On the Mitchell Report...

Was anyone as surprised as I was about the Mitchell Report?

Granted, I knew about all the steroid controversy in baseball over the last few years, but it never really hit me until I read about the report's findings on the AP wire. Now, I'm starting to believe that steroids are the worst thing to attack the integrity of the game since the Black Sox scandal almost 90 years ago.

Back then, gamblers almost ruined Major League Baseball by getting players to throw games, running the risk of turning baseball into as much of a sport as pro wrestling (and yes, pro wrestling matches are scripted!)

Now, it comes out that major leaguers spent a big part of the last two decades taking illegal drugs to get more muscular and gain an unfair advantage over the competition -- in other words, cheating. I no longer feel the same about Roger Clemens' ageless pitching abilities when I read that he racked up many of the numbers he did while shooting steroids. Even Pete Rose, who is still banned from the game for life for gambling, never actually cheated.

I do not know how much baseball will punish those who are guilty of taking 'roids, since it was not banned by MLB until just a few years ago. It does make me wonder, however, if baseball has a conduct policy, a la the NFL, that can punish players for illegal behavior, even if said behavior was not banned by the league. However, expect the Baseball Writers Association of America to exercise its own form of punishment and keep players like Clemens and Barry Bonds out of Cooperstown.

There is one thing that Bud Selig and MLB can do: go zero-tolerance on steroids. The current policy of "three strikes and you're out" may not be enough. In light of the damage steroids have done to the integrity of the game, a "one strike" policy might be best. Simply put, you take steroids, you're gone -- for good. Such a policy may seem harsh, but it may be necessary, because if something isn't done about the steroid problem, baseball may be headed the way of professional wrestling -- entertainment and not sport.