Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees

The Alex Rodriguez scandal is something I wish would go away. To me, this story while sad, is just a sign of the times: namely the 1990s through about 2003. Major League Baseball and the Players Association let these athletes use these drugs with little to no reprecusion and now when reports come out wants to rake these players through the coals.

Is A-Rod wrong for using illegal substances? Yes. Is he deserving of a in-season suspension? Not in my opinion because the report of him failing the drug test was from 2003 and it's 2009! Truefully Rodriguez (as was Bonds) is responsible for his actions but also was trying to compete in a market and time that made it acceptable for many to do this. The league has improved its testing and needs to move on.

As far as A-Rod and possibly breaking Barry Bonds all-time home run record there is no need for an asterisk because people are smart know that he (and possibly Bonds for that matter are from an era where steroids and performance enhancing drugs ran rampant and the stats are questionable.

To put and asterisk opens up a can of worms because I could say Babe Ruth and players of that era need an asterisk because they didn't play Black athletes.

The league wasn't complaining coming off a strike that cancelled the 1994 season and World Series when Sammy Sosa and Mark McGuire chased Roger Maris because it brought interest and money to baseball and it shouldn't drag those players down now.

All who have used certainly made mistakes but it's the past and even some people's role models make mistakes. I think the league could certainly ask that these athletes make promotional commercials and that team make a campaign out of this mess. Highlighting the mistakes of the past in terms of drug use would be a nice gesture that could provide closure to this era (along with improved testing and information on what's legal and not).

Parents need to explain to kids (and fans of the game) that people make mistakes and not make anyone (including these athletes) into god-like figures who have to uphold a standard many regular working and living folks can't and don't uphold.

Any questions, comments, suggestions email Clayton at clayton@geoclan.com.