So why are SportsWriters so shocked at the Mitchell Report?

Even KO was shocked by the news, even though he said he wasn't shocked but disappointed - he was shocked. You could tell.

It's not like we didn't have warnings about this. To be honest, I'm more shocked that EVERY player in the MLB isn't doped up. I swear I thought it was going to list everyone as having dosed.

But sports writers should know better than to be shocked. They've seen the players grow overnight, like Bonds. Surely they've had a few 'off the record' conversations with players. And surely they knew this was coming.

Baseball is all most players know. Players don't come out of college, like Pro Football players do. Essentially they have no time to pick up additional skills. When you and I were in college, they were perfecting their fastball. When you and I were in internships, they were learning how to pitch the perfect game. They were short-sighted in their vision - they had to be. Life ends for a player when you hit 40. For some of us in the corporate world, that's when life begins.

So when they heard they could get more power, more strength into their system, with the threat of health problems down the road, they didn't think twice. Those were years they had planned to either be retired in their home in Brentwood, or dead. Either way, health problems down the road were the least of their concerns.

Do we want this in baseball? No. But should we be surprised when it shows up, given the risk-to-gain ratios?

Most baseball players don't end up with those homes in Brentwood. My chiropractor played 3rd string for a MLB team for 2 seasons. He was going to be let go when he quit. He knew he couldn't go any further without taking performance enhancing drugs, or a miracle. Being an Atheist like myself, he knew the latter would not be coming. So he took what little cash he had, started up at a Chiropractor school and set up shop after graduation. Most of his friends from 3rd string weren't so lucky - one's an auto mechanic, another a waiter and another took the juice. He was still let go, and now he has nothing to show for it but acne scars and a neck that continues from his chin to his chest.

If Sportswriters get over the shock, they, if anyone, should be able to come up with solutions. Not the Player's unions, not MLB itself but the writers. Writers like Dan Patrick and Keith Olberman know sports, live sports, and can see both the mile high view and ground level. If anyone could come up with a solution, it would be them.