Mark McGwire ticked me off from the start. In his rookie season he hit 49 home runs for the Oakland Athletics beating George Bell by two to win the league crown. This was back in '87 when George Bell was my favourite player who I desperately wanted to win the title with his 47.
In '98 I forgave McGwire and closely followed his pursuit of Roger Maris' single season mark. I rooted for him, anxiously awaiting daily updates to hear if he went deep again. I wasn't going to miss #62 and watched each televised at bat until he hit it.
Yesterday, McGwire was asked repeatedly if he had ever used illegal performance enhancing drugs. At each and every turn, he evaded the question. He never said he didn't, but he wouldn't say he did either.
There's no doubt that if the answer was no he would have said "no". Clearly, the answer is yes. In my eyes, he'd be a bigger man if he just admitted he took steroids and apologized to the kids who believed he was swatting 500 foot homers clean. By refusing to take this responsibility, the Big Mac just got a whole lot smaller.
I'm reminded of Mark McGwire's cameo appearance in The Simpsons' episode "Brother's Little Helper" and his closing statement "Do you want to know the terrifying truth, or do you want to see me sock a few dingers?" Mr. McGwire, we want the truth. We're ready to handle it as we know what it will be.
