Every time I imagine baseball with more bunts and 1-0 "pitching duels," my blood goes cold. If intolerable tedium interested me, I would have turned my attention to soccer or golf years ago.

Baseball's singular purpose, some seem to have forgotten, is to entertain us. So the moral panic surrounding Alex Rodriguez's use of steroids is unquestionably counterproductive. If an athlete decides to sacrifice his testicles to the gods of baseball, who am I to say no?

Speaking of which, Congress is revving up its un-American war on the home run once again. This week, all-star shortstop Miguel Tejada was charged with lying to Congress about steroids. Surely, all of us can amass a colossal list of issues the nation's top legislative body should probably be tackling before a once-great shortstop.

Now, there is no doubt that the morality and ethics of performance-enhancing drugs need to be debated. But Washington, where players are treated like former members of the Khmer Rouge, is the last place this discussion should be held.

Moreover, baseball just isn't that important. Despite what some fans believe, Fenway Park isn't a sacred temple; baseball records are not registered in the book of Deuteronomy; and Congress is not the Sanhedrin.

They won't even let you put an asterisk next to "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." I checked.

Right now, a doctor somewhere in this country is prescribing steroids for an ailment. The uses of enhancers are far more complex than your run-of-the-mill didactic senator would have you believe. And if these drugs have the ability to help an athlete recover from an injury faster -- often the stated purpose of professional athletes -- why would Major League Baseball ban their usage outright? Continued...