I think it’s time for major league baseball to enroll in some D.A.R.E. classes. Or MLB commissioner Bud Selig should create a “not even once” ad campaign for his athletes to discourage them from taking steroids. Maybe clubs should even implement the buddy system on road trips to make sure everyone is accounted for.

Sure, these solutions seem childish and not becoming of adults, but recently some of the best hitters in all of baseball are not worthy of being treated like grown men.  Constant lying, unwillingness to accept consequences and tattle-telling are the themes we have been seeing from well-known players like Alex Rodriguez and Ryan Braun lately.

Frankly, it reminds me of kindergarten. Those two, along with other players either convicted or strongly suspected, need to start acting like the men that people all over the country look up to.

Since the Biogenesis scandal hit the press, it has been a struggle for players and fans to pick out who is using and who isn’t. 14 players went down in a single season because of the data that was leaked by an ex-Biogenesis of America employee. Some players like Rodriguez and Braun did not come as a surprise, but Jhonny Peralta, Nelson Cruz and Everth Cabrera were each All-Stars this year and all received 50-game suspensions.

These findings leave us fans questioning whether or not the entire All-Star roster was doping and, if they were, for how long. It is unfortunate that we cannot fully appreciate the unbelievable success of Detroit Tigers third baseman Miguel Cabrera without wondering if (or when) he will be the next name to be tarnished in the world of baseball. The MLB has been a cloud of uncertainty in recent years, and the players have yet to change their behavior.

What’s the first rule of avoiding an accusation of taking a banned substance? Deny, deny, deny. Or even better, use the phrase, “I wasn’t aware of the substance I was being given.” Now, with hard physical evidence against these players, some of them have taken the responsibility for their actions and accepted the suspension handed to them by the MLB.

Then there are characters like Braun and Rodriguez, who lie directly to the public until there is absolutely no way of avoiding it. Nothing says, “I never took steroids,” like a 211-game suspension.

I believe Selig and the big wigs of the MLB are being very firm in the fight against performance enhancing drugs, but, in the end, it is not in their control. The players are the ones who have the final say. It is up to them whether they will be remembered as good, respectable men who played the game as it was meant to be played or if they want to be booed at every single ballpark in the U.S., including their own.

ksparkhu@mavs.coloradomesa.edu