then, a franchise interested in acquiring young pitching can make the same offer sound a whole lot sweeter to the Nicaraguan prospect than to the Chicagoan. This scenario is not some far off view of what might be, or the dealings of a few penny-pinching GMs, but a real look -albeit simplified- into what happens literally every day within major league franchises. The proof is that African Americans constitute a mere eleven percent of all major league players and than number is shrinking rapidly.

In other words, the contemporary relationship between the black community and Major League Baseball is suffering because of problems stemming from business and money; just the things that tend to sway public opinion via marketing, the press etc. Bonds, as the most notable member of the black community in baseball, has consequently absorbed the brunt of this confrontation, particularly in the eyes and hearts of the modern fan, media and Baseball official.

All of these topics of consideration - reputation, historical context, anatomical evidence (or lack thereof) and race - as sports or un-sports related as they may be, are nevertheless legitimate queries with the greatest player of this, and perhaps any other generation. None of us should be surprised that he is singled out. No one should question that he is held to a higher standard. As Winston Churchill so succinctly put it, “the price of greatness is responsibility” and it is altogether fitting and proper that Bonds should have to pay the price of responsibility.

But for heaven sakes, let the kids of this generation love the Ruth or the Aaron of their own time. Don't deprive them of a hero who, at the end of the day, only wanted to excel more than anyone before him ever had. Because the moment we stop letting these men awe us is the moment that baseball loses its reason for being... and the game will have lost all that makes it great.

Football has a strict testing installed, but has still let few slip through their fingers. But for the most part, have caught any player using performance enhancing drugs. The NFL has turned into a league filled with selfishness and stupidity, lucky enough there are plenty of class acts in the league too. It is by far the most popular sport in the country, especially with the present situation in baseball.

The negative publicity involving NFL players this past fall has started to make a majority of head-case players look like bad role models. Young kids start to follow sports more regularly, and hear the crimes these players commit. What does it tell them? The NFL shows hope however,with its vast amount of role models like Peyton Manning, a great player but still a class act off the field.

Baseball faces many issues right now, and will be a better place when this witch hunt is over, if it's ever over. Congress questioned big names like Mcgwire a few years back, and didn't really get much. Now the nation has Roger Clemens lying about steroid use on the stand, and doing a very poor job doing so. The steroid area in baseball is making the 1919 world series seem like less of thrown game. Clemens did things in his career that amazed a fan whether they're a first time viewer, or a die hard ball fan. He was fun to watch, and a well respected player by all. Barry Bonds is probably jumping in joy over his new cell mate.

The history books will soon be filled with black marks signifying the era where cheating was everywhere, and everyone was doing it. In this day and age the winner seems like they should have their urine tested prior, and following the game. Sporting events start to look sad when there is a heavy confusion as to if what you're watching, is history being made, or a big scandal going down. The only thing steroids, and other forms of drugs do for sports is paint a scary picture of what the future could be like.

But with all the negativity surrounding the sporting world right now, the role modeling really doesn't come down to the players. The athletes we watch are being paid to play their sport well, and hopefully act like a civilized human being when they aren't doing so. These athletes show kids how cool it looks to be that talented and give them something to reach for. At the end of the day it's really up to the parents to explain that even athletes make decisions that aren't right.

In a perfect world athletes wouldn't disappoint the fan with their actions off the field, but it's been going on forever. Even the greats like Mantle, and The Babe acted like tom cats off the field and still went on to inspire millions. Athletes are human beings that are capable of making the same mistakes as anyone else. The only difference between a mistake the average Joe makes and an athlete, is Joe won't be in the news tomorrow, he'll just make the local docket.

How is it that in this majestic moment the only words that come to my lips are, “Un-freakin-believable!”? I find it hard to believe that I've been robbed of my “Hank Aaron moment” as I like to call it. My parents' generation had a chance to witness Hank Aaron breaking the most sacred record in all of sports. It's hard to believe that when the same opportunity is presented to my generation we greet it with disgust, but who can blame us?

Barry Bonds blasting 756 homeruns would really mean something to me if I were certain he had done nothing artificial to aid in his performance. Honestly, I could get past the fact that he could be surly at times and not a particularly outgoing media personality, so long as he hit a lot of homeruns. However, that all changed after 2001.

