ESPN

Won't this year's Hall of Fame ceremony be grand? We can't wait to go and watch absolutely no one give a speech -- because the Baseball Writers' Association of America let no one in this time around. Only Craig Biggio and Jack Morris came close to the 75 percent threshold necessary to get one's face on a plaque in Cooperstown. Clearly, the issue of performance-enhancing drugs is tainting the process in some way; Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds would have been surefire first-time inductees had they not been connected to steroids. The spectacle of an empty induction year might force the Hall of Fame into making some sort of change.

Ballot: Which top vote-getters from this year's class will eventually make it in?

Vote: Will more worthy candidates create a Hall of Fame logjam?

What do you make of the Baseball Hall of Fame's selection process?

•  
  34%
  I like it
•  
  66%
  I don't like it

(Total votes: 56,879)

Should the Baseball Hall of Fame induct a player from the writers' ballot every year, even if the top vote-getter doesn't get 75 percent of the vote?

•  
  48%
  Yes
•  
  52%
  No

(Total votes: 46,288)

Will a known PED user ever be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame?

•  
  58%
  Yes
•  
  42%
  No

(Total votes: 176,762)

Should the Baseball Hall of Fame give voters more defined instructions on how to treat players from the ''steroids era''?

•  
  65%
  Yes, they need better guidelines
•  
  35%
  No, the character clause is good enough

(Total votes: 26,504)

Sometimes we all need a little extra space to vent. ESPN profiles give fans space to post their own blog entries and go toe-to-toe with commenters.

• Ok-State34: It may not be raining in Baltimore, but it's raining at Bethpage (yes, that's two Counting Crows references). A blogger's take on a rainy opening round.
• buckifan927: The Cubs seem to be getting well against the White Sox, but one fan isn't satisfied. He's not asking for dirt-kicking pyrotechnics out of Lou Piniella, just a few tweaks to the lineup card.
• gator_330: Speaking of the Cubs and White Sox, one fan of the AL team has a quick take on watching his team head north that everyone should be able to identify with.
• AniD89: Perhaps there are worse fates than being cursed like Cleveland fans or downtrodden in Detroit. Like having no pro teams at all. A blogger runs through the top American cities in need of pro franchises.
• brijay103099: There's not a heck of a lot to get excited about in the Baltimore-D.C. beltway at the moment, but at least the Ravens could be good come fall.
• JSchnootz: Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens. What do they have in common? They all posted really impressive numbers, and for this fan, that's the clincher in the argument about an era.
• SportsCenter: Robert Flores and Cindy Brunson are in on the blogging. Flores links to interesting takes on the Sammy Sosa situation and a reversal of fortune for the two MLB teams in Texas. Meanwhile, Brunson tackles the twin debates pitting Kobe Bryant against Michael Jordan and Phil Jackson against Red Auerbach.
• More blogs: Check out all the SportsNation blogs.

SportsNation is pretty definitive that a lot of players with big numbers won't be making induction speeches in Cooperstown. But as more and more names are crossed off the list due to performance-enhancing drugs, will the plaque-making industry go under entirely?

It appears fans tired of disappointment are turning to Ken Griffey Jr. as a beacon of legitimacy. Among the four active players who either have 500 career home runs or are within striking distance, Griffey is the only player with anything close to unanimous support for the Hall of Fame.

SportsNation's Hall of Fame Approval Ratings
Ken Griffey Jr.: 97 percent
Jim Thome: 64 percent
Gary Sheffield: 50 percent
Carlos Delgado: 50 percent (if he reaches 500 home runs)

And what about Ivan Rodriguez, who Wednesday night set a record for career games caught? A guy with double-digit totals in Gold Gloves and All-Star appearances, Pudge has the support of a healthy -- but far from unanimous -- 67 percent of SportsNation.

It used to be that hitting 500 home runs was an instant ticket to Cooperstown. More and more, it seems like the benchmark guarantees a player won't have to worry about navigating the backroads of upstate New York. But while a solid majority of fans now disqualify Sammy Sosa based on his reported use of performance-enhancing drugs, there is a sizable voting block that contends his numbers, 609 home runs and all, just weren't good enough.

Performance-enhancing drug concerns disqualify him
Mark McGwire: 64 percent (January, 2009)
Sammy Sosa: 65 percent (June, 2009)

He deserves to be in Cooperstown
Mark McGwire: 29 percent (January, 2009)
Sammy Sosa: 20 percent (June, 2009)

Numbers weren't good enough
Mark McGwire: 7 percent (January, 2009)
Sammy Sosa: 15 percent (June, 2009)

• Ticket to Cooperstown: Which active players with 500 home runs will make it?

When the movie "A Few Good Men" came out in 1992, an outfielder named Sammy Sosa was in his first season with the Chicago Cubs and coming off two seasons with the White Sox in which he hit 25 home runs in 269 games. Coincidence? Well, yes. But also convenient, because for much of the rest of the decade, a lot of fans, media members, owners and players didn't want to handle the truth about performance-enhancing drugs (which might have helped Tom Cruise's cause in the movie's softball scenes).

• 11 percent: "Extremely" confident in MLB's current testing policies.
• 86 percent: MLB should release the remaining 102 names from the 2003 tests.
• 28 percent: Less of an MLB fan now than 15 years ago.
• 71 percent: Cubs should not retire Sosa's number.
• Which player implicated in the use of PEDs least needed any help?