Blood Doping

First things first: I am not in favor of athletes doping with steroids. I am also not in favor of junk science, junkier legal procedure or, junkiest of all, emotion and hysteria driving intelligent thought out of the debate over performance enhancement in sports. Yet these are the central components of our national anti-doping policy. All of them are featured in the latest doping "scandal," the case of New York Yankee slugger Alex Rodriguez.

He squirmed before his inquisitors. He stared back at them. He would not render judgment upon himself. And so, to the question of whether steroid users were cheaters, this was his answer: "That's not for me to determine." That was not Alex Rodriguez. That was Mark McGwire, testifying before Congress, four years ago. This was Rodriguez, on Tuesday: "That's not for me to decide." As Rodriguez talked a little about his steroid past, there was another McGwire flashback.

The number of players approved to take attention deficit disorder medications under baseball's drug policy rose last season, even after the sport tightened its rules in response to criticism from Congress. According to a report issued Friday, 106 therapeutic-use exemptions for ADD drugs were issued last year, up from the 103 exemptions reported to Congress for 2007.