Juice Box

Sobbing and sniffling like the lying bitch he is, Mark McGwire finally answered the steroid question.

Ending more than a decade of denials and evasion, McGwire admitted what many had suspected for so long — that steroids and human growth hormone helped make him a home run king.

"The toughest thing is my wife, my parents, close friends have had no idea that I hid it from them all this time," he said in an emotional, 20-minute interview. Really? Because it was pretty clear to everyone else. McGwire apologized and said he used steroids and human growth hormone on and off for a decade, starting before the 1990 season and including the year he broke Roger Maris' single-season home run record in 1998.

"I wish I had never touched steroids," McGwire said. "It was foolish and it was a mistake."

He had mostly disappeared since his infamous testimony before a congressional committee in March 2005, when he said, "I'm not here to talk about the past." He had been in self-imposed exile from public view, an object of ridicule for refusing to answer the questions. Once he was hired by the Cardinals in October to be their hitting coach, however, he knew he had to say something before the start of spring training in mid-February.

McGwire even understands why the Maris family now believes that Maris' 61 homers in 1961 should be considered authentic record. His record of 70 home runs in 1998 was surpassed by Barry Bonds' 73 homers in 2001, the year of McGwire's retirement and the apex of the Steroids Era. Bonds himself has denied knowingly using illegal drugs but has been indicted on charges he made false statements to a federal grand jury and obstructed justice.

He said he first used steroids between the 1989 and 1990 seasons, after helping the Oakland Athletics to a World Series He said he returned to steroids after the 1993 season, when he missed all but 27 games with a mysterious heel injury, after being told steroids might speed his recovery. "I did this for health purposes. There's no way I did this for any type of strength purposes," he said, pointing out the medical, healing power of steroids. After being confronted by the AP during the home run streak in 1998, McGwire admitted using androstenedione, a steroid precursor that was then legally available and didn't become a controlled substance until 2004.

Baseball and its players didn't agree to ban steroids until a year after his retirement. McGwire wasn't sure whether his use of performance-enhancing drugs contributed to some of the injuries that led to his retirement, at age 38, in 2001. Now that McGwire has come clean, increased glare might fall on Sosa, who has denied using performing-enhancing drugs. McGwire's 70 homers in 1998 came in a compelling race with Sammy Sosa, who finished with 66. More than anything else, the home run spree revitalized baseball following the crippling strike that wiped out the 1994 World Series, and started and era of jacked up athletes ruining the national pastime.