The latest athlete has fallen from his pedestal due to a performance-enhancing and reputation-tarnishing drug.

New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez admitted to using steroids from 2001-2003 while playing for the Texas Rangers.

Rodriguez is not the first person to be caught using steroids, and unfortunately he won’t be the last.

However, he is one of a few who actually admitted he used them without lying or testifying in front of a grand jury.

It was reported by Sports Illustrated that Rodriguez failed a drug test in 2003, and the Mitchell Report stated that everyone who failed the 2003 test, were informed of the results by September 2004. So he was still not truthful when he was interviewed by “60 Minutes” in 2007 and stated he did not ever use steroids.

In no way are we saying what Rodriguez did was acceptable because he admitted it. He was still wrong and was not truthful the whole time, but he did the right thing by coming clean.

The problem is the sports world has become cynical to athletes dealing with this issue, but mainly baseball.

When it was first reported that players such as Mark McGwire, Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds were named as steroid users, the hopeful and trusting fans refused to believe this could be true. Why would their favorite ballplayer do something like this? Now, when a new report comes out about a player allegedly using, the first thought is, yep, I bet he did it.

One by one the truth came out and there was no way around the fact they cheated. Andy Pettitte did the best job, if that’s possible, of coming clean about using steroids, by not resulting to lying in court. While others, like Bonds and Clemens, are both involved in perjury cases to find out if they lied to a grand jury about taking steroids, and they still deny it.

At least Rodriguez did not put people through another perjury case, while saving as much of his reputation as he could.