Top News #2

It won't go away.

Steroids has made its way into professional baseball and is now trying to take down some of the biggest name in the sport. The story that has gotten my attention is the news coming from Barry Bonds' case. His legal team had a significant victory when the judge in the case announced that many of the urine samples that apparently have positive proof of Bonds' use of steroids were thrown out because Bonds' trainer, Greg Anderson, refuses to testify and cannot corroborate the authenticity of the samples.

The story of steroid use has tainted the image of prominent stars such as Roger Clemens, Jason Giambi, Mark McGwire, and as I'm writing this post, Alex Rodriguez. Rodriguez's positive test, that came out Saturday morning, will certainly blanket news coverage and be the new piece in this ever-evolving puzzle.
See: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/ and http://espn.go.com/


These stories are news because of the impact that it will have on sports fans and players' lives. Sports fans across America will now have to choose whether to still root for these players or even have faith in baseball. Parents will have to decide whether to allow their children to see these players as role models or inform them that they are merely just cheaters; and then try to explain that.

It will always impact the record books. If Bonds is proven to be a steroid user does this mean that there should be an asterisk next to his home-run records in the record books? We will also have to decide how steroid users will be punished. This could affect their salaries with their teams, endorsement contracts, or even possibly jail time.

The other piece that makes this news is the prominence of the figures involved. This would not be considered news if this was a single-A player from Nantucket. The fact that this is Barry Bonds, the most prolific home-run hitter in Major League Baseball history makes our ears perk up.

Even though this is a story that has been around for a while, the timeliness of this story and what makes it a story is that there are new, significant, developments. The currency of this story is also a factor as this has been an on-going story in professional sports for many years now and will continue to generate interest for many years to come.