Mark McGwire Comes Clean... He was Dirty!

Mark McGwire admits steroid use.

The shoe has finally dropped... Mark McGwire has finally admitted what all of us have suspected for years, that he used steroids. He also added that he used HGH. He sent a statement to the Associated Press, then conducted a telephone interview with them shortly thereafter admitting his transgression. McGwire said he tried steroids in the 1989/1990 offseason and then used them again when he had an injury in 1993. In his statement he said "I used them on occasion throughout the '90s, including during the 1998 season." The 1998 season was of course when McGwire and Sammy Sosa had that captivating homerun duel that brought baseball back after the 1994 strike. Isn't it ironic that McGwire helped bring baseball out of a huge negative and hand deliver it to another?

The steroids era is arguably one of the biggest black eyes that the sport has endured, if not the biggest. That is because seemingly, everybody has tried some sort of performance enhancing drug. The biggest stars down to the most insignificant role players have seemed to dabble. I thought McGwire made a royal fool of himself in front of Congress when he refused to talk to them about steroids. He kept saying "I'm not here to talk about the past"... Well Mark... You were a retired baseball player, so being that you had no future plans to play, what else might you talk about? Why did you waste our time?

I don't know why McGwire is coming out now. Maybe he's trying to get into the Hall of Fame by coming clean... Although I don't think it will happen... Maybe he has a book coming out... Who knows?? But I can't see his reputation getting any better. His reasoning for using steroids is because he wanted to recover from injuries. He called his use of steroids "foolish." He expressed regret for his actions. That’s all well and good Mark. I forgive you. Now go back under the rock that you came from. I'm tired of this story. P.S. Tell Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Roger Clemens, and all of the other knuckleheads that if they want to come out, do it all at once so we can get rid of this story once and for all... By the way, McGwire is scheduled to do a live interview with Bob Costas tonight. If anything of note happens, I'll add it to the blog.

***ADDENDUM***

Ok... after watching the interview... I will just add 2 things... 1. McGwire tried and tried and tried but couldn't quite get that tear to come out of his eye... Pitiful!!

2. More importantly, McGwire said that he took the steroids to try and recover faster from his injuries... Ok... I'll buy that... But when asked if the drugs ever helped him perform better... He says he couldn't see it. Mark... I know you were a homerun hitter... but the steroids didn't help you hit 70 in 1998??? I'm not buying it. He said he didn't come out so he could get into the Hall of Fame... That's good because it doesn't look like you will!!