Breaking News: McGwire Admits Steroid Use

What we had long suspected was confirmed today. Just this afternoon, former Cards slugger and single season home run king Mark McGwire admitted to the AP that he used steroids.

My first reaction?

Wow.

My second reaction?

Thanks for finally coming clean.

My third reaction?

Disgust, resentment, and sadness.

It takes a big man to admit his mistakes, it takes a much lesser man to admit his mistakes nearly a decade later. Remember how we all thought Pete Rose's admission of gambling would allow him to be inducted into the Hall of Fame? Yea, right. While this news is just breaking, the reports from the major news outlets are that McGwire has admitted to using steroids throughout the 90's, including his record breaking season of 1998. Here are some of his more startling quotes from SI's piece and our reaction...

"After all this time, I want to come clean," he said. "I was not in a position to do that five years ago in my congressional testimony, but now I feel an obligation to discuss this and to answer questions about it. I'll do that, and then I just want to help my team."

You weren't in a position to come clean in front of congress? What does that say about McGwire's character? McGwire only feels an obligation to answer questions now that he is back in baseball as the Cardinals hitting coach? Seriously? You have to wonder if Bud Selig or other high ups in MLB are behind this admission now so as to not make it an issue during the season. This gives the appearance that baseball is strong in cleaning up its past, present, and future.

"I'm sure people will wonder if I could have hit all those home runs had I never taken steroids," McGwire said. "I had good years when I didn't take any, and I had bad years when I didn't take any. I had good years when I took steroids, and I had bad years when I took steroids. But no matter what, I shouldn't have done it and for that I'm truly sorry."

Yes Mark, we do wonder. His confession puts him in a better spot than villains such as Bonds and Clemens who have never come clean, but why wait this long? Is this comment supposed to be directed to those Hall of Fame voters that are blocking your entry into Cooperstown? Sure, you know what, we believe you this time. Maybe you would have only hit 500 home runs without steroids - and maybe you would have been a career AAA player. We're the ones who are sorry Mark, sorry that we thought you were something you clearly weren't.

"I wish I had never touched steroids," McGwire said in a statement. "It was foolish and it was a mistake. I truly apologize. Looking back, I wish I had never played during the steroid era."

When all is said and done, there is nothing but sadness. Looking back at the Summer of '98, those memories are never the same now that we know McGwire cheated. But, I also feel sad for McGwire and others. Maybe we'll never know why these players felt the need to take steroids, but this is a man that will never be able to live down his past as an admitted cheat. For what appeared to be one of the great players of a sporting generation to regret his career at the top is perhaps the greatest condemnation of the Steroid Era, and the most stunning of his admissions.

So what we have to ask ourselves as fans is this - was it worth it? Was it worth it to bring baseball back from the '94 strike with presumably 2 roided up cheats who broke one of sport's most hallowed records by shooting needles in their butts? Was it worth it to pretend that what we were watching was the greatest thing we've ever seen instead of something as fake as pro wrestling? Was it worth it for the American pastime to turn a blind eye to steroids as the sport reached new levels of popularity?

McGwire might regret the steroid era, and some fans that believe in fairness and sport might regret the steroid era, but that might not be the universal feeling. I'm sure some fans and people involved in baseball could care less as long as the entertainment value is high and money keeps rolling in. But, some day I'll have to explain to my kid how the most American of sports cheated their fans and themselves. I'll have to explain why the top home run sluggers of my generation are blackballed from the Hall of Fame. And, I'll have to explain why one of the greatest athletes of my childhood regretted everything about his career.