Monday, December 17, 2007

More Mitchell musings

Hey guys:
It's been a few days since the infamous Mitchell Report was revealed and still I don't know what surprises me more -- that fact that less than 90 people were on this list, or that there are still many sportswriters who are actually surprised with who's on the list.
Yankees starter Andy Pettitte admitted to using HGH (human growth hormone) in 2002 and from reading some New York City columnists, you would have thought he murdered somebody.
From what I've seen and read over the years, I would think 90 is a low number. Like I said in a previous post, not seeing names like Mark McGwire or Sammy Sosa on the list shock me more than seeing the likes of Andy Pettitte or Miguel Tejada or Roger Clemens.
I also disagree with the notion that these guys should be suspended for their transgressions. Unless I'm missing the point -- and I'll use Pettitte as an example since he's the biggest New York name to admit he used HGH -- many of these athletes used HGH before baseball put it on its banned-substance list.
While I don't condone what these players did, and I do believe using HGH is cheating, I don't think you can rewrite history and take action on these players because Major League Baseball was slow in trying to address the problem.
For now, baseball has to live with the embarrassment.
Until next time, take care and God bless.