Happy New Year!

Pitchers and catchers report February 14 and I'm really looking forward to baseball in 2008. This past year was full of great accomplishments and lots of craziness. The curtain was pulled open on a lot of bad behavior, and the past few weeks have been like a chaotic parade to the confession booth.

The most moving story that I have read lately is that of former Yankee Dan Naulty. It takes a lot of self-acceptance to admit that he never would have it to the major leagues without steroids, and a lot of courage to admit that he was suicidal even though from the outside it would have seemed that he had the perfect life. I wish him the best on his journey, and thank him for telling his powerful story. I'm sure his experiences will benefit others, and maybe prevent some young athlete from making the same bad choices that he once did.

As bad as the Mets' season ended up, it looks like the Yankees are having a worse off-season in many ways. The one thing that the Yankees have always had over any other team is their history of championships that will never be equalled. The events of the past few months have called some of those championship teams into question, with the revelation of steroid and HGH use by many former players on those teams.

Read the NY papers these days and you wouldn't even realize that it was the Mets who suffered through a horrendous late-season collapse. The Mets are barely an afterthought right now; the Yankees are the ones getting all the negative attention for their off-field behavior past and present.

My hope is that more players will come forward and admit to their wrong-doings from the past, and humbly ask for forgiveness, so we can move forward. It is time for athletes to drop their arrogance and start finding some humility before fans completely turn their backs on sports and find better things to give their passion to.

I'm glad Barry Bonds has some company to share the negative spotlight. All he has to do to stop being the most despised baseball player in recent memory is to come clean and accept the consequences. I don't want him to go to jail, but I do want to hear him admit that he cheated by using steroids and other substances knowingly, and express some regret.

Of course, that's not going to happen any time soon, if ever. In addition to the 2008 pennant races and 2008 Presidential Campaign Race, we will get to witness the "Future Hall of Famers Breaking the Denial Race" in which Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds compete to see who will break down and tell the truth first. Expect that race to last the longest, and be the hardest to win.


© Judy Kamilhor 2007