At 2 pm yesterday afternoon, the New York Times broke news that Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz tested positive for steroids in 2003, making them them the sixth and seventh names to come to light as being on that list.  In case you don't know, this list is the result of a test that Major League Baseball conducted to see if it needed to implement league-wide testing for performance enhancers, enough players tested positive in that 2003 survey for the league to start cracking down on the problem and testing regularly.  (I wrote a little more about it in this February article about Alex (A-Rod) Rodriguez's admission of guilt, if you need some more info.)  Needless to say, this is devastating news to the people of Red Sox Nation (I'm not a member), as two beloved members of the 2004 team that broke the curse have now fallen, though Ramirez has recently lost some of his luster after serving a 50 game suspension this season for testing positive for a female fertility drug, the kind of drug that one would take if they needed their body to restart the production of testosterone.  Either way, it doesn't seem like baseball's steroid problem is going to go away any time soon, and it's probably going to get a lot worse before it gets better.

A friend of mine who nearly never ever writes for this website went to Major League Baseball's Home Run Derby and he had only this to say about the competition: Bring Back Steroids. If you watched the Derby on television I think you'll agree. It was about 7 to 8 hours long and there was only a soupcon of homeruns hit. Regardless, this got me thinking about two things. 1.) Baseball All-Star Weekend needs a skills competition. Might I suggest a game of Run the Bases? Or how about some sort of throwing accuracy game? Better yet, they should put 50 guys in the outfield at once and see who can shags the most fly balls. 2.) I turn 29 on Saturday and before I reach 30 I'd like to achieve my ultimate physical potential. What I'm getting at is, I want to do steroids for 6 months to a year.

These are the facts of the case.

Fact #1: In 2003, Alex Rodriguez and 103 other major league baseball players tested positive for performance enhancers. The test was conducted under a guarantee of anonymity for the purpose of determining whether wide-spread testing and punishment for positive results were warranted.

Well, it's been something of a quiet week here at Steve's Word HQ. After a holiday-filled March, we've arrived at April. For those that may not know, April is Holocaust Awareness Month, National Poetry Month, and Be Vigilant Against Child Abuse Month, as well as home to both Arbor Day and Earth Day.