Sosa newest victim of "Fairnaru-Wada Era"

You know it’s not a good day in sports when Mark Fainaru-Wada shows up on television.

I kid Mark, who I consider a good friend, but his job now as an investigative reporter for ESPN means he usually turns up or reports something negative regarding athletes and performance-enhancing drugs. So, when the New York Times reported today that former Cubs slugger Sammy Sosa tested positive in 2003 for using an unnamed PED, Fainaru-Wada got some face time to explain the latest catch in the steroid era net.

He is the Bob Woodward of the PED generation, who was at the forefront of steroid investigation.

It was just another gotcha. In 2003, Sosa was caught redheaded with a performance-enhancer – cork spilled out of one of his bats. Sosa’a alibi for that was it was one of his batting practice bats and he mistakenly used it in a game. Sosa also denied using PEDs in front of a Congressional committee in 2005 and said earlier this month, upon announcing his retirement through ESPN Deportes, that he was “calmly waiting” for his induction into baseball’s Hall of Fame.

Well, tick, tock, tap your shoes and grab a Snickers bar. Sosa will have to wait five years before his name even appears on the Hall of Fame ballot and, by then, we should have a clearer picture of the so-called steroid era. By then, we should know the names of all 104 anonymous players on the list who tested positive in a secretive 2003 survey and right now we know only two – Sosa and Alex Rodriguez.

Until then, Fainaru-Wada has a job to do.