Commentators finally find voice on steroid issue

Ever since the steroids scandal broke, networks that televise baseball have been hiding from the topic. It's the kiss of death, airing the dirty laundry of a game in which they have a huge commercial interest.

And so, whenever the notorious cheat Barry Bonds has stepped to the plate, announcers have tap-danced around the issue on everyone's mind.

This past weekend, however, with Bonds slowly approaching Hank Aaron's record -- it's taking him a surprisingly long time lately, isn't it? -- both Fox and ESPN dipped their toes in the steroids debate.

About time, I say. Enough of the groundhog treatment.

The occasion was a statement that Jason Giambi, another steroids cheat, recently made to USA Today: "I was wrong for doing that stuff. What we should have done a long time ago was stand up -- players, owners, everybody -- and said we made a mistake."

When Fox's Joe Buck and Tim McCarver discussed Giambi's remarks on Saturday's Yankees-Mets game, they were divided in their views, perhaps along generational lines.

Buck, 38, who called the record-breaking regular-season home run of the cheater Mark McGwire in 1998, said:

"I give Jason Giambi a lot of credit for being at least the one guy who has come close enough to an admission of wrongdoing. ... Close enough, but it's not there." He said he doubted Giambi had made enough of an admission to lead to his suspension.

McCarver, 66, was harder on Giambi -- properly so -- not just for having taken steroids but for ascribing guilt to others who didn't. He said, "Using that collective 'we' -- 'we' meaning all of baseball, more or less exonerating the individuals that were involved -- I don't think that's right."

Sunday night, ESPN's Jon Miller and Joe Morgan discussed Yankees general manager Brian Cashman's response to Giambi's remarks. "The only people who need to apologize," Cashman had said, "are the people who personally did steroids, and that's it."

Morgan said he agreed "100 percent" with Cashman, but Miller remained mum.

It will be fascinating to hear what commentators say -- or don't say -- in the run-up to Bonds breaking the record. Their nervousness over this issue is as obvious as Bonds' steroid-swollen head.

• PLAIN SENSE -- The hot-button issue of the NBA playoffs last week was commissioner David Stern's decision to suspend the Phoenix Suns' Amare Stoudamire and Boris Diaw from the pivotal Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinals against the San Antonio Spurs. Their offense: leaving the bench after Robert Horry's flagrant foul on their teammate, Steve Nash.

I thought the decision, which arguably cost the Suns their season, wrongly placed the letter over the spirit of the law. Fair-minded people can debate it.

The bottom line on why Stern decided how he did, however, probably came from Greg Anthony, the former UNLV star who sits on ESPN's pregame and halftime panel and deserves kudos in this case for telling it like it is.

"I'm going to keep it real -- it's a racial issue," said Anthony, who is black. "Our league is predominantly an African-American league. Therefore, image is everything. The perception is that the African-American athletes, especially in basketball, are thugs or this, that and the other.

"You got to be able, as a league, to control that somehow. Ultimately, this rule (leaving the bench) is the gospel for the NBA."

• PLAYOFFS -- Ratings for the NBA conference semifinals on ESPN were down about 11 percent to 2.5 from last year's already worrisome 2.8. At TNT, ratings for playoff rounds 1 and 2 stayed the same at 2.2.

Clearly, the ratings woes described in this space last month are continuing. Is the NBA becoming as irrelevant as the NHL?

As for the two networks' NBA pregame and wraparound shows, ESPN has the edge -- though barely, since it uses so much of its airtime promoting shows due to run later in the week.

The problem with TNT's show is Shaquille O'Neal whenever he joins regulars Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley. Shaq comes across as a Buddha-like figure both in his looks and inscrutable pronouncements. He's also such an inarticulate mumbler, it's difficult to understand the points he's making.

Barkley is better with his cockeyed, often contrarian, views. He's sharper and, by nature, more unpredictable and opinionated.

Bill Taaffe is a former award-winning TV-radio sports columnist for Sports Illustrated. His column is published Tuesdays. He can be reached at taaffe-reviewjournal@earthlink.net.