Many years ago, I once made the following comment about Big Mac: "He reminds me of that gigantic Irish-looking bouncer at the Shamrock Inn, a South Jersey bar I used to frequent, whose physical presence simply scared the you-know-what out of me." I bet opposing pitchers felt the same way. Before all this stuff happened, McGwire was an all-time Top-100 player. He hit homers at a frequency even greatr thn Babe Ruth and was an integral part to those great Oakland Teams from 1988 to 1990. As for the steroid stuff, I mean I'd be more amazed to see Carson Kressley fighting in the UFC Octagan than to believe McGwire never took a perfromance enhancing drug. After seeing what happened to Palmeiro, maybe McGwire was right to plead the fifth. Of course, Ethel and Julius Rosenberg tried the same thing and got the hot seat for their efforts. McGwire's pleading of the fifth might result in a Cooperstown freeze-out.

Big story because he had a lot to lose - and he has been knocked down quite a few pegs in the court of public opinion.

What is very odd in this is the lack of cohesion on the part of those who share the same cause. Ordinarily, I'd expect them to get their story straight (you can say this and this, but don't say that!) and present a united front. The players are all members of a union (a very powerful union) with all its inherent protections, plus there were no rules within baseball regarding steroid use. To me it is more indication of the rudderless management of the Commissioner's office, manned by an empty suit who is unaware of the damage his perceived inaction can wreak. If Roger Maris deserved the absolute indignity of an asterisk in the record book for his incredible accomplishment, what do these guys deserve now when they break these hallowed and coveted records? Maris held the record longer than did Babe Ruth.

This really made McGwire look awful. I don't think there was anything he could have said that would have made people think highly of him, but refusing to answer questions at all pretty much admitted guilt while showing a lack of courage.

Yawn. Did you really expect him to give up the goods?

Yes, this is a huge, sad story. Big Mac was a national icon and a hero to many. His pleading the fifth probably let a lot of people down. It would seem that we're still at the tip of the iceberg in this whole mess - I wonder who will be the next person to be a man and come clean about steroid usage? I don't blame the players in this - I blame baseball. By being the only professional sports league not to ban steroids, they brought this mess upon themselves. With the stakes so high and so much money at stake, what I wonder did they expect would happen?