January 11, 2010

Mark McGwire announced today that he used steroids.

Um...well, duh.

Let's put this one in the 'least-shocking-news-I've-heard-since-Clay-Aiken-announced-he-was-gay" category. I knew it, non-baseball fans knew it, I'm guessing that unborn children even knew it. Everyone knew Mark McGwire used steroids...apparently McGwire himself was the last one to join the knowledge party.

So now he 'comes clean' admitting that he used steroids and HGH when he played baseball, including the 1998 season that saw him break Roger Maris's single season home run record. McGwire says that it's because his role as the St. Louis Cardinals' hitting instructor motivated him to tell the truth. Can you picture Mark McGwire as a hitting coach?

McGwire walks up to Joe Mather with a syringe...

Mark - "Bend over, Joe. Time for your hitting lesson."
Joe - "Uh...Mark, we don't do that anymore."
Mark - "It's ok, if anyone asks, just say you don't want to talk about the past."
But all joking aside, let's be real. This announcement has nothing to do with his job with the Cards, and everything to do with the number 23.7, which is the percentage of votes that McGwire received in the Hall of Fame voting last week. This is an obvious attempt to go the David Letterman/Andy Pettitte route of admitting your mistakes, since his Tiger Woods act just wasn't working.

I doubt it will make a difference. It isn't like he has shown any real contrition, maintaining that his use of steroids and HGH was to heal quicker due to injuries, and not to improve his hitting. Let's all roll our eyes at the same time, shall we? I think I can see my brain.

To be fair, his admission is only a couple of hours old as I write this, but I'm interested to see what happens in the next couple of days.

Thoughts? Does this change your opinion of him?