The 304-page Mitchell report released on Thursday named over 60 current and former players who are accused of using steroids or human growth hormone while playing Major League Baseball. These players include all-time home run king Barry Bonds, seven-time Cy Young Award-winner Roger Clemens – who is alleged to have taken steroids while with the Toronto Blue Jays in 1998, and former American League MVPs Miguel Tejada and Mo Vaughn. Canadian pitcher Eric Gagne is alleged to have taken human growth hormone while playing for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

In naming Bonds and Clemens, the best hitter and pitcher of the past 20 years have had their legacies irreparably tarnished. Beyond the damage done to the reputations of the players named, the game of baseball itself is unlikely to escape from the shame cast upon it by some its top performers.

How can we ever trust that any player is clean, no matter what his test results? Nobody will feel the effects of this shadow of suspicion more than reigning MVP and eventual challenger to the career home run crown, Alex Rodriguez. A-Rod was not named in the Mitchell Report and has never tested positive for any performance enhancing drugs.

With that said, let me ask you. How sure are you that he's clean? I bet most of you are wondering if A-Rod is using some kind of new designer steroid that is undetectable at the moment. It's not fair to Rodriguez, his accomplishments, or any records he may set. But such is the state of the Major League Baseball in 2007 and beyond.

It will probably be some time before we learn the short-term impact of the Mitchell Report on the players named in the investigation. But it's not hard to imagine what the long-term effect of the report will be on Major League Baseball and on professional sports in general.

In the minds of the average sports fan in 2007, pro athletes are now guilty until proven innocent. And can they ever really be proven innocent?

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