When Bonds hit 73 homeruns in 2001 he got the ovation a child gets for staying in the lines in a coloring book. No one cared, at least I didn't. It was great and all, but the real magic I remember was the "98 season. McGwire and Sosa battling it out all year only to have Big Mac break the single season record while playing against Sosa at Busch Stadium. That season rang true for me because it made me love baseball even more than I previously had.

Even if both McGwire and Sosa are suspected to have taken steroids I wish them the best because they were genuine people who played the game with class. I enjoyed watching Sammy Sosa hop around the bases, or Mark McGwire swinging his bat like a toothpick. I've never particularly enjoyed Bonds since the 2000 season.

In the "90s growing up I loved the guy because he could run, hit, field, and he was an MVP and of course a little kid"s going to love an MVP. But after the '98 season I didn"t see how any moment could top Mark McGwire breaking the single season homerun record on September 8th, my ninth birthday. I was right.

Nothing Bonds has done since his record breaking 73 homerun season has made me want to watch him again. His very saunter around the base paths bothers me because I know he's taking it for granted, “Oh, here's another homerun. Man I'm lucky I know Victor Conte and Greg Anderson.”

Bonds' attitude, physique, and even the size of his head turn me off. Why would I want to see such a nasty person break baseball two most sacred records? I don't! Ruth did it on hot dogs and beer, Aaron did his thing by swinging a heavy bat and running, Bonds did it by … well who knows? All I know is that I will never be able to accept Barry Bonds as the greatest hitter in history because he never proved to me that he had the talent to be the king without the help of a steroid army.

The only thing I can say is this: Barry, enjoy it while it lasts, because what goes around comes around, and the MLB as well as baseball country is coming around for you.

There are many great milestones in baseball. 3,000 strikeouts, 300 wins, 550 home runs, 400 stolen bases, 400 saved games, 2000 RBI's and of course, 3000 hits. Reaching any of these milestones will generally get you a first place ticket into the Hall, mainly because by reaching them, you had to be one of the best.

Craig Biggio was not one of the best. He was just a good player, a hard worker who rarely missed a game, never complained about his contract and was a leader on his team by setting the example. Biggio's statistics have dropped considerably in the last few years, but he has still been a big contributor. His team made it to the World Series a few years ago and with the exception of this season, has been very competitive in the National League.

The night he hit 3,000, it was perhaps one the most inspirational of any feat of this capacity. As Biggio reached first base, he could have stopped and enjoyed reaching the mark. But that is not who Craig Biggio is, so he ran as hard as he could and tried to stretch that single into a double. He didn't do it for the spotlight, nor did he do it for the stat, he did it because that is how he plays. He treats every at bat just like that. So when he was thrown out at second he was rewarded by a large roar of the crowd.

Biggio's standing ovation was memorable. His old teammate, Jeff Bagwell, was brought out by Biggio to share in the moment. The two had been teammates for 14 years and Bagwell was extremely honored to be apart of the memorable event. The fans enjoyed it too.

Biggio could have relaxed for the rest of the game, for it was already his night. But in extra innings, he again made a play that we all will remember. Hitting the ball in the infield toward third, he sprinted as hard as he possibly could to reach first before the ball got there. The fielder had done a good job of fielding, made a good strong throw, but Biggio would not be denied, keeping the inning alive and sparking yet another memorable moment. Carlos Lee ended up hitting a walk off home run that drove Biggio around the bases and on Biggio's biggest night, he had been the official game winning run. It was a 5 hit night for him, only the second time in his career to do so.

As for the future, we don't know how long he will play. He may play until the Astros force him to retire, like they did with Bagwell or he may decide soon that it is time to hang up his cleats. One thing is for sure though, Biggio will be a Hall of Famer 5 years after he retires.

If you ask many different people you could give a different opinion from everyone. Bonds has been accused of using steroids among other performance drugs. None of this has been proven just yet.

As he approaches the record each day more people voice their opinions about Bonds. Some of the baseball legends have seem to ignore Bonds as they don't really know what to make of it. Whispers of him cheating have been going around for the last few years, but still no proof just yet. Bonds will break the record this year and what then. Will he be voted to the Hall Of Fame when he reties and his time comes? Most people would say no. many feel he has cheated and done it in an illegal way.

