Andy Pettitte (really, four t's? wttttf?!) may be able to weather his own HGH storm, but his apology yesterday was missing a crucial component for me. Allow me to paraphrase Pettitte: I'm sorry because I a) got caught, b) set a bad example for the kids, c) brought shame to the Yankees and Astros and d) tarnished my own image.
I'm looking, nay, searching in vain, for someone to fess up on the grounds that steroids and HGH are morally wrong in and of themselves. I'm pretty sure that most of you here don't even agree with that, but if it's not true, then why should Pettitte feel compelled to apologize at all? Why does using HGH to overcome an injury bring shame and dishonor to your team, when it could be feasibly argued that you will bring your team more glory by performing well for them?
There's a case to be made (by someone with a little more credibility than Jose Canseco) that the enormous rewards of a career in professional sports wildly incentivize the continued use (and development) of new designer steroids. This message will elbow all others out of the discussion at the high school and college levels. It needs to be counterbalanced with a moral argument, but not even those who have admitted to using steroids will make it.
Edit: What I mean to say is, people like Pettitte say they were wrong and that they are sorry, but if you scratch the surface of that apology, they really have no idea why they are wrong, or what they are sorry for.
