Hank Aaron*

Not sure how many of you heard this, but in a recent interview, Hank Aaron apparently said that he thinks baseball players linked to performance enhancer usage should have an asterisk placed next to their records.

Here's a link to the story: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/hof09/news/story?id=4355886

I find this humorous for two reasons.

The first is that, thanks to mass media-fueled ignorance, the general public considers all performance enhancers "steroids". However, anabolic steroids have only been listed as a controlled substance since 1990. That's less than 20 years. So, does Aaron think that only people who used controlled anabolic steroids should have an asterisk? Hmm, if that's the case, then we're not talking about a paragon of the game being interested in protecting its integrity, we're talking about a bitter old man protecting his own legacy.

The second begins with the assumption that he actually means that anyone who used what is considered a "performance enhancing drug" should have an asterisk. If that's the case, then, guess what, Hank gets an asterisk. Performance enhancing drugs aren't just comprised solely of anabolic steroids, they also contain a wide variety of stimulants (commonly referred to in the media as simply "amphetamines"). Unfortunately, Hank's problem here is that he's even on record as admitting that he used amphetamines during a game.

Here's a link to that too: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4192628

Bottom line, Hark Aaron is just embarrassing himself here and he needs to understand that he's standing on a very slippery slope. One that might drop him down with those he likes to think he's above.