A lesson from the Turtles

Did you ever wonder how the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles grew so huge and muscular in such a short time?\nOf course not.\nWhy? Because they continually aired the episode of the green ooze leaking in the sewer and making gigantic life-size turtles out of them. They quickly proved any existing allegations wrong -- like perhaps steroids, all fans like myself could watch without wonder.\nBut similar inquiries continue to linger around the world of baseball. As home runs continue to fly, not just out of ball parks, but across the adjacent interstates and heads like Sosa's continue to morph deep into his shoulders, steroid questions and acquisitions will never go away.\nSo what can baseball do?\nTake lessons from our turtle friends and prove it!\nNo boys, there's no green ooze, but a cup followed by a drip-drip and voila, I'll watch these dingers fly out faster then Janet's right twin and yell, ooooh and ahhh without a bit of wonder. \nOh wait -- there's a problem. Before I jump on players for denying a steroid test, they're not the ones to blame. Baseball has random steroid testing but does not give away any specific names or even punish those testing positive. \nNot all players fear the dreaded clear cup. In fact, players such as Gary Sheffield, Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi are actually calling for the wee-wee cup and for their results to be made public.\nBut someone, or some people, are refusing to allow players being accused of juice to clear their name. In a sports world where an athlete is guilty until proven innocent, the players' union won't allow for this to happen. \nCan the players' union even override such a thing?\nUnfortunately so. The Players Association would not allow A-Rod to take an unselfish pay cut from his contract so his trade to Boston could happen. They said they could not let this take place due to the guidelines of the collective bargaining agreement and in fear of setting a bad precedent for further contract negotiations. \nAre you serious?\nThe highest-paid athlete in sports history wanted to decrease his contract so he could fit into another organization in attempt to win and this would have been a bad precedent?\nAnyway, Gene Orza, who oversees drug matters for the MLBPA, strongly believes in innocence until proven guilty, especially from serious prosecutors. \nWell Gene, there's a million serious prosecutors out there, and they're called fans who want players' names cleared so they don't wonder why certain players have lost their necks.\nOne of whom, well, his body has managed to maintain it's normal proportion, but Gary Sheffield, went on air last week accepting a drug test from SportsCenter's Dan Patrick so he could prove all allegations wrong. \nWith the BALCO Laboratories' case blowing up in front of a federal court, all Sheffield wants is his innocence back, but under this collective crapping agreement, he cannot prove his innocence and instead will continue to be bombarded with steroid questions.\nAnd I don't want to hear home run totals were down this year so that means steroids are not prevalent in baseball. \nAccording to the Union, 5 percent of baseball players tested positive for steroids but just 5 percent of all the 1,200 players would not warrant a policy change. \nMounds are shorter, players are more ripped then ever, but fans are more curious than they have ever been. \nSo no, a 5 percent tolerance is not enough. Baseball needs a zero-tolerance policy so when Bonds or Sosa hits one 500 feet, fans don't wonder if he is one of the sixty players on the juice. \nNow Gene, let any of the players who want to clear their name take a test and prove to his fans hard work goes a long way. \nAren't unions designed and created to benefit the players?\nA-Rod can't take a pay-cut to win, and Sheffield can't prove his innocence to the fans.\nI guess not.