Are you sick of seeing the same ugly mugs on the television when you turn on SportsCenter, your favorite sports show, or the local news? Day after day, night after night, we continue to see and hear the latest on the same individuals over and over. It is understood that these are important figures in the sports world, but come on, give us a break on the same ole, same ole. We don’t need to know every twitter post from these guys! Here is the list of Media Darlings; the top 10 athletes loved by the media.

10. Manny Ramirez, left fielder, Los Angeles Dodgers.

How many times have you heard “that’s just Manny being Manny”? While the love fest for the left fielder has died down some since going to Los Angeles, he continues to get quite the coverage. Ramirez brought a lot of the news on himself, with his antics, such as going to the bathroom in between pitching changes, and his turbulent exit from Boston. Most recently, Manny served a suspension for breaking MLB’s performance enhancing drug policy. Ramirez helped lead his team to another NLCS this season, once again coming up short. After sweeping St. Louis, the Dodgers were downed by Philadelphia. Ramirez has 546 career homeruns.

9. Tom Brady, quarterback, New England Patriots.

I guess when you have a gorgeous celebrity wife, you can’t help but be put in the spotlight.  It can’t hurt that Brady has turned into a historic quarterback. Playing for Bill Bellichick never hurts either. Remember when Brady and his wife were expecting their child? What about when Brady got hurt? His coverage was all over, and still is today. Brady came back in 2009 as comeback player of the season, leading the Patriots to an AFC East title. Brady set another record this season by throwing for five touchdowns in one quarter (a win over Tennessee).

8. Alex Rodriguez, third basemen, New York Yankees.

No baseball player is dissected more than A-Rod. Rodriguez elected to make the jump from Seattle, to Texas, to the media capital of the world – in New York. It was iffy early in his tenure in New York whether he could survive or not, but the fall of 2009 proved he could. Whether it’s a ground out to third, a fly ball to right, or a grand slam, rest assured, you will see all of Alex Rodriguez’s at bats! Another steroid guy, as he admitted in February of 2009 to using them. A-Rod is just 17 homeruns short of 600, and is widely discussed as the next to break the all-time homerun record in Major League Baseball.

7. Lance Armstrong, cyclist.

For good reason, this guy is the best American cyclist ever. Luckily, for those of us ready to see Lance Armstrong retire for good, the Tour de France is only one month out of the year. If it were more, we would surely be getting a Lance overdose! Armstrong won seven straight Tour de France titles from 1995 to 2005. Armstrong is also known for his fight with testicular cancer, that he has had since 1996. Armstrong, in 2010, joined Team Radio Shack.

6. Terrell Owens, wide receiver, Buffalo Bills.

Known best for ripping apart talented football teams, Terrell Owens is slowly falling down the media love fest list. Owens was king during his final year with Tony Romo in Dallas. We still get to hear every comment he makes, just this time, nobody cares, because he plays in the northeast. No one is denying Owens’ talent. Out of Tennessee-Chattanooga, T.O. has been on six Pro Bowl teams, and amassed 1000 career receptions. Owens most famous sighting on television was with his great big goofy sun glasses, crying for his quarterback Tony Romo, in what may have been the biggest acting job by the wide receiver; “That’s my quarterback.  That’s my teammate.”

5. OchoCinco, wide receiver, Cincinnati Bengals.

Twitter loves OchoCinco and his antics. Good thing they do, because the NFL sure doesn’t. We hear every time Chad Johnson, errr, OchoCinco goes bathroom, as he posts it on Twitter. Every Sunday, if you turn on the TV, 85 will be shown doing whatever he did that week to get fined. Drafted out of Oregon State, Chad officially changed his name to “OchoCinco” in 2006. The wide receiver has made the Pro Bowl six times, and has caught nearly 700 passes, for just shy of 1000 yards and 62 touchdowns.

4. LeBron James, guard, Cleveland Cavaliers.

The King has been a hit with the worldwide leader of sports since his high school days. The one guy that was getting his high school games covered by major cable channels. James’s issue with the hummer, along with his entire journey as a complete stud in the NBA have been chronicled daily. Currently, James is in the media for his status for the 2011 season. When he becomes a free agent, many believe James will bolt his home state and head to the money in New York. He has led the Cavaliers to the NBA finals once in his career. LeBron, who turned 25 in December, won his first Most Valuable Player award in 2009.

