Steroid Christmas
For years, I have heard commentators and baseball people tell me that fans "don't care" about steroid use.

Apparently, they think that we are all OK with continual violation of laws and the destruction of cherished records.

As many of you know, I am a member of the media. So maybe I have have lost the right to refer to myself as a fan of the sport I love.

But the fans care more than people think. Real fans, the ones that know the records and the stats, care. The fans that have cherished memories of their first baseball game, the ones that know that hot dogs taste their best when mixed in with watered down beer and an occasional soft pretzel, care.

My first baseball game was in 1986. Pete Rose and the Reds beat the Giants at Riverfront Stadium. My father taught me how to read a box score before I could read.

The point is, I cringe at the notion that fans don't care about steroid use. I know a number of people who do care, and they aren't just my co-workers and fellow writers.

Casual fans may not care. The ones who don't know Hank Aaron from Aaron Spelling -- but go to see the long ball -- they may not care.

For those of us that do value the sport's history, the ones that do value integrity, we care. For us, tomorrow is a big day.

I have no idea what will be in Sen. George Mitchell's report. But I do think it will be important to set the record as straight as possible about the steroid era.

For the game. For the fans. For the players.

Don't tell me we don't care.