Despite the fact that steroids have been the controversial topic all season, the Senate Commerce Committee and the baseball player’s union have still not come to terms on a policy for steroid use. The Senate hearing last year and all the attention paid to Giambi’s admission to using “performance-enhancing drugs” (is it just me, or does that euphemism make you think of Viagra?) brought a lot of attention to the problem, but nothing substantial has been done to curb the increasing usage of steroids. Granted, they did test the players every so often – but why did it take them till 2003 to begin doing that in the first place?! While they did enforce penalties for players testing positive this season, they were laughably soft: Palmeiro was suspended for a mere 10 days, as was former Yankee reliever Heredia (a lot of good the juice did him!).

Don Fehr, director of the baseball's players union, had suggested the World Series as a deadline, a deadline that clearly will not be met. The suggested policies from Senators John McCain and Jim Bunning would impose a two-year suspension for steroid use and a lifetime ban if a player was stupid enough to use and get caught again. On one hand, the two-year ban seems a tad harsh, but conversely, I hate the thought of players using steroids; it is so shallow and self-serving. I also wonder if any amount of possible consequence would be enough to reign in every single desperate major league player.