Sports is often sought to be one of the most popular entertainment venues among the world.  Lately, it seems to me that there have been a lot more negative issues than positive.

This is an attempt to inform the everyday citizen of the things that are out of bounds with the million dollar athletes we call idols.

With MLB being one of the highest paid professional sports, it should be no question that the integrity of the game would be higher than the rest.  In the month of August, Bay Area baseball saw two players fail drug tests for high levels of testosterone.

First was Melky Cabrera of the San Francisco Giants, who at the time led the national league in hits, and batting average. He still leads the league in batting average, which is now bringing up talks of whether or not he will be given the batting title after this incident.

Second was Bartolo Colon of the Oakland Athletics, who had shown a surprising increase in innings pitched over the past two seasons (‘09,’11), following a 2010 campaign where he was injured all season, as well as a visible increase on his fastball speed.

The use of any human growth hormone is highly prohibited in all professional sports, and these two not only hurt their teams during pennant races, but also crushed the dreams of kids who idolized these athletes.

This was also a huge issue last season after Milwaukee Brewers star Ryan Braun also tested high for testosterone, following his MVP acceptance months earlier. After a long appeals process, he became the first player to have a drug suspension overturned in MLB history.

I’m not saying these men aren’t great people off the field, but when they are making millions to play a game that has long been called the American pastime, maybe more should be done to reestablish the integrity of the game before it is lost for good.