Who is really behind the steroid scandal?

Is it Canseco? Is is Victor Conte? What about McNamee or Radomski? Maybe its the players union... All those suggestions would be easy targets, and who knows, maybe one of the afore mentioned parties IS ultimately responsible - lord knows they are ALL complicit. But I have a different theory.

The fault lies, ultimately, with Major League Baseball. That's right. Not the players, but the owner's deserve the dirty finger of blame. Let me lay it all out for you, nice and simple.

The year was 1994, and the players were on strike, costing both themselves and their respective owners millions. You see, the MLBPA is known as one of, if not the, most powerful labor union in the country. During the CBA negotiations, it was well known that the MLBPA had 100% of the leverage. Sure, the owners could have called up some "scabs" to play, but baseball is a game of history. Part of its appeal is the recognizability of its star players. Without them (all of which are in the union), the owners could expect to lose money everytime they field a team. Predictably, they eventually caved, and the player's returned to the field.

But the damage was done to the game. Fans were disenchanted, which led to decreased attendance across the board. And of no less importance was the owner's stark realization that they had lost control of their own team; their business investment. They needed to bring the fans back, regain the game's image (which was actually lacking due to the players, but it affected revenues, so it was in the owners interest to resolve the issue), and more importantly, gain some form of leverage for future CBA negotiations. This was critical. If they entered many more bargainning agreement negotiation sessions with as little leverage as they had during 1994, they would continue to lose control of their own businesses. But how could they accomplish all these things?

In 1998, Mark McGwire and Slammin' Sammy Sosa both broke Roger Maris' hallowed single-season homerun record of 61 dingers. A couple years later, Barry Bonds would break McGwire's record, totalling 73. It is now known, for all practical purposes, that all three of these beasts use PEDs. But 1998 was known as "The Year that Saved Baseball." With the homerun record chase on, revenues skyrocketed, and the fans fell in love with their pasttime once again, and in record numbers. Teams were no longer limited to being sports venues, but actually became marketing companies - the rights the Yankee inter-locking "NY" is worth more, by itself, that many whole teams, with stadium. Larger market teams began to broadcast their own, private, sports networks (YES, SNY, NESN). Player salaries also sky-rocketed (which creates bad sentiment with the public, especially in a weak economy).

Then it all came crashing down. Jose Canseco released his book Juiced, which was thought, at first, to be filled with jealousy and lies. But one by one, each of his claims appeared ot have merit. He claimed McGwire did 'roids. Palmeiro. Ivan Rodriguez. The list went on-and-on. No one will ever forget the image of McGwire, Palmeiro, Canseco, and Curt Schilling in front of a congressional sub-committee, when McGwire refused to comit, under oath, to having never used PEDs. This broke the camels back, as Canseco now had vindication...

I'm not going to get into everything that's happened since then, mostly because I don't feel like thinking about the details, but recently, the A-Rod bombshell...

I propose that not only were the owners aware of the rampant drug use in the game for years, but were ultimately responsible for creating a culture conducive to its proliferation. They knew that if the players began breaking record after record, they would pack the house day-in-and-day-out, and revenues would soar. They willingly hired clubhouse attendents who had contacts with BalCo and other PED distributors, and allowed players to bring along personal trainers who had similar backgrounds. Their lame attempts to implement drug testing were nothing more than a political stunt, designed to cover up their true motives. Only after the players began testing positive under "anonymous tests" that were mysterisouly "leaked" would the finally reach their end-game...

Step back, now. I'm not positive when, exactly, the next CBA will need to be negotiated, but you have players who are virtually all millionaires, a huge chunk of which are assumed, at this point, to be using PEDs of some sort. What sort of good will should the MLBPA expect with their fans if they try to strike again this time?

Congratulations, owners. You now have a little leverage. Of course, the game is in shambles, but, who's keeping score...