Look beyond Manny on steroid issue

When "Manny suspended for 50 games for performance enhancing drugs" ran by the ticker, the heart of every Dodger fan sank. Turns out Santa Claus is just your overweight uncle in a red suit with a glue-on beard. Turns out hitting .396 isn't normal. Turns out it was all a hoax. But maybe the hoax is War of the Worlds-like.

I'm talking about misguided panic. But the difference is, with Orson Welles's hoax, there was nothing to worry about, but in professional sports there is much more than is being let on.

Take a look at Bill Plaschke's "I told you so," column. He made it seem like Manny pulled out a flame thrower and incinerated Chavez Rivine. Run-him-out-of-town columns like Plaschke's embody the problem with the way sports media covers steroids.

For starters, average Joe sports fan is led to believe that steroids were invented by Mark McGwire. Joe might say the NFL doesn't have a steroid problem. Joe would probably draw a thick black line between dirty players and clean players. Joe is not given the option by media to understand the 1000 shades of gray when it comes to performance enhancing drugs.

The story of Manny Ramirez mirrored Roger, Barry, Palmiero and Alex. The news breaks, the excuse comes out, the media salavates at the prospect of tearing another fallen star apart at the limbs. But in the meantime, between Barry and Roger, between Alex and Manny, networks and newspapers stay hush-hush about the history and prevelance of performance drugs across sports as a whole.

Joe has not been told that steroids in America date back to the late 1950s. Joe has never seen ESPN reporting or Woody Paige spouting about steroids entrance into the NFL as early as 1968. And after the Manny story blows up, the media harps over home run numbers rather than over steroid-using young athletes who have committed suicide.

Speaking of the NFL, in 1967, before steroids found their way onto the football field, the Green Bay Packers, the '60s most elite team, weight range for offensive lineman was 230 to 255 pounds. Today, that range 300 to 330 (probably undersized for NFL standards). Most punters weight 230 now. You have linebackers who are heavier than William "refrigrator" Perry who run 4.5 40-yard dashes. Yet, no one says boo.

But who wants to slash the tires of the NFL Brinks truck? The sport keeps setting ratings and attendance records. The cash is pouring in at the expense of the game and its athletes (sound like MLB in 1998 to anyone?). Athletes like Bill Romanowski, who dodged a positive test for years, but eventually lost control in a steroid rage and ended another player's career.

The media is asking the wrong questions. They ask who and what when they should ask why and who's responsible. Certainly Manny is responsible for cheating the game of baseball, but who and what is responsible for performing enhancing drugs spreading like wild fire across '90s heroes?

Solving the maze of blame always leads to either a dead end or just another more complicated maze.

Joe might say it's Bud Selig's fault and he'd be correct. But he might not consider scouts who tell players they'll never make it by hitting for average. Take 1984 for example: second basemen who had over 500 at bats averaged 6.5 home runs. In 2008 that number was 16.7. The difference is the push for power that comes from the "home runs sell tickets" mantra the MLB adopted after the strike.

I know it's hard, but maybe we should blame ourselves too. It hurts to see the players I mimicked in little league go down in flames, but 40-year olds don't win Cy Youngs or hit 50 home runs or have the ability to lift Dodge Chargers over their heads. There is a fine line between being cynical and having your eyes open.

Because of that sinking hurt and disappointment, we want to see a public trail and execution of a cheater like Ramirez. But tearing apart Manny doesn't make the steroid problem go away. Trimming the frayed edges doesn't cut down the whole. Media, fans and baseball need to look beyond the poster boys to find ways to maintain the sanctity of Major League Baseball.