What has the sports world become? Has it really come to this? I guess so. Between the last few years of steroid and HGH investigations by Congress, this sort of paranoia that “any baseball player is a suspect” makes me ill.

It is evident to me that this mess, above all else, is Major League Baseball’s fault. Everyone knows that the MLB turned a blind eye when it knew steroid use was going on. Why? The same reason that any kind of scandal or cover-up happens in this country — money.

After the strike of 1994, baseball had to find an answer. The seats were empty. Television ratings were the lowest in history. What would bring fans back to the ballpark?

Home runs.

As home run totals started to increase more and more in the mid to late ’90s, so did fan interest. Baseball was back, and in a big way. With the ball wound tighter and half the league on some sort of performance-enhancing substance, balls were flying out of the park like it was nothing.

I mean, seriously — Brady Anderson hit 50 home runs. That is an utter disgrace to the game.

Then the 1998 season came, the amazing season that will be forever remembered as the cornerstone of the “steroid era.”

Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa battled all season long for the home run title, and all-time history. McGwire ended with 70, Sosa 66, shattering the former records held by Roger Maris and Babe Ruth.

While I and sports fans across the country watched in wonder and awe, Bud Selig and Major League Baseball had to know that a scandal would eventually be exposed for the prevalent abuse of players in the show.

At the same time, the owners continued to see their pockets getting fat, and they let widespread use of these substances continue. The players aren’t the bad guys here — I wish people would understand that.

So why punish someone for something that wasn’t against the rules back then? Baseball has to find a scapegoat for its dirty deeds. Unfortunately, it’s the players that suffer.

Well ? I really don’t care if they let Roger Clemens suffer.

When Bonds hit 73 in ’01, it really started to make people wonder what was going on. There just isn’t a sudden increase of home runs like the one that took place from ’95-2005. It just doesn’t happen.

No one in recent or past history had ever come close. So were players of this generation the best baseball players ever? Or was a large amount of the success due to performance-enhancing drugs?

I believe that no matter what a player takes, they still have to hit a baseball, one of the hardest things to do in life.

Yes, it may have aided those players to get extra strength and make those occasional routine fly balls get out of the park, but who cares? I do believe that some of the greatest hitters of all-time are from this era. It is sad to know that it will always be tarnished by this ridiculous scandal.

So why is Capitol Hill getting involved? Why are these politicians gloating over these athletes?

If the U.S. is so concerned with HGH use, why not hire a special private investigator to look deeper into the situation, instead of ridiculous politicians that know nothing about the sport and are merely nothing more than fans looking in from the outside?

It is the same thing with football. Why is Arlen Specter trying to investigate “Spygate” in New England? It is obvious the NFL wants to do nothing about it, but as a public servant to this country and the state of Pennsylvania, how can this man waste his time investigating whether the Patriots taped walk-throughs or not?

Nobody cares. It is a mockery and this so-called politician should be ashamed of himself.

I’m just waiting for Congress to start investigating another sport like bowling next. It’s a great strategy — take the real heat off of politicians and blame problems in this country on athletes.

Congress isn’t fooling anybody.

I don’t find any of the investigations valid. They are a waste of time and in reality, they have changed little to nothing in a positive way for either sport.

This is not Congress’ place. This is Major League Baseball’s problem. Congress has real problems to deal with — not who allegedly took HGH three times in 2002.

It makes me sick that we as Americans can be distracted enough by these congressional hearings to not even talk about the real problems going on in this country — the same problems that Congress does nothing about.

These politicians prove how little they really care about this nation by allowing these hearings to go through. No one wanted to see what Roger “Fathead” Clemens had to say. No one wanted to hear Brian McNamee whine and cry about injecting Clemens in his ass with HGH. No one wanted to hear about where they got the HGH or how.

Most of all, no one wanted to hear about Clemens’ wife using HGH to “try” and look good for a photo shoot.

Give it up, Debbie. It will never happen. Just continue to make little ornaments and bar stools made from Clemens’ all-star bats.

The ride is over, Roger. Now it’s time to experience life away from baseball ? please do us all a favor, and just stay away.

If Clemens ever tries to come back to the MLB, I will puke. I haven’t ever liked him, and it always makes me smile to think back to when Clemens was on the Red Sox playing the A’s in the ALCS. Anytime “The Rocket” went up against Dave Stewart, he got smashed on. That’s because Roger is a punk, and Stew was the man.

The mockery that these issues surrounding baseball have become makes purists like me sick. I love the game more than anyone, but to see its current state is depressing. I just try to think about the good old days, when Ken Griffey Jr. was the league’s biggest star. “The Kid” was real. We need to appreciate players like him more.

We also need to respect the players who have hurt their bodies by taking HGH and steroids. They did this to entertain us as fans, to give us what we want, and so they can eat and do what they love.

Forget about who did or didn’t use. We should try and judge players strictly by their accomplishments on the field and how they played the game.

Unless you’re Roger Clemens, and you flat out suck.

Galen Kusic can be reached at [email protected]