ILLEGAL TESTS OR ILLEGAL DRUGS?

With all of the news on baseball players taking steroids, a new twist has been added. According to CNN, "A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that federal investigators' seizure of drug-test results of more than 90 major league baseball players five years ago was illegal."

Apparently, at the time the drug tests were taken, only ten players were supposed to be drug tested; instead 104 baseball players took the drug test. Now the drama gets even more intensified. Players that shouldn't have been outed, like A-Rod, Ramirez, Ortiz, etc. weren't even supposed to be tested, and if they were, the MLB will not want to release that information.

"The Major League Baseball Players Association sued for the return of the seized results, while the government argued investigators should be able to use them since they were "in plain sight" along with the other results during the search."

I'm going with the government on this one. Understandably, if I was one of those ball players that was outed about taking steroids, I obviously wouldn't want the world to know, especially if the results of that test were supposed to be kept secret. Yes, now that it is deemed illegal, this steroid use cannot really be held against players like the ones I mentioned above. To make an analogy, it's like a cop retaining evidence against a serial killer, but getting that evidence illegally. So the cop can't exactly come out and say, "Hey, he did it!" even if there is evidence. And that is what is happening here. But at the same time, now that this information has been revealed, the government, or the MLB should take more steps to test ALL of their players, or to make some sort of rules against steroids, and actually stick with an appropriate punishment.

The steroids controversy has long been waging between the different sides: those who think steroids increases the watch-ability of baseball versus those who think all players who use steroids should be stripped of their jobs and never be let into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Personally, I could go either way. But the commissioner of baseball should settle everything as soon as possible and either deem steroid use okay or condemnable. Those in charge of baseball seem like chickens with their heads cut off. They need to make a decision so that all of this drama can go away. But they choose to let the drama continue.

The one thought that comes to my mind though, when reading this article, is now what? So because these tests are deemed illegal, it's okay for players to take steroids? Does all of the hoopla about steroids that affected A-Rod, Ramirez, and Ortiz die away? Do we just say: "Oh, they screwed up and showed us results that they weren't supposed to, so everything is now okay?" Are these players now thinking, "Oh great! Now I'm off the hook?" Will fans think, "Oh my favorite player is okay because the results were illegal so the whole point of the test is invalid." I think that until the MLB gets it's things together on this issue, the steroids debacle will continue to cause drama for all.

Jaclyn Kahn