Just to clear something up: When Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds are alleged to have started using steroids, steroids were not banned by baseball. But they were illegal in the eyes of the law.
You could have been arrested for taking or possessing steroids, so saying that Bonds and McGwire taking them wasn't cheating because they weren't banned by baseball is just semantics.
What happens on a baseball field still falls under the jurisdiction of the law, as a player at McLane High found out.
Another thing: Steroids help. A LOT!!!! Not enough tests have been done to know exactly how steroids help -- improved eyesight, depth perception, bat speed, reaction time, quickness or whatever -- but if someone tells you they don't help, or that they don't help that much, laugh in his or her face.
Here are facts: In 1927, Babe Ruth set the single-season home run record at 60. No one hit that many until 1961 when Roger Maris broke the record by one. No one hit that many again for nearly 40 years, and then it was suddenly broken six times in a four-year span from 1998-2001.
A record that had increased by one home run in 70 years suddenly went up by 13 home runs. Yeah, nothing fishy about that whatsoever. And the guy who did it, Bonds, had never hit more than 46 home runs before he is alleged to have started steroids. He was already in great shape and one of the best home run hitters in the game -- but no amount of weight lifting would help him hit that many more homers.
And no, that season wasn't a fluke. He would have hit nearly that many each of the next three seasons if pitchers hadn't been bouncing the ball to the plate.
Isn't it funny that when Babe Ruth was playing baseball alcohol wasn't banned by Baseball, but in the eyes of the law it was illegal too...
Not saying that steriods and alcohol are similar, but it's an interesting parallel in these two players' history. How many times do people with "fame" get away with illegal things jsut because of their status?