It’s a story we’ve come to know very well: pro athlete tests positive for steroids, fans respond with tired disappointment. Pro athlete professes innocence, fans grow even more tired. Pro athlete slinks back into the fold, fans forgive, but never quite forget.

It gets a little more depressing every time we see it played out, but only because it’s so predictable. We used to use terms like “disgraced” to refer to these fallen heroes. Now, that rhetoric seems too dramatic for something so increasingly common. We just say “tarnished.” Or “caught.” We don’t know who will be next, but we know the surely will be a next.

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