Commentary: Fans played part in steroids scam

? If only Terrell Owens had been busted for the illegal use of an anabolic steroid. Then his actions would have been forgiven, if not altogether forgotten, by the sports public.

Cheating apparently doesn’t compromise integrity, provided it’s done for the benefit of the team.

Major league baseball could tear a rotator cuff with the way it’s patting itself on the back over its tougher drug and steroid restrictions. Baseball swears it has gotten the message, although the new edict conveniently forgot about testing for human growth hormone. HGH is to performance enhancement as high-definition reproduction is to color television. It’s a different league altogether.

But the stricter penalties for yesterday’s technology are nonetheless an admission that the owners and players were willing co-

conspirators in gross negligence, looking the other way as rapidly inflated players rapidly inflated the game’s power numbers.

Common sense tells you that the evidence of smoke suggests a flame is burning somewhere. But rage over the fire in baseball remains restricted to congressmen who threaten to flex their legislative muscle and newspaper columnists who vent about how this deception warrants more than a shrug from fans.

Instead of wondering what happened to the ethics of athletes, maybe we should be wondering about the fans’ definition of impropriety.

T.O. is the most vilified figure in professional sports today, the poster child for self-absorption.

But his crimes of selfishness – parking in the coach’s private parking space, violating the travel dress code and openly questioning the capabilities of teammates – pale compared to the ballplayers who illegally juice up so that they can fatten their statistics and bank accounts.

But in the sports public’s mind, steroid use was more easily permissible because their teams could benefit from warning-track power that turned into home runs and 88-m.p.h fastballs that picked up another 5 mph.

Now that’s what’s out of whack.

College football programs that break recruiting rules are fine and dandy with alumni because they’re only cheating to keep pace with their scurrilous competitors. And since the alums are paying top entertainment dollar, they want the maximum bang for their buck.

Baseball thinks its new punishment for steroid and amphetamine use absolves the sport from any and all previous sins.

But exactly where is the punishment for the mistakes made five or 10 years ago?

Will major-league teams give refunds to ticket buyers who scurried to their parks in record numbers during the Steroid Era of 1995-2004?

I somehow doubt it.

Not that it would be necessary because fans obviously weren’t displeased that they were being scammed. Just keep the long ball flying.

Does baseball somehow couch the accomplishments of that period to reflect the ethical lapses of players who rewrote the game’s history? Don’t bet on it.

It’s the public’s responsibility to serve as jury.

Fans are the consumers, and they obviously think they have ultimate say in player salaries. But their rationale and sense of proportion seem as shaky as those ballplayers whose reputations are on trial.

It is well within their purview to fit T.O. for red horns and asbestos underwear, but as we still see from baseball’s continuing steroid purge, the real devil is in the details.