Embattled sports jock Mark McGwire had faced a whole lot of resistance during voting season for the Hall of Fame. Now, the debate on whether McGwire should come clean about his use of steroids rages on again, in the hopes of somehow salvaging what little is left of McGwire’s baseball glory days.

Androstenedione, a precursor to steroids, some reports say, was the only drug of choice for the player but former team mate Jose Canseco reveals more interesting and incriminating details in his book “Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant ‘Roids, Smash Hits, & How Baseball Got Big.” Canseco admits to injecting McGwire with steroids himself. The “Juiced” revelations may have led to votes for McGwire falling to about -21% this year. Andro at the height of McGwire’s career was yet to be banned (US and MLB only) and was available over the counter as a muscle enhancing drug.

In a recent San Francisco Examiner article written by Gwen Knapp, McGwire had been advised to address the issue very soon. It was mentioned that the baseball player should tell all of us about what had happened in the past, since the days of Congressional inquiry are long gone. It would be the right time for him to talk about, and answer queries about his alleged doping days, as it may come in handy to get him his votes. It would be the perfect time as soon as the Super Bowl season is over and all the spotlights would be on him. Besides, the article further argues, McGwire has already retired from the league, for 7 years in fact, and his confessions would cost him nothing in terms of losing his face.

There are however, the legal issues to contend with. McGwire even stated something to that effect when he delivered a statement on Capitol Hill. At that time he seemed bent on keeping his mouth shut about the doping scandal. He said that the situation will not let him win in any case; saying that he did not use ‘roids is pointless since no one would believe him; on the other hand, admitting that he did dope up would mean investigations into his life by the government yet again.

Additionally, the doping stuff that McGwire and a lot of others supposedly took in the late 90s was not illegal at the time. McGwire cannot be indicted for anything, not even perjury since he never had the guts to lie under oath anyway. The only consideration would be that investigators could hound him for other names; maybe of team mates, maybe of suppliers, and that would truly be at best, uncomfortable.

But the public message is quite clear- they want McGwire to own up to what he actually did. It is not being asked for him to publish a book detailing everything he took or did not take; it seems that an admission and an apology is all it will take, at least for him to be in the running again for HOF. The baseball fan base, ever ready to accept a sincere “sorry” - would probably be more willing to elect McGwire into HOF afterwards. There is likely no other way; as it stands at present, McGwire’s believing public is numbered at 0.

And here’s a bonus; McGwire’s fate cannot be any worse than other athletes that have come out of their doping lockers. He would be at a much better place than Barry Bond, who will be standing trial for perjury, Marion Jones, who suffered a jail term, and Tyler Hamilton’s absurd defense that his twin might have been tested instead of him thus the positive blood doping results.

Even if McGwire did not make it to the Hall of Fame for the third straight time, an act of contrition on his part may actually put him at a better spot in the annals of baseball history, instead of the forgettable place he is in now. He needs to decide whether he wants his name to be forever in the shady pages of steroid users, or the much brighter spot of a former doping athlete that has apologized for his errors.

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