Jarrett-Carter.com

Baseball might be America’s past time, but football is king on this continent. And while most of us are gearing up for college and NFL football in the coming months, this year’s MLB All-Star Game and festivities might have positioned a disgraced sport into a more favorable light.

And back into national sports relevance.

The elements are all there. MLB’s biggest stars playing in it’s most well-known stadium in the world’s most famous city. The all-star game itself was one for the ages, an extra-innings marathon that saw the American League extend its winning streak to 12 straight.

But the biggest story from the all-star break was that of Josh Hamilton, a former drug addict three years removed from professional baseball, who has come back from his demons to ascend as one of the game’s most feared hitters and it’s most marketable feel-good story.

His life, and the last few days of it, are a microcosm for how baseball has postioned itself back into sports fans’ minds and hearts. Like Hamilton, drugs nearly killed the sport. Kids didn’t care, their parents didn’t want them to, and players were oblivious to it all. Some of the most popular names in the sport were implicated as cheaters and liars, not good for a sport that is symbolic with the purity of competition and roots of athletic hero worship.

But a few clean home runs, an intriguing all-star game and a fading fancy with who cheated and how long they did it, baseball is surging towards a fantastic regular season finish, complete with fantastic small-market success, star-crossed drama, and the usual drama of pennant races.

Major League Baseball still has a ways to go before it catches the NBA. Even with the one-and-done rule being challenged, the reservoir of young talent coming out of the NCAA will easily translate to marketable draft picks and high recogniazbility among casual fans. But if fans are continuously treated to solid baseball and captivating back stories, MLB might have something good on its hands.

And that’s a much better feeling than the thorn that been in its side the past few years.

Records have been bloated, scandal rocks the sport and threatens its integrity, and the national worry is that children are watching and learning from every minute of it on SportsCenter. Steroids in baseball. It’s so serious, that the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has spent a considerable amount of time and resource on the issue, and the media has followed suit accordingly.

We should all follow very closely the testimonies of Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig, Major League Baseball Players Union Executive Director Donald Fehr and Sen. George Mitchell and their knowledge of performance enhancing drugs in professional sports; it may be the beginning of government reformation as we know it.

Because if million-dollar athletes taking steroids to hit more home runs means this much to the country, imagine how people will react to the other issues the full committee tackles on a daily basis, like wasteful spending in Iraq and Afghanistan, severance packages from mortgage gurus who profited from families going bankrupt, and the government’s failures on environmental issues.

If the Committee really puts it’s foot into nailing players like Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds, and countless others to the wall for messing with America’s Former Past-Time, imagine the influence they could have on Americans regarding issues that affect our lives on a daily basis. Sure, steroids in sports is an issue that all people across racial, political, religious and economic lines can discuss with great candor, but it seems that my money, health and security as a tax payer is just a little more important than an abscess on Roger Clemens’ ass.

The American Way is for elected officials to bitch and moan at each other for long enough that everybody else loses interest and forgets about the issues. That’s not happening any time soon with Baseball. The greatest hope, for the sport and the country, is that regular citizens look at the work of the committee as more than just steroid cops, but as a bi-partisan body that gets things done.

Or at least gets people thinking again.

I’ve already shared my thought on steroids in baseball, but with the announcement that the Mitchell Report will be disclosed in detail this afternoon, and some rumors floating about the Internet regarding the names that are on said report, here are just some of the musings I have on what is sure to be a dark day for baseball.

• Sure, there are some big names on the list that has been circulated around the net. But honestly, who on the list didn’t we expect for at least two years before this was looming over baseball? Any one who had a solid 1-3 years of offensive production and a sharp drop off should have been under scrutiny.
• If Alex Rodriguez, Manny Ramirez, David Ortiz, Vladimir Guerrero are on the list, then I’ll be shocked. Then we’ll be dealing with a level of sustained drug abuse that has resulted in championships being won (or lost) and millions of dollars of endorsements built on synthetically enhanced-talent.
• Why has everyone been so adamant about Barry Bonds and steroids, but not about Roger Clemens, who has been leaked as a possible mention on the list? Hasn’t he carved out just as great a career? Hasn’t he been as ornery to the media throughout his career?
• After the list is revealed, what next? Do we really think the players union will adopt a tougher policy on steroids? Will baseball be that interested in enforcing it? Will fans believe either side?
• Does any body else realize that baseball and steroids is just a minor league issue compared to BALCO, which has ties to numerous professional and Olympic athletes?