Where's The Public Outrage Over Steroid Scandal?

Little shock value is left when professional or Olympic athletes are busted for using performance-enhancing drugs. That's too bad, because it should outrage us. More importantly, it should move professional sports to require more rigorous testing, and then put the money into the programs so drugs of all kinds can be detected.

Most recently, five-time 2000 Olympic medalist Marion Jones admitted using drugs to enhance her performance at the Olympic Games. She's given back her medals, and the women who ran with her in relay races will likely have to give their medals back as well. But don't cry for her relay teammates. Almost all of them have been found to use the same drugs.

Not one professional or amateur sport is untouched by this. Bicycling is, perhaps, the dirtiest, but that's only because the governing bodies regulating bicycling is strict and requires lots of testing. Baseball only recently made an attempt to catch users, but it falls far short of where the policy should be.

In the National Football League, running back Travis Henry - originally from Frostproof - recently was nailed for having marijuana in his bloodstream. It wasn't the league's test that caught him, though. It was when police tested him that the positive result was found. It just goes to show that the league's testing is inadequate, although pot is far from being a performance-enhancing drug.

We've all heard of allegations against Barry Bonds and numerous baseball players. Now other sports are being revealed as hotbeds for steroids or other drugs. We're inundated with all of these revelations. The sad part is that we're becoming desensitized, and that's the last thing we need.

When this kind of thing happens so frequently, it calls into question the legitimacy of all sports. Then if we do nothing about it, it becomes accepted. We can't let that happen.

We don't want our children - and possibly some fanatical parents - using this stuff to make little Johnny a star athlete. Besides possibly ruining his health, it's cheating - plain and simple. And that can never be acceptable in real sports.