Cynicism. It has become a staple in the sporting culture, somewhere in between Sammy Sosa suddenly forgetting how to speak English and Mark McGwire telling the world over and over (and over) that “he isn’t here to talk about the past” in front of the very same grand jury on steroid use in baseball. On that fateful day, the idea that our favorite athletes became great by drinking their milk, taking their vitamins, was as gone as a beef’d up Barry Bonds home run ball.

Now, we love to hate. Every athlete who emerges with a breakout year is met with a skeptic eye.  There’s nothing that could really surprise the public these days.

Or is there?

Even after the scandals, the tell-all books, and the mental asterisks we have placed on an entire era of America’s Pastime, each sport still has a sacred cow or two that fans cling to as their rock of purity in uncertain times. Here are a few athletes left that would really, truly, turn the sports world upside down if we found out that their performances were enhanced by anything more than a delicious bowl of wheaties.

Baseball: (tie) Albert Pujols and Derek Jeter:

This is the easiest sport to make this kind of designation because of how greatly its been affected by the use of steroids and other performance enhancing drugs. Pujols and Jeter are clear choices, but for entirely different reasons.

Lets start with Pujols, who he carries the same power pedigree that Bonds, McGwire, and Sosa had before him, however without the same dark cloud that has put their vast career accomplishments in question. This year Pujols may reach a number that may have become an even larger milestone: 61, the long cherished single season home run record that Roger Maris set in 1961, which stood until the hulking trio shattered the mark, starting with McGwire (70) and Sosa (66) in ’98 and Bonds (73) in 2001. If Pujols were to hit 62 or more this season, many would happily crown Pujols the single season home run king, because he’d have done so unlike any other: Naturally.

Derek Jeter never has, and never will challenge any home run records, but he must be mentioned because of what he DOES do: win. In an era where athletes have become obsessed with the name on the back of their jerseys, Jeter’s focus has always been about what’s on the front. The results, the stuff of legends: 4 World Series championships, a world series MVP, and perhaps most importantly: he’s synonymous with winning, clutch play, and doing it all the right way. Jeter might be only superstar of the so-called “steroid era” that would really shock baseball today if his squeaky clean image on the diamond was shattered.

Football: Peyton Manning

It was not too long ago that football, not baseball, was the sport that most associated with the use of steroids and other performance enhancing drugs, and with good reason: a sport full of huge, muscular guys, who at the same time fly around the field like a group of sprinters, it doesn’t seem natural. Such speculation, and rampant use was halted for the most part with an extensive drug testing policy and stiff punishments for offenders, very few of which have been superstars. This leaves a lot of room to discuss who would shock and disappoint the public most with a positive test. At the end of the day, the debate comes down to the two faces of the NFL, Tom Brady and Peyton Manning. What separates Manning here, is quite literally, what’s inside him.

Peyton Manning was born to play quarterback; it’s in his DNA. His father, Archie, was a long time starting quarterback in the 70’s and 80’s and his younger brother, Eli, like Peyton has a super bowl victory and MVP on his resume. Both were also the first players chosen in their respective draft classes. Manning, in recent years, has also transformed himself from all an all business gunslinger, to a surprisingly charismatic pitchman for a variety of products. It’s nearly impossible to turn on a television during the football season without seeing the “6’5 quarterback with the laser, rocket arm” convincing us to buy cell phones, satellite dishes, and sneakers, and he does so with an unexpected level of comedy that has made him beloved beyond just fans of the sport.

The combination of on and off field success has provided him a huge fan base to potentially disappoint if he were to ever be associated with steroid use. It is almost impossible to conceive that someone with Manning’s background would ever need or want to resort to using performance enhancers, especially with most of his success being attributed to his mental and genetic gifts.

Such a discovery might have the most impact of any athlete in any sport, as it would create doubt for every other player in the sport, it would create a “if he can do it, who couldn’t?” sort of attitude amongst fans and analysts of the sport, creating the type of witch-hunt atmosphere that is present in baseball today.

Basketball: LeBron James

“King” James belongs on this list because of the too-good-to-be-true nature of him as an athlete. He has met all the considerable hype at every level, which began as far back as grade school, he comes off as very likeable, one of the first athletes you’d love to sit down and have a beer with, and plays with the flash and style that make all his games Must See TV. Now would be a good time to list stats, but for our purposes in this article, two numbers stand out above all:

6’8 and 250

These are James’ height and weight respectively according to his player profile at nba.com, and most regard the weight to be 10-15 pounds too low. However, despite being sculpted like a Greek god, James manages to run the floor like a gazelle. In baseball, a guy with this kind of game would be tabbed as the stereotypical juicer. In Basketball? He’s just one of the two best players on the planet, and the perfect package.

James is more than that though; he is probably the last athlete right now with those sorts of measurements that the sporting public takes at face value, just an anomaly that we’re lucky to have the pleasure to watch. It’s almost like a trip back to simpler times in the sporting world, where this was the rule, rather than the exception.

Swimming: Michael Phelps

A piece like this cannot end without mentioning Olympic hero Michael Phelps. Phelps captured Americas hearts along with a record eight gold medals at last summer’s Olympic games. Phelps is American athletics because he is what we expect of our country on the international stage: the best, no questions asked.  Finding out that he took anything illegal… well, anything illegal that actually helped him, would wipe out all of that, as well as all of the emotions that went along with watching him perform at that level.

As well as one of the few breaks left from our cynicism.

Tagged as: athletes, caridinals, cavaliers, cowboys, derek jeter, lebron james, Michael Phelps, peyton manning, pujols, sports, steroids, yankees