Sports steroids not a big deal unless it's baseball

For the past few years, we have all been hearing about the steroid scandal that has taken its grip on major league baseball.

Baseball players who are linked to steroids have a constant, permanent stain to their reputation. All of their accomplishments come under intense scrutiny and if the player is of a high enough status, their Hall Of Fame candidacy comes into question.

Congress has held hearings on steroids in baseball and the national media has made baseball clubhouses into a circus.

Reporters swarm the players, wanting to know why, how and if in fact they actually did use Performance Enhancing Drugs. So why is it that when a player of another sport-that isn't baseball-tests positive for these PED's, very little attention is paid to it? Case in point, Rashard Lewis, a basketball player, of the NBA's Orlando Magic, failed a drug test because of elevated levels of testosterone, which of course steroids produce.

The media covered this story for a little bit but then moved on to other stories of the day. Almost like it was not a very big deal. Just a few days before the news of Lewis broke, a report came out that David Ortiz, a baseball player for the Boston Red Sox, tested positive for steroids in 2003.

The media covered the story like hawks and hours were devoted to the story for days and days on end. It seems odd that a person who was linked to PED's six years ago and only by what a report said, not actual cold hard evidence that we had in our hands, gets more attention placed upon him then a player who currently tested positive.

Why does the baseball guy get more scrutiny then the basketball guy? This past summer two of baseball's biggest stars were busted for having used steroids in the past: Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez. Ramirez actually served a suspension since his was a failed drug test and Rodriguez's was just an admission of past steroid use after somebody leaked the story. Both have been under intense pressure from the public since then and wherever they go, they get booed at or had fans yell obscene, crude stuff at them.

Everything they've ever done and will do is now in doubt of whether they did that cheating or not. Turn back the clock three years and Shawne Merriman of the San Diego Chargers is suspended for testing positive for steroids. Merriman served his suspension and is now one of the most highly touted defensive football players in the NFL.

Why do baseball players get thrown under the bus while athletes in other sports basically get a free pass?

Steroids are detrimental to sports and nobody should be using them to gain an athletic edge. But why should athletes in one sport get dealt more harshly then athletes in the others? They all cheated, so they all should be treated the same.

Hey Media: either scrutinize every steroid user from now on, or let them serve the punishment and then move on. This double standard needs to go.