Andy, I Forgive You

I feel like if more people did what Andy Pettitte did, baseball's steroids problem wouldn't be front-page news every day and it wouldn't be as irritating for fans as it is right now.

Rather than speaking through lawyers, consulting his lawyers before every response, or stumbling through obviously rehearsed talking-points, he gave each reporter who asked him a question at today's press conference, what looked like an honest, straightforward, off-the-top-of-his head answer. And in a way, you almost feel sorry for him. He's been put in an impossible situation between two men he still considers friends. His father's health problems have become common knowledge as a result of all this, his wife has been dragged through all of this, and all because he claims to have taken HGH to get back on the field sooner and justify his big contract, not to break a record or gain a competitive advantage.

In the context of PEDs, people like Andy Pettitte are easy to forgive because he doesn't come across as smarmy, arrogant, or indignant. He came across the way someone caught doing something illegal should feel- contrite, apologetic, and embarrassed. And because he's been up front with everybody, the questions won't linger. Everybody got their answers today and if you have a lick of common sense in you, his answers make sense. So the media will find something else to report on, and Pettitte will go back to being just an important part of the Yankees starting rotation. Funny how that works.