Say it ain't so

It's happening again. Another baseball super star is on the verge of disappointing a nation of young fans. Depending on how the appeals process goes Ryan Braun of the Milwaukee Brewers may be guilty of using performance enhancing drugs. He would just be the latest in a growing number of the sports top tier players to have run foul of the rules.


These are already gifted athletes that decide they want that extra edge to put them over the top to the next level. Whether the motivation is performance based, monetary driven or a combination these athletes made the choice to do something deemed illegal by those that govern the sport. It is nothing new to the sport as players have been trying to make themselves better for years with sometimes questionable methods. Yet the recent Steroid Era put many players and their accomplishments in question.


Yet another consequence of their actions is breaking the hearts of their many young fans who held these players up as heroes. They tried to emulate that players stance and swing when they took to the sand lots. A baseball card or signed glove was cherished because it was their bond with their favorite player. Then the scandal breaks and it is revealed the player is more man than super. A price of growing up? It shouldn't have to be.


The infamous Black Sox scandal brought one of the great lines in baseball lore as a young fan said to Shoeless Joe Jackson "Say it ain't so Joe". That line has been repeated many times in recent years to many fill in the blank ball players. Say it ain't so ...Mark...Sammy...Rafael...Barry...Roger...Alex...Manny...and Ryan?