Referendum: Big Mac Comes Clean

Wow, have I done a complete 180 on this subject. Its clear to me now that I wrote the previous blog post a bit prematurely. I was basing my post on McGwires statement instead of waiting for his interview with Bob Costas on the MLB network. During that interview he repeatedly denied ever using steroids for performance enhancement, but instead claimed they were always for health purposes. He also appeared to deny a link between steroid/HGH use and increased performance, which absolutely no one in America believes. So, in essence he did what many others have done before him. He apologized, he admitted use, but never fully acknowledged the complete spectrum of the impact those steroids had.

I do believe that his admission was heartfelt and painful, but it was incomplete. In fact, he claims his record setting homerun seasons were a result of him "learning how to hit" and not because of steroids. Wow. I mean, are you serious? Bob Costas summed it perfectly by saying this, "I think he is extremely contrite about what he did...but its just strange that he cannot make, what seams to many of us, to be an obvious connection." "The sticking point is the unwillingness to acknowledge that steroids contributed to his stats during his years in the late 90's." And as I stated in my previous post, it was going to take a complete admission to be taken seriously. And finally from Costas, "I think he would've come pretty close to an A if he had been able to acknowledge that his performance had been boosted by steroids." Unfortunately Mark, that lack of acknowledgement does not get you an A. And therefore, you fail.