Random Thoughts

In addition, the excuse that he was only looking to heal faster and return to the team quicker, not gain an advantage over other players, is ridiculous. Again, as Abraham points out, Pettitte was gaining an advantage over other players who also had injuries but weren't using HGH to help them heal. As I've said before every players has excuses to justify it to themselves and others - it was to heal faster, it was to perform better on the field and help the team, everyone else was doing it so it wasn't a performance enhancer I was just keeping up with the other players, etc... While more than a few fans are willing to excuse Pettitte's use of HGH because he was trying to return to help the team, in my mind the use of performance enhancers is still wrong regardless of the reasons why he was using.

Pettitte's admission to using HGH is bad news for Roger Clemens. While Pettitte doesn't mention Clemens or Brian McNamee, it certainly makes McNamee's statements seem more credible. Clemens denied everything in his own statement, but it's hard for me to believe that McNamee would tell the truth about Pettitte but lie about Clemens, especially when he had a good relationship with both players until fairly recently.

Some fans feel that MLB is to blame for Pettitte using HGH because they didn't address the problem of performance enhancers soon enough or that Pettitte was manipulated by others into using HGH. I don't agree. Pettitte is the only person who is responsible for what he puts in his own body. He was fully aware of what he was doing. MLB, Clemens, McNamee, nor the media are to blame for Pettitte using HGH.

Many Yankee fans are bending over backwards to discredit the Mitchell Report, but while I believe the report is flawed, I think there's likely a lot of truth there too. That Pettitte used performance enhancers doesn't really change the way I think of him - he's very good pitcher who has helped the Yankees win and will hopefully pitch well for them next season as well. However, unlike many fans I don't think his use of performance enhancers is okay no matter what his excuses are. I accepted a long time ago that the athletes that I admire, whether they're Nascar drivers or baseball players, are going to say and do things that I don't agree with and that doesn't make me any less of a fan of their's. Some fans put the players they admire on pedestals and think that they can do no wrong, but I know that just like any other human beings the players can and will make mistakes and do things that they shouldn't be doing - like Pettitte did when he used HGH.