Will baseball bounce back from steroid scandal?

Unless you live under a rock, or if you're just not all that concerned with sports, you've undoubtedly heard about the already infamous Mitchell Report. This report is the result of former U.S. Senator George Mitchell's investigation into steroid use in major league baseball. And let me tell you ... bobble-heads are already rolling.

Named in the investigation were a total of 89 big league stars, including Barry Bonds (no surprise there), Miguel Tejada and veteran ace Roger Clemens. Bonds had already come under fire for steroid use, but Tejada and Clemens had managed to stay under the radar until the release of this report. Sports writers around the country publicly lambasted these athletes, particularly Clemens, for their use of performance-enhancing drugs.

Baseball is supposed to be a pure game; a ball, a wooden bat, and some good hand-eye coordination. It's the only sport that has its own theme song, and going to a ballpark to see a game has long been a family affair. Will this report be the ruination of the game? Or, perhaps the better question is: Will these players, and their use of illegal steroids, bring the sport to its knees? Or will the wrongdoings of these playrs be forgotten and forgiven by future generations, as was the case with the Black Sox scandal. I suppose time will only tell. But, inasmuch as the future of baseball is in question, the pure image it once maintained is certainly now a thing of the past.