ShareThisThe notion that you are innocent until proven guilty is one of the founding principles of this country.
Baseball, of course, has managed to flip the premise on its head.
These days, anyone who gets suspended 50 games for testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug risks an orchestra of laughter while trying to claim innocence -- that the substance was prescribed by a doctor for a medical issue.
Sorry, Manny Ramirez, the culture that your fellow ballplayers have constructed over the past decade leaves us no choice but to scoff.
The lengths they've gone to conceal their behavior is legendary. The stridence with which your union protected the drug frauds was pathetically misguided. The stain that steroids and human growth hormone has splashed over baseball and some of its most respected records has been too devastating.
Too many disappointments have preceded the Los Angeles Dodgers adored left fielder, who was suspended Thursday for using a substance banned by Major League Baseball. If it wasn't for Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens -- all-star players connected to banned substances -- maybe we'd give Manny the benefit of the doubt.
Sorry again, Manny. Too many rumors about too many of your fellow All-Stars still hanging like a putrid brown cloud over the game. Too many kids asking too many dads and moms if their favorite ballplayer is a cheater.
If, by chance, Ramirez is as pure as the white chalk that lines the Dodger Stadium field, he will have ample opportunity to make his case.
Produce a doctor. Have him talk. Explain your health issue that needed this specific drug. Convince us that neither one of you bothered to check the list of banned substances that would put your $45 million contract in jeopardy.
But that's where we are. Ramirez is guilty until proven innocent.
And really, not even innocent. He doesn't even contest that he took something illegal, by mistake or not.
The better word might be clueless, which may work to his favor. Ramirez already has a long track record on which to draw -- Manny being Manny and all that.
The possibility, of course, that Ramirez knew exactly what he was doing can't surprise anyone, not anymore.
Despite the ethical issues, despite the public humiliation, despite the loss of income and competitive opportunities, the cheaters keep cheating.
The personal satisfaction of winning, the benefits of collecting enormous amounts of money, and the perks of fame have been too great to risk by using these substances.
There's an arrogance at work here, born of a charmed life. Athletes are often spoiled early, told they are special. Getting caught is unlikely, and if they are, someone will cover for them.
A parent, a coach, an agent. A doctor.
In the meanwhile, "Mannywood" is in limbo. The unthinkable arrived like a fastball to the head. This is as bad as it could be for the Dodgers.
In L.A., to be cool is everything and Manny had made the team cool again. But cool is on hold. Sickening takes its place.
The red-hot Dodgers' won-lost record may suffer for a while. Maybe not. When Ramirez comes back on July 3, there's a good chance they will pick up where they left off, make the playoffs and compete for a World Series.
But the sheer joy of Manny mania, the improbable aura of, yes, innocence that he inspired in Dodger Stadium, like one of his home runs, is going, going and all but gone.
(Contact Gregg Patton at gpatton@PE.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
columnMust credit The Press-Enterprise of Riverside, Calif.
