Now that various outlets have confirmed that Marian Jones is just the latest high-profile American athlete to fail a drug test, the fallout and finger pointing has begun. On ESPN.com, Adrian Wojnarowski offers a very poignant column about how he really wanted Jones to be clean and her comeback to be honorable (it's a very good story). Now, alas, it seems as if those five World Championships and those gold medals won in Sydney are just as fraudulent as those home runs hit by Barry Bonds or Mark McGwire or any other supposed user.
Yes, sports is turning into pro wrestling, folks. But does that even matter any more? Is going to a game the same thing as checking out a movie on a Friday night? Well, the tickets to attend a game are much more expensive than a movie, and taxpayers aren't being hit up to pay for 45,000-seat movie theaters, but you get the point. Is what we are watching real?
Certainly, the idea of Jones as the American Princess has been debunked just like the Wizard of Oz. The problem is, there are many more curtains to pull back.
Like in golf, for instance. Last week in The New York Times, the excellent golf writer (and good guy) Damon Hack examined how the notion of illicit performance-enhancers in golf isn't such a laughable idea.
Yes folks, dope in sports is the biggest story in sports out there. Forget the drugs beat writer I suggested earlier -- how about an entire doper section in every paper.