Steroids in professional sports have become a major topic of late among news media.

With the looming Roger Clemens vs. Brian McNamee case, political representatives from all over the United States are doing what they can to make sure that everyone, especially users, are aware of the harm of steroids.

These politicians are not out to tear baseball hero Clemens’ spirit out; they are doing what they can to protect the integrity of professional sports.

Over the last few years, many baseball players, current and former, have either admitted to using performance-enhancing substances of some form, or denied it as long as they could, then admitted to their wrongdoing.

Some of these players, such as Rafael Palmeiro, Andy Pettitte and many others, first denied accusations against them about taking such drugs.

However, they came clean soon after, knowing their conscience would get the best of them in the end.

Regardless, performanc-enhancing drugs in sports are prevalent; no matter what skill level, many players will do whatever it takes to get that little edge over another player, not thinking of the long-term consequences, but only worried about the “here and now” results.

Recently, many high schools and junior colleges have implemented drug tests into their athletic programs in order to do what they must to protect the future of those athletes.

Although schools are determined to eradicate drugs from their athletic programs, the better the testing gets, the better the masking agents will get.

With everything that has happened of late with some of the recently retired players admitting to using performance-enhancing substances, it puts a damper on the integrity of professional athletes.

Ken Caminiti, a former baseball player, notably with the San Diego Padres, admitted to using performance- enhancing substances in his most valuable player season of 1996, and for years afterward, before his death due to a drug overdose in 2004.

Such notable players, such as Jason Giambi, Gary Sheffield, Kevin Brown, Lenny Dykstra, Eric Gagne, David Justice, and Paul Lo Duca have been identified as having used performance enhancers during their careers in the recent report written by former Sen. George Mitchell.

The damage to these players’ integrity has been just as damaging as the image of professional athletes.

Regardless of what these players have attempted to do in order to write their names in history, their image shall forever be tarnished.

The damage such accusations have done to the children who look up to such players can never be rekindled.

These players will forever have an asterisk next to their name when they use or get accused of using performance-enhancing drugs. Regardless of what they do to deny these accusations, it will not help to remove that asterisk.

We cannot assume players of years past such as Mickey Mantle, Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, and Hank Aaron did not use these substances.

But the allegations on current players will forever tarnish the history of professional athletes.