The bottom line though is unless someone can bring proof Bonds will be in the Hall Of Fame and many won't like it, but that's just the way it is. Cheating in baseball has been going on a very long time. It's just that more people are noticing now than ever before thus making it a subject of mass confusion.

Never mind that 33 years ago, these same people said Aaron surpassing Babe Ruth was the worst thing that could happen - not because of what was in his body but because of the color of his skin. Never mind that Bonds has yet to fail any drug tests that would allow Bud Selig to fulfill his desire to remove Barry from the game. Never mind that while people in this country perform this witch hunt on Bonds, they chastise the French for doing the exact same thing to Lance Armstrong.

I'm flat out tired of so many flat out saying, “I know Bonds cheated.” How do you know? Did you actually see him stick the needle in his rear?

Do I believe steroids and other performance drugs need to be removed from the game? Yes. They're dangerous to the players' health and lives. And players today who choose to not take that risk should not be at a disadvantage.

But it makes me laugh to hear people say that steroids have ruined baseball's honesty and integrity.

As a die-hard baseball fan, I can honestly say this: Baseball has been the most dishonest sport for more than a hundred years. Players have corked bats, lubed balls, stolen signs from the beginning. Cheating isn't just accepted in the game: It's glorified.

Am I overreacting? How can I be when Alex Rodriguez blatantly knocks the ball out of a fielders' glove to try and get a cheap run in a playoff game, and then Tim McCarver says "on the air" that it was the right thing to do? We're the ones who've created the belief that the only thing worse than cheating is losing.

To illustrate my point, here's a list of legendary cheaters that are just as bad if not worse than Bonds, only some of them are almost lauded for their dishonesty.

Honorable Mention: 1919 White Sox

I'm leaving the Black Sox off the main list because I choose to focus on players who cheated to win. Still, we should never forget: What those seven players (I'll leave out Buck Weaver) did in 1919 was a million times worse than any steroid scandal and the strikes of 1981 and 1994 combined.

5. Bucky Dent

Okay, I admit this one's a reach. Still, any accusations that Dent cheated he brought on himself. He didn't have to say he swung a corked bat to hit only his fifth home run of the 1978 season and help the Yankees ruin the Red Sox season yet again. He's backslided ever since.

4. Mike Scott

Ask any who stood in the box against Scott in the mid 80s and they'll tell you he was scuffing the ball. A guy who was 29-44 before 1985 suddenly became unhittable with a split-finger pitch that violated the laws of physics? What may be worse is how the National League let him get away with it. In one game he snuck the memory board out of his pocket and his second baseman slipped it off the mound - and it seemed only the umpire didn't see it. After Game 4 of the 1986 NLCS, the New York Mets sent the league office over 20 baseballs he'd thrown that were all scuffed in the exact same place; the league did nothing.

3. Gaylord Perry

How is supposedly using steroids to hit 500 home runs so much worse than using a grease ball to win 300 games? Unlike Scott, Perry has since admitted to his ball doctoring, which, unlike steroids, has been officially banned from baseball since 1920. I can only think of two reasons why ball doctoring gets such a free pass: Because pitchers were able to do it 50 years ago (and allowed to 90), and because so many baseball purists believe, to paraphrase George Orwell, “pitching good, hitting bad.” Anything that takes runs off the board is okay.

2. John McGraw

He taught players to trip base runners and grab their belts. He owned a pool hall with Arnold Rothstein, who allegedly financed the Black Sox Scandal. He signed at least one player who'd been kicked of his former team for gambling. He basically did everything that was wrong with baseball before 1919, yet he's regarded as the greatest manager ever.

1. The 1951 New York Giants

They're still regarded as one of the greatest stories in baseball history. Bobby Thomson's shot is still called a greater home run than Bill Mazeroski, Kirk Gibson or Joe Carter. Never mind that those players have since admitted that they used a telescope in center field to steal their opponents' signs during that entire miraculous 13 game comeback. Ironically, this is the franchise that Barry Bonds now plays for. Why is there the cry to get him out of the game but not for his team to take down that pennant?