Fans hold key to drug question

What a mess. You will now decide how this gets cleaned up – or doesn’t.

The bubbling issue of the use of performance-enhancing drugs by athletes has boiled over, to no one’s surprise. Such use has been going on for decades.

How do you feel about the home runs hit by Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire? Were at least some of these home runs the result of drug use? If so, what do you want to do about it?

Did you love the McGwire story and not feel so kindly toward Bonds because of their personalities? Does that matter?

Medals and millions are made and lost by Olympic athletes based on performances that are separated by thousands of a second. Should those found to have used drugs be stripped of their medals?

Don’t stop with baseball and the Olympics. They are the current hot spots because of the BALCO investigation that has resulted in indictments, including that of Barry Bonds’ trainer, and of testimony from Olympic athletes who admitted drug use.

You know, not in the legal sense of knowing but in the streetwise sense of knowledge, that every sport going has athletes using some sort of drugs to enhance their results.

Do you care?

Some usage was neither illegal nor banned at the time.

Where does that fit?

Some say the issue is important because we are talking about athletes who are role models for youngsters. Performance-enhancing drugs are used by high school athletes and younger. We know that, too.

What about you, dad, mom, grandfather, grandmother, uncle, and coach? Are you a role model? Will your feelings on this issue come from your words and actions or by your silence?

Does it make any difference?

Easy? Not quite.

Let’s bring this close to home. Curt Schilling is being billed as a “hero” for his pitching efforts in the Boston Red Sox postseason. He pitched with the now famous bleeding ankle, an ankle that was shot full of painkillers. Otherwise, he does not pitch.

An athlete takes an aspirin for a pounding headache. She goes out and wins. Schilling pitches with painkillers. Bonds hits “X” number more home runs because he used drugs.

Will you define the situations differently? How so?

Life is full of line drawings. You will draw the lines.

You are the American sports fan. The business of sports will now swim in the direction of the current you dictate. They will do so out of fear of losing your dollars.

You have had the blinders on for a long time. You knew. You remained silent or took the old “what can I do about it?” approach. The ugly issue refused to go away.

What will you say now?

Like it or not, you have begun the line drawing: through words, actions, or silence.

Old Town native Gary Thorne is an ESPN and ABC sportscaster.