Growing up, I thought that wrestling was extremely real. Wrestlers getting hit with chairs, trash cans and ladders across the forehead looked too explicit.

No one could tell me that the blood coming from their faces was fake. Man, those were the good days.

The WWE is an actual sport, just entertainment based and I didn’t understand that. Unfortunately, my column isn’t solely based off of guys jumping from off the top of turnbuckles.

This is just the set up. Also growing up, I was a huge Mark McGuire fan. I went to a fairly good amount of Cardinals games.

McGuire would hit home runs almost every time I watched him play.

Once his career began to fade because of age, I was also getting a little older. Then, the allegations of McGuire possibly using steroids hit the news.

I still wasn’t for sure what that meant until they (the media) threw out the word “cheating.”

Extra strength to hit home runs was basically the explanation for it. I also enjoyed watching Sammie Sosa, Alex Rodriguez and Barry Bonds. I didn’t watch Jose Canseco but he threw names out of other players using performance enhancing drugs.

These are all superstars in my eyes and I believed what they were doing was “real” just like wrestlers. The difference between the two is wrestlers were always for the entertainment, I just didn’t understand at the time.

Some of the stunts were real but some of the violent actions were not. I’m not judging anyone because I don’t know the circumstances for the players doing that.

All I know is they used it to win games, set records and break records. Their actions ruined their image and it really sucks but I’ll always be a fan. It might sound weird but who cares?

It just goes to show how big of an impact sports have on sports lovers. It becomes personal and can go beyond just putting on a uniform and working out.

There are handbooks and rules of things we as athletes just can’t do. Everyone wants to be successful but not everyone wants to do it the “right” way. That’s when it becomes a problem.

The decisions athletes make not only affect them, it affects the families and it also affects the fans.

It’s definitely time for professional athletes to clean up and play fair so that fans can proudly support their favorites without worrying that it is only an illusion.