The New York Times reports that Sammy Sosa tested positive for a banned substance in 2003.  Living in Chicago, this has been all over the radio and every fan should realize that Sosa was an idol in Chicago.  Not anymore.  Sosa can also kiss his chances at the Hall of Fame goodbye.

Realistically, Chicago fans were always skeptical of Sosa as he clearly bulked up from his 1989 debut with the Texas Rangers.  However, they refused to accept the now-known fact that Sosa was indeed using.  Instead, Chicago fans wanted to believe it was through hard work during the offseason.  There was no proof of using performance enhancing drugs so why would Chicago fans want to taint the image of a sports icon in Chicago?  You can now bet that Chicago fans all over are embarrassed for defending Sosa.  Sosa will never again be mentioned in the same breath as Jordan, Banks, Payton, Butkus, Sayers, Mikita among many others as Chicago’s greatest athletes.

All the memories that I’ve had of 1998, when McGwire and Sosa were both involved in the pursuit of the single season home run record, have now been tainted permanently with this report.  All the trading cards that commemorated the 1998 home run chase and all the newspapers that I saved of this historic pursuit are now worthless in my eyes.

What I’d like to know is this:

Imagine if Chicago had won the World Series in 2003 with a steroided-up Sosa, how would Chicago fans and sports journalist react then?