Mark McGwire finally admitted to what pretty much everybody already knew. He took steroids. He does this as a door opens to his future as the hitting coach for the St. Louis Cardinals. But as that door opens another slams shut never to open. The door to Cooperstown. I am wondering if he thought coming clean will get him into the Hall. He probably should have asked Pete Rose about that.

Personally, I feel betrayed. He was a hero of mine growing up. A massive kid that crushed the rookie record for homeruns as he towered over everyone near him. He was Ruth re-born but, unlike Ruth (In baseball anyway) he was a liar and a cheater. A liar in that he has been telling everyone since day one that he doesnt use steroids. A cheater in that he used a chemical substance as an unfair advantage in baseball. Sure steroids werent banned in baseball until 1991 but it was and still is illegal to obtain a prescription drug for uses other than it was intended. In sports you and or your team use talent, strategy, and drive to beat the other team. Not a syringe full of chemical cocktail.

Using steroids in baseball is like turning the odometer back on your 1965 Corvette and selling it. It was worth money before you did it. It is still a Corvette. Sure its illegal but it is a personal choice. Doing this one illegal act has added value to something that already had a lot of value. On a very base level it is wrong. You know it is wrong. However, you wont be banned from ever owning a Corvette again if you are caught. The guy buying the Corvette gets screwed. He thought he was buying something with actual miles.

This should be the final nail in this issue. The Commissioner of baseball should say enough is enough. He should pick the beginning of the 2011 season as the official end of steroids. From that date forward anyone caught using any performance enhancing products should be banned for life. Period. No appeals from the Players Association. No second chances. They will have plenty of time to get off the crap and play real baseball or retire. Then fans can start believing in the players again.

In his interview with Bob Costas, McGwire admitted to using so many steroids he couldnt remember exactly what he took and went on to say, in practically the same breath, that steroids didnt enhance his abilities.

Wait...What?

Sure they didnt. He hit baseballs farther and faster than any human ever has. I watched him at batting practice in the Metrodome before a game with the Minnesota Twins. He was the third or fourth person up. The guys before him hit probably 2-3 balls total into the stands out of close to 75 hits. McGwire gets to the plate and starts sending the baseballs into orbit. He hit balls into the upper deck of far-right, right, center, left and far-left stands IN ORDER like he was checking them off a list.

Steroids didnt help him out though.