Sad day: The proper action was to protect the game's integrity

There will be some who will whisk away the story about the 13 Major League Baseball players who will face suspensions because of their alleged use of performance enhancing drugs.

They will pull a Lance Armstrong and say that it is part of big time athletics and that "everyone is doing it."

But they would be wrong.

The fact that 13 players -- some of them big names -- would be so bold as to tarnish the game with this nonsense is a travesty -- and one that should be dealt with severely.

It is hard to believe after all the other scandals -- and the big names who had to renounce records and who lost their spots in the Hall of Fame because of their drug use -- that anyone would even consider using such performance-enhancing measures.

What it makes clear is that there are real problems in big time sports -- whether it is bike racing, track and field or baseball.

The scandal brings back a memory of another misdeed -- when eight members of the White Sox, stars in those days, lost the privilege of playing baseball forever because they threw the 1919 World Series.

The judge on the case said there was a bigger principle at stake -- that the integrity of the game must be preserved at all costs.

And he was right then, and those who are throwing the book at these players are right, too. They might even have been too lenient.

There is a much bigger picture than simply the misdeeds of a few baseball players. This is a direct assault on the integrity of the game itself -- and it is time for the punishment to send a message.

Too bad that is what it takes to keep athletes honest these days.

Published in Editorials on August 6, 2013 11:09 AM