Not Raffy's finest hour

Within a month of becoming a select group of players with 3,000 career hits, former Texas Ranger star Rafael Palmeiro is once again in the headlines (at least on the other side of the Atlantic) - but this time much less honourably, having tested positive for steroids. Having been in Australia for quite some time now, I've been following major league baseball quite sporadically, catching only the odd game on Fox. So imagine my shock when I looked at news reports to find that Palmeiro is not the first to be caught out under MLB's new testing 'policy', but the seventh such! It just goes to illustrate the rot that has set in, and the ineffectual punishment policies are not helping. Palmeiro will serve a 10-day suspension and forfeit a pittance. Americans make all sorts of noises about Chinese and East German drug cheats, but treat these guys with kid gloves. Talk about double standards! - NK