All I want to know is...

How is it that athletes *think* that they can still get away with using performance enhancing drugs?!?!??! I mean, really? The latest idiot to succumb to the steroid circus is Manny Ramirez. Welcome to Juice Nation.

It's pretty sad that steroid use has become synonymous with baseball. A lot of fans blame the players, the commissioner, or the players union. And some guy thinks that the fans are to blame. Apparently, after the baseball strike of 1994 no one wanted to watch baseball anymore, so in order to get people watching again, that meant the athletes had to turn to steroids. Hmmmm. Really? I'm not buying it. What happened to practice makes perfect? What happened to hard work and maybe a few vitamins?

Today's society is all about enhancement. Whether it's by using botox to get rid of wrinkles, or getting a face lift, or taking a diet pill, or starving yourself to fit into that size 1 dress, we are obsessed with being the best. The best looking, the best dressed, the best performer, the best athlete. Yet, there are five year olds going on diets. There are 10 year old boys spending hours in the gym to bulk up like their favorite athlete. There are 15 year old girls dying from anorexia. There are teenage boys beating up other teenage boys that are scrawnier, or not as athletic, or not as popular as them. Where are these kids learning this behavior? I'm not saying we need to blame celebrities and musicians and athletes for all these issues. But, admit it. They are partially to blame. Partially.

I was an athlete growing up. I worked hard. I practiced. I pushed myself. I certainly wasn't the best, but I played with my heart, I pushed my limits, and I worked out. I hated the gym, but I went. I hated to run, but I ran. I got stronger. I got better. Of course my teammates and I uttered the word "perfect." Sure, we wanted to be the best. But, today's society is so infatuated with perfection; something that is not attainable no matter who you are. Are we pushing our kids to be what we couldn't? Or, to be who we wanted to be? What kind of world is it when parents are fighting parents over a touchdown pass?

For me, to see a professional athlete suspended for steroid use is disheartening. They get paid these amazing salaries to play a game they've been playing since they were children. A game they love (supposedly). Sometimes, I wonder if certain athletes are getting paid to play the game or to give a good performance (and I'm not talking about an athletic performance). Showboating, I like to call it. Remember how it felt when you were 11 and stepped up to that plate, the sun beating down on your shoulders, the crowd cheering your name. You could smell grass, dirt, and popcorn and it was the best smell in the world. Then, the pitch. Maybe you swing, maybe you don't. Maybe you hit it out of the park or maybe you hit a single. It didn't matter. You loved the game. You played because you loved it. I think a lot of sports are missing that love. They're missing what the game should be about. Not who's making the most money or swinging the hardest or pitching the hardest. Maybe the new slogan for sports should be: More love and less steroids.

No matter what, using steroids is harmful to your body and it's cheating. CHEATING. What kind of athlete are you when you cheat to be that athlete? That doesn't make you an athlete. It makes you look like you can't be one. So, maybe you shouldn't.