My thoughts are ~ wow.  Roger Clemens?   double wow.  Eric Gagne? not too wow.  Andy Petite?  double wow.

My goodness.  As someone on one of the sports channels said yesterday, "There's sure no joy in Mudville tonight."  Of course some of the names were no surprise ~ Barry Bonds, the Giambi brothers, Mark Mcquire, Rafeal Palmero.  I was pleasantly surprised that Sammy Sosa was not on the list, nor was Mike Lowell.  I had heard some rumors about Lowell while he was with the Marlins, glad that didn't come to anything. 

I do sincerely hope that something serious will be done with this report.  I know Mitchell feels that only the most egregious cases should be disciplined, I think I agree with that, unless the use was after the current drug policy went into effect.  I don't know about astericks with players in the Hall of Fame or with an awards they might have earned, haven't made my mind up about that yet. 

What are your thoughts?

Clemens didn't surprise me, nor did Lo Duca, and a couple of others.  One thing to keep in mind is this are the names from 3 sources: Balco, the NY Yankees trainer, and the Florida pharmacy.  Just think how many other steroids dealers there might be?

It will be interesting to see how this plays out.  Congress gave MLB an ultimatum before they set up the Mitchell commission.  Clean house or prepare to be cleaned up.  They floated revoking the special anti-trust status that MLB enjoys.  Tuesday starts the hearings and it's Henry Waxman's committee.  From what I seen, he is persistent and thorough.

I guess I'm a bit more hard nosed.  The only way to clean something up is to make the punishment so severe that an athlete must consider whether risking their career is worth it.  I think all players on the list should be suspended.  I think that they should be prevented from entering the hall of fame and their statistics thrown out.  They cheated plain and simple.

Some may say it's only entertainment, but I don't see it that way.  Consider the fact that now some 300,000 plus high school students are known to be on steroids.  It's become acceptable for coaches to give illegal steroids to under age kids without parental consent.  The example must be set at the professional level.  There are health issues to be considered (anyone remember Lyle Alzedo who died from the effects of steroids?)

There is also an issue of integrity here.  We seem to be becoming more of a society of "ends justify the means" rather than doing what is right.  You see it from our leaders down to our athletes.  There has to be conscience in the equation somewhere.  And, as many people point out in other debates, these steroids are illegal.  They've all broken the law...not just baseballs rules, but the law.  Anyone who took the drugs or distributed them has broken the law.  I really don't understand how they can get away with that part since athletes who get caught with marijuana or cocaine are penalized criminally.

Those are just my thoughts.