Watching some of the Roger Clemens congressional hearings on steroids made us think that we can never go back.

We can never go back to the days of believing in our sports heroes.

We can never go back to green grass, leather baseball mitts warmed in the oven, and the memories of the Saturday game of the week.

We can never go back to just baseball.

How sad!

Whether Roger Clemens is telling the truth or lying, it doesn&8217;t matter.

In every sport from cycling to football and on every level from peewees to pros we read, hear and watch everyday about steroid use.

It is illegal.

Athletes are doing it.

It probably won&8217;t ever stop.

Why?

Money.

Until they stop the competition for a .323 hitter in baseball or a 4.4 40-yard dash wideout in football, you won&8217;t stop anyone from trying to gain an edge.

When a second, an inch, a pound makes the difference between making millions in the big leagues or being sent packing back to the farm, you will find cheaters.

You will find cheaters because a couple of years of making millions are worth it to most.

You will find cheaters because the money matters to the owners.

They pay the most for the most.

Look at Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Marion Jones and others and know that the owners, advertisers, and public paid them huge amounts of dollars to hit home runs, throw fast, run fast, and win with no regard to what they did to do it.

Money is the true culprit here, not steroids.

Steroids is just an easy way for the government, MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, the owners and other hangers-on to wrap a bow around a problem and hope it goes away before the fans get wind of it.

Too late!

We can never go back. The money pushed the regular fan out.

Saying they will clean up steroids is just a lie.

They will clean up a small portion of a sport or trot a big name out and let them take the fall, but big-money sports will never truly be cleaned up.

Too much money is at stake.

Sad!

So the least we can do is be honest with ourselves when we buy the $9 hot dog, $120 tickets, $8 Gatorade, and $12 team yearbook that the people in that book are on some sort of performance enhancing drug.

There is too much money, so we can never go back!