Johnny Damon talked about the Alex Rodriguez steroid situation at a recent press conference and what came out of his mouth was, well, less than intelligent.

Johnny Damon speaks to the media today in Tampa following A-Rod’s presser: “Yeah he did some bad things. He took a steroid. Definitely do not condone that, at all, but there could be a lot worse things he could have been doing out there. He hasn’t done a crime. So there’s worse things that he could have done but you know I’ve known Alex since he was 15 and he’s always been super nice to me and so I’m going to support him and try help him through this time. (Reporter: Johnny, what would have been worse?) Murdering someone… There’s plenty of things that could be worse than what he did. (Reporter: In your mind, is what he did cheating?) For part time in his career, perhaps, but you know what, the pitchers that were facing him too at the time were doing it.”

In essence, Damon is right – murdering someone is worse than taking steroids. But saying, “you know what, the pitchers that were facing him too at the same time were doing it” is a juvenile argument. Too bad one of the reporters didn’t follow up with, “Well, if Roy Halladay jumped off a bridge, would A-Rod have done it, too?”

It’s comments like Damon’s that prove that these guys are going to brush off the fact that they ever did anything wrong. In the grand scheme of things, are steroids that big of a deal? Not really. Depending on what steroid the person uses, they do more personal harm (acne, increased aggression, anaphylactic shock, cancer, blood clotting, depression, etc.) than anything. Is someone taking steroids worse than someone murdering someone? Of course not. But the fact remains that these guys used something to gain an unfair advantage and taint the great game of baseball. That’s the problem, and players like Damon and A-Rod continue to miss that point.