When Mark McGwire got around to talking about the past, he finally admitted to using steroids.

The news was greeted with a collective yawn.

Now some days later, I’m thinking, would Barry Bonds get elicit the same reaction if he admitted to taking steroids?

I know there’s a lot of differences between the two, and I will point those out in the rest of the article. The similarity is that both of them took steroids to set home-run records, and both of them, basically already admitted to it: McGwire, in front of Congress, and Bonds, in front of a grand jury.

Bonds has received by far a lot more media coverage and fan hate.

Well, for one thing, he was already enough of a “bad guy” before taking steroids, so that’s one thing driving it.

And he does actually hold the single-season records and all-time records for home runs. It just so happens that he had the misfortune of breaking the record when steroids was a big news story, and Big Mac’s run came before that.

With that comment, there is a question of what drives the media: Obviously Bonds’ home run spree helped drive the media conversation on steroids, and McGwire’s did too, but not to the same degree.

In 1998, McGwire was found with andro in his locker, and he admitted to taking it. The media narrative turned to steroids for a short time after that, but the most people in the media seemed to push away the steroid aspect. Andro isn’t steroids, and they didn’t seem to want to entertain the idea that McGwire could be taking steroids, or that andro was in a similar sphere to steroids. People seemed to want McGwire to break the record and didn’t want their fun dampened.

Then when 2008 rolled around, certainly we knew more about how rampant steroid-use was, and Jose Canseco had published his book, so of course there’s gonna be more scrutiny.

Furthermore, Bonds’ story also involves America’s justice system, and Americans like a good law and order case. The back-and-forth between Bonds and the prosecution made for a good story, but the case has been indefinitely postponed since last February, presumably because the feds can’t get enough evidence, what with Bonds’ trainer refusing to speak.

Then there’s that last small difference between Bonds and McGwire, the one I haven’t mentioned yet, but I know most of you were thinking about it when I wrote the headline. I don’t know if race has anything to do with it, and I don’t think there’s any reliable way to tell. I’ve already noted a lot of reasons why Bonds legitimately gets more negative coverage than McGwire. I hope race isn’t another factor, and I’m certainly not going to say that it is, having already said that “I don’t know if it is,” but when you think about the two narratives, that’s obviously something to think about.

(And if anyone wants to misquote me, they can go back and read that last paragraph.)

Photo: Reuters

Christopher Nolan’s highly-anticipated film, The Dark Knight, premiered this weekend and all eyes were transfixed on the late Heath Ledger’s portrayal of the dynamic villain, The Joker. In tribute to Ledger’s devilishly mesmerizing character, I have decided to nominate the 5 most villainous sports figures of the past ten years.

1) Barry Bonds- Bonds, 43, a 7-time MVP and 8-time Gold Glove winner who is baseball’s all-time home run king with 762 dingers, is one of the greatest players to ever grace the diamond. Unfortunately, Willie Mays’ godson is also one of the most despicable and surly human beings to ever be thrust upon the world of professional sports. In November of 2007, Bonds was indicted on 4 counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice for lying about his use of performance enhancing drugs (including the allegation that he utilized a steroid called trenbolone, which is intended to improve the muscle quality in cattle). Currently, Bonds is an outcast who has been essentially banished from the sport of baseball.

2) Bill Belichick- Belichick, 56, helped lead the New England Patriots to 3 Super Bowl championships and he is widely heralded as one of the greatest coaches in the annals of the NFL. But, Belichick is also a cheater both on the field and off of it. In September of 2007, the philandering fashion plate, who has a career record of 41-57 as a “HC” without Tom Brady at the helm, admitted that he had been illegally videotaping his oppositions defensive signals since the 2000 season.

3) Roger Clemens- Clemens, 45, won 354 games in his career and was awarded the Cy Young Award a record seven-times. But, the fat Texan also cheated on his wife, Debbie, at least 354 times and he likely took a minimum of 7 different forms of illegal performance enhancing drugs throughout his sham of a career. Any time now, “the Rocket” could be launched to prison for lying to congress.

4) Alex Rodriguez- Rodriguez, 32, is a 3-time MVP and 12-time All Star who many believe will one day be revered as the greatest baseball player ever. Early last year, A-Rod was asked why he was such a magnet for criticism and he responded, “When people write bad things about me, I don’t know if it’s because I am good-looking, I’m biracial, I make the most money, I play on the most popular team.” The reasons that many dislike the purple-lipped pariah are actually because he is a pompous, robotic and fake man who is incapable of succeeding in pressurized situations.

