Is it just me, or are steroids the only thing I hear associated with sports today? While steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs have become the most rampant and controversial topic in sports, I am thankful for the chance to witness some of greatest athletes in the history of sports performing feats that may never be challenged.

Twenty years from now when my son asks me about Barry Bonds, I will fail to mention the criticism he is receiving for his alleged steroid use.

Instead, I will explain the way he installed fear in the mind of a 35-year-old man standing 60 feet away, the way he hit baseballs 450 feet with ease and how with a flip of the bat and an arrogant stroll to first base, he showed us all that he knew he was going to hit it that far.

I would leave out the negative things because steroids or no steroids, Bonds is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, player to step on a diamond. In an era when we thrive on power and when bigger is always better, we also frown on a man because he is so much better than everyone else.

While professional baseball players have received most of the heat, they have turned out to be test-bunnies in the ridiculous world of steroid allegations.

With the 2004 Olympics in Athens just two months away, the United States Anti-Doping Agency has targeted American sprinter Marion Jones, the world's fastest women, on simple allegations of steroid use.

It is well-known that Olympic athletes go trough a tedious testing procedure that exceeds that of any professional sport, and those who are using are banned, as they have been in the past.

Instead of punishing our most prominent female athlete in this year's games, why can't we understand the fact that she has passed numerous drug tests and even a lie detector test and watch her bring home gold medals from Athens?

Shifting from Olympic athletes to an absolute freak of nature, Lance Armstrong has been accused of blood-doping by a French author who printed these allegations in a book released last week in Paris.

Here is a man who battled cancer, won, then proceeded to dominate the world of cycling by winning the Tour de France a record five consecutive times.

After what Armstrong has been though and his ability to become an American icon, I will be embarrassed and appalled if we let a tail-tucking French publication tarnish the reputation he has built.

With these three athletes headlining the allegations of steroids and other performance enhancing drugs in professional sports, I am beginning to notice a trend.

It is as if we are scared of these once-in-a-lifetime athletes and the near perfection that they are achieving.

I refuse to let a group of middle-aged sports writers caked with make-up and promoting their all-too-similar books before the camera convince me that we are being cheated by today's best.

Even if future testing truly reveals that these and many other athletes are indeed taking steroids, I will remember their talent and be thankful for the memories.

Luke DeRouen is a senior journalism major from Lake Charles and serves as sports editor and managing editor of The Tech Talk. E-mail comments to lcd005@latech.edu.