This isn?t meant to demean the efforts of the good senator. He essentially was playing the role of watchdog without any teeth ? no enforcement power and no subpoena power to give his investigation any real juice. He relied on shady characters such as former New York Mets clubhouse attendant Kirk Radomski, who gave up players as part of his plea agreement in a federal steroids case.

The report recommends a series of common-sense steps, mainly that major-league baseball should tighten up on its steroid testing policies and have tests done by an independent agency. It also sounds a little Mark McGwire-ish in its assertion that baseball should stop talking about the past and focus on cleaning its future image.

But in a two-faced stroke, Mitchell couldn?t help but splash some 86 names of players, including 16 Yankees past and present, across the pages as past users. And the most delicious accusations were leveled at pitcher Roger Clemens by former New York Yankees major league strength and conditioning coach Brian McNamee, who claimed he injected The Rocket with testosterone numerous times in 1998 and 2000.

Clemens, contemplating yet another return to the mound at age 45, predictably reacted through his attorney with outrage and denial. If any lawsuits are coming from prominent players, among them Gary Sheffield, Andy Pettitte and Miguel Tejada, Clemens should be leading the pack.

While Clemens can?t be charged with any crime, the fact that he was named so prominently in the report serves a purpose.

Finally, there is a poster boy with whom Barry Bonds can share billboard space as a perceived superstar on steroids. The slugger with the perpetual frown can smile, since Mitchell has reinforced the widely accepted notion Bonds had plenty of company in the cheating arenabefore baseball began to confront the problem.

Like Bonds, who is up to his asterisk in legal problems as baseball?s new home run king, Clemens was a future Hall of Famer before allegedly turning to the juice. Like Bonds, Clemens has enjoyed an incredible and suspicious burst of success during the so-called twilight of his career. What better bookend to Bonds than a seven-time, Cy Young winner considered the greatest pitcher of his generation?

If afforded the privilege of voting on Hall of Fame members, I would vote for Bonds and Clemens today. Five years from now, maybe not.

Ultimately, those two and countless others engaged in the performance enhancement game because Major League Baseball ? the players? union, owners, general managers and especially Commissioner Bud Selig ? fostered a do-nothing environment that brought steroids into the clubhouse. It took baseball five years after the tainted McGwire-Sammy Sosa home run chase in 1998 to get around to testing for steroids.

Selig, who is possibly the worst commissioner in the history of sports, delivered a laughably self-serving response to the Mitchell Report by saying: “If there were problems, I wanted them revealed. If there were individuals who engaged in wrongdoing, I wanted those facts to come to light. If there were recommendations that would improve our drug testing, I wanted to hear them. [The report] is a call to action. And I will act.”

Here?s a suggestion, Bud. Since you helped baseball raise a record $6 billion in revenue last year, since you?ve helped the game recover from a disastrous strike in 1994 that killed the World Series, and since you did it by watching a suspicious cast of characters captivate the public while playing fast and loose with the integrity of the game, declare victory and resign your post.

Baseball needs a real leader to navigate through the post-steroid era. Maybe NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell can provide a list of candidates.

Gary Lambrecht writes about the NFL, Major League Baseball and college sports. He can be reached at [email protected].