5) Ray Lewis- Lewis, 33, a 2-time AP NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year and the MVP of Super Bowl XXXV, is one of the most dominant linebackers to ever step on the gridiron. He is also a menacing man who was charged (and later acquitted) with murder and aggravated assault after a fight in 2000 left two dead from stab wounds. Lewis was the first MVP of the Super Bowl to not be asked to say the famous phrase, “I’m going to Disney World” after the game. One can only presume that Lewis wasn’t the image that Disney craved to be associated with their brand.

* Honorable mention: Kobe Bryant

Everybody has different vantages and varying likes and dislikes. I would be interested in hearing the opinions of others on this subject. In this case, nobody can be pronounced wrong.

• As always, thanks for taking the time to give me some of your time. I hope I entertain you with my take on the past few days in the world of sports.

• New York Yankees Senior Vice President Hank Steinbrenner said yesterday that baseball is unjustifiably tagged as the only sport with a steroid problem and he alleged the epidemic is far worse in the National Football League than it is on the diamond.

“I don’t like baseball being singled out,” said Steinbrenner. “Everybody that knows sports knows football is tailor-made for performance-enhancing drugs. I don’t know how they managed to skate by. It irritates me. Don’t tell me it’s not more prevalent. The number in football is at least twice as many. Look at the speed and size of those players.”

Surely Steinbrenner chapped a number of asses with his controversial allegations and I imagine that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell would now love to duel with big-Hank in a “Mexican Street Fight.” Nevertheless, it’s usually refreshing when a man of significance speaks his mind instead of being neutral and politically correct. Steinbrenner called the proverbial spade a spade and the NFL knows it.

• Roger Clemens’ Yankee jersey was unceremoniously removed from the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center last week in direct response to the cloud of steroid suspicion surrounding “the Rocket.” The museum’s brass illustrated the art of addition by subtraction here and their entire establishment instantly rocketed-up (pun intended) in class by removing any link to the lying Texan.

• Does anyone else see Clemens’ horrifically abrasive lawyer Rusty Hardin as an unsightly blend between Dallas Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones and Jim Carey’s character in Dumb and Dumber?

• The Reverend Al Sharpton remarked last week that federal investigators had better hold Clemens to the same standards that they have former San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds.

“When I see a contrast between how you treat a Clemens and how you treat a Bonds, that is a civil rights issue,” said the polarizing clergyman.

Although Sharpton generally drives me to whiskey, I couldn’t agree with him more in this case. Pasted below is an excerpt from an entry that I posted on January the 9th of this year.

“If Clemens does eventually get elected into baseball’s Hall of Fame, Barry Lamar Bonds, 43, had better be enshrined as well. If Clemens does ultimately make Cooperstown and Bonds doesn’t, then sadly America as a whole is as racist as many proclaim.”

I am often offended at Sharpton’s penchant for making everything an issue of race. But, in this instance, all I can say is, “Amen, Reverend.”

• Yankees left-hander Andy Pettitte held a press conference in Tampa, Florida Monday to discuss being named in the Mitchell Report and being forced to speak with Congressional investigators earlier in the month. Despite the fact that he looked as nervous as a hooker in a cathedral, the southpaw seemed forthright and genuine and I applaud his moxie for publicly owing up to his sins. Pettite was wrong for what he did and he will face a lifetime of skepticism for the decision he made to utilize human growth hormone. Still, it is a genuine shame that so few ballplayers have had to face the music when so many of them have shot steroids into their cheeks. I suppose that is what happens when the Director of the Boston Red Sox is appointed to conduct the investigation. Conflict of interest, anyone?

• John Rocker, a flash-in-the-pan jackass who has been out of baseball since the ripe old age of 28, again flapped his gums last week and revealed how much of an untalented Neanderthal he actually is.

“Bud Selig is a clown,” said the moronic hick from Georgia. “He should do the entire world a favor and kill himself. He is a certifiable idiot.”

This is simply a vintage case of a midget calling a munchkin short. Rocker is one of the least appealing athletes in the annals of sports and it is pathetic that such a disgrace ever made it to the professional ranks to begin with. In reality, if John Rocker kills himself, he will do “the entire world a favor.”

• Thanks again for reviewing my material. Without your readership, I’d have no reason to write.