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As those of you who follow sports are probably already well aware, Major League Baseball is currently in the process of being investigated for rumors of widespread steroid use. Recent years have seen the number of home runs hit skyrocket, and while this makes an otherwise ho-hum viewing experience exciting for fans, there is concern that these athletes are setting a bad example for younger athletes by using steroids and that MLB is doing nothing to stop or even discourage this steroid use.

Many league officials are still trying to deny that it's possible steroids are being used by power hitters, but let's look at the facts. I remember back when I used to watch baseball in the late eighties and early nineties, hitting 50 home runs was almost unheard of. I used to watch the Detroit Tigers and I remember Tigers fans everywhere worshipping Cecil Fielder like a god when he hit the fifty mark. In fact, I did some research to find out just how many players have hit the fifty HR mark in a single season. According to mlb.com, between 1920 and 1997, a player hit 50 home runs in a season only 22 times, or roughly once every four years. In the seven seasons since 1997, the feat has been accomplished 13 times, almost two players per year. So players are hitting the fifty mark with a frequency about eight times that of what they were just ten years ago. Furthermore, Roger Maris in 1961 set the once-unbreakable single season home run record with 61 home runs. The record stood for a whopping 36 years, a tremendous length of time for any major sports record to stand. However, after being untouchable for over a third of a century, in 1998 it was broken by two players, and another, Ken Griffey Jr. wasn't far off and likely would have surpassed 61 had he not missed games due to injury. To date, the mark that stood for 36 years has now been passed six times in the last seven seasons. Doesn't it seem odd that all of a sudden a lot more people are hitting the ball a lot farther than ever before?

Want more evidence? Let's take a look at two of the players who have passed Maris's mark and were issued with subpoenas in the steroid investigation, Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire. Now, one can make the argument that these two players had been power hitters for a long time and just hit a few more home runs in the last few years than ever before, but people who make this argument are forgetting one thing; age. In 1998, Mark McGwire set the home run record with 70 home runs, at the ripe old age of 34. Before his 70 HR season, McGwire had never hit more than 52 longballs in any one season. In fact, he only went over 40 three times in his career. Now you can make all the arguments you want about how you can train in the off season, but the fact is, athletes are at their body's prime in its late twenties, when you get into your thirties, you tend to lose speed and strength very quickly. Doesn't it seem funny that not only did he not lose strength, but he gained so much strength in one off season that he was able to hit 18 more home runs at age 34 than he ever had in his athletic prime?

Bonds is much the same story. In 2001, Bonds broke McGwire's HR record when he hit 73. Bonds was 37 at the time, well past an athlete's prime. In his entire career to that point Bonds had never once hit the fifty mark. The closest he ever came was 49, the year before he hit 73, at age 36. As a matter of fact, until Bonds turned 36 he had never hit more than 46 home runs and had only reached the forty mark three times in 14 seasons. This doesn't sound like a guy who is able to smack 73 home runs in one year at age 37 without some help. In fact, the first 14 years of his MLB career, during which time his age ranged from 22 to 35, Bonds averaged just over 30 home runs and never hit more than 46 in any one season. Interestingly enough, the last five seasons, when Bonds has been 36 to 40, he has averaged 52 home runs per year and has never finished with less than 45. Pretty amazing for a middle-aged athlete, huh? MLB supporters can say what they will about how their hitters are just doing more weight training and conditioning, but the fact is, you can't add enough muscle to hit twenty more home runs in a single off season. And that's when you're in your twenties, when you're in your late thirties and you're hitting homers with greater frequency than you did in your twenties, something's up.

Bud Selig, the commissioner of MLB, has gone on record saying he doesn't believe that steroids are an issue and that he refuses to remove the prestige of home run records from players suspected of using steroids. Then in the middle of his speech about how he is allowing these overgrown cheaters to keep their home run stats in the record books, he said "My job is to protect the integrity of the game."

What the fuck? How the fuck is allowing cheaters who set a bad example for young athletes to keep their records protecting the integrity of the game? Bear in mind, this is the same league that has banned Pete Rose, the league's all-time hits leader, from the Hall of Fame for gambling on Reds games when he was their manager. So how is it that gambling is so detrimental to the league that he's banned forever, but a bunch of steroid-using cheaters are encouraged to keep on cheating because there are no negative repercussions for them? What the hell kind of a message is this sending to high school and college athletes? It says that if you want to play baseball, use steroids because you'll hit more home runs, the fans will love you, and nobody will call you out for being the cheating faggot that you are. God that pisses me off. You know, I may have a fat, disgusting, unshapely body, but by God, I earned it. I don't sit around popping pills and shooting IV's so I can get fake muscles to cheat. Fuck that. I'm going to laugh when all these guys go sterile from all the steroid use. Fucking assholes. No wonder nobody likes baseball anymore. Fucking cheaters.

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