The line is the only memorable part from an otherwise sub-par movie. If you’re a Godfather fan, can you really like the third and final installment? But one line is best remembered, delivered by Michael Corleone: “Just when I thought I was out … they pull me back in.”
And so it is with steroids and baseball. Every time you think the sport can start escaping the grasp of steroid use, something happens to bring everyone back into the discussion.
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We want to ignore it. We want to get past it. But every day brings something new. Just look at this week: Angels pitcher Joe Saunders (whom we covered while he pitched at West Springfield HS) takes an honest, and effective, shot at Alex Rodriguez (whom we did not). Then it’s former utility player Lou Merloni — those aren’t “Louuuu’s” you’re hearing, it’s “whoooo?” — claiming that the Red Sox had doctors talk to the team during spring training about the right way to take steroids. It’s sort of like sex education, he said; if you’re going to do it, here’s the best way to protect yourself.
Then we get the biggest fool of all, Roger Clemens, coming out and again defending himself (a negative book about him was released this week). Clemens was quiet for a year and now we know why he should have stayed that way: he’s an idiot. It’s hard for him to answer why everyone is against him. Listen, everyone is innocent until proven guilty; we know that. But it’s hard to believe people who have proven to be untrustworthy in other ways.
And we haven’t even mentioned Manny Ramirez. Why? Because that happened last week.
Fans want to embrace the game and move past the talk of who did what — or who hasn’t yet been caught. The trouble is, the game won’t allow it. There’s a list of names still out there and the names will start to trickle out at some point. Talk about torture. It will be a slow drip … drip … drip of controversy and it could take the sport years before it really feels clean again. And before we can stop having weekly reminders of baseball’s sins.