3. Brett Favre, quarterback, Minnesota Vikings.

Mr. retire and comeback, over and over again – Brett Favre. Favre is best known for hijacking the local news the last couple July’s. First it was his drama with his long time team the Green Bay Packers, then it was his desire to return. First to the Big Apple, with the New York Jets, followed by his retirement again, which led to another return; this time to Minnesota with the Vikings; a long time rival of the Packers. Favre, in 2009, had a scuffle with his head coach Brad Childress that led to ongoing media coverage lasting for weeks. Favre and the Vikings have righted the ship, and he is leading the high powered offense into the Big Easy to take on the Saints in the NFC title game.

2. Tim Tebow, quarterback, University of Florida.

As one individual put it when discussing Mr. Tebow and the media coverage, “no person has had the media on their knees more than Tim Tebow.” Known widely for the most popular collegiate athlete, Tebow has let his talking be done on the field. Tebow helped lead Florida to two national championships, and also has a Heisman to boot. Tebow is talked about as the second coming of God for all his countless missionary deeds. Most recently, Tebow has spent the past three summers in the Philippines, working with his father’s missionary and orphanage.

1. Tiger Woods, golfer, sex addict.

Especially now. Tiger Woods was plastered all over the news for weeks after his car accident, which led to his marital status going down the drain. Even before all the drama went down with Tiger, he was the lead story on weekends for all major tournaments. Woods has won 14 major golf championships, which is second most of any male golfer in history. Tiger has been awarded with the PGA Player of the Year for a record of ten times. Woods announced an indefinite leave from golf to focus on his marriage and family in December of 2009. Tiger has recently been reported to have been seen in Mississippi at a rehabilitation center to be treated for his sex addiction.

Others receiving an absurd amount of coverage:

Derek Jeter, shortstop, New York Yankees

Shaquille O’Neal, center, Cleveland Cavaliers

Rafael Nadel, Tennis star

Peyton Manning, quarterback, Indianapolis Colts

Tony Romo, quarterback, Dallas Cowboys

Donovan McNabb, quarterback, Philadelphia Eagles

I know it has been an on-going week of steroids and substance abuse talk revolving around one of the biggest names in baseball in New York Yankees superstar Alex Rodriguez. I apologize to all those who are reading and are like not another story on A-Rod. I was going to stay away from the topic all together, but figured they are few sides to these steroids stories that many people are unaware of.  Sadly performance enhancers topic seems to headline Major League Baseball every week. While there are many new drug test proposed by the MLB people need to realize the real problems with baseball substance abuse in today’s society. Basically breaking this thing down plain and simple the problem that Major League Baseball is having starts many years before these star athletes ever reach this elite league of superstars. Simply put, if you want to keep the performance enhancing substances out of the big leagues they must start to keep them out of the colleges and high schools.

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This topic may have been hit on briefly by a few people, but nobody really refers to this problem when making the connection to the MLB. Speaking as a high school standout in baseball that later went on to play college baseball I feel it is important to bring the truth to doorstep to all those that do not understand why players would take these substances. High schools are now facing the exact same problems with steroids and substance abuses with sports athletes, especially baseball players. The majority of high school athletes can pass a physical and be cleared to play on most varsity levels. While you may not hear about steroids use in your local home town schools, that does not mean they are not there. As a high school player, I was asked on multiple occasions if I ever wanted to take steroids by teammates that were currently using them. Considering I only weighed 135lbs my entire career in high school I figured they would not help myself enough. However, that did not stop many teammates from using them on a consistent basis. There was an unspoken rule that you accepted to those players that took performance enhancers. The simple rule was that it was not to be talked about, but between teammates. While many may jump to say that this was just one high school and not a large majority. There were plenty of opportunities and summer leagues where players met up with other players from different schools and again there were countless players who were open to admit using steroids and performance enhancers.  While many of these players did this type of behavior in the off-season, some continued all year long.

The reason I am preaching this reality is for people to understand the need for enforcing strong regulations for drug testing in early ages of sports. College athletes are at an all-time high with steroid use and performance enhancing abuse. When I signed on the dotted line on the NCAA transcript back some 5 years ago to confirm that I was subject to any drug test at any time, I understood that agreement. I also understood as I signed that line that the chances of me really ever being tested were slim to none. I believe that is the problem with teams today. There are not enough mandatory drug screenings, and many players can fall through the cracks. While some do make mandatory screenings so many times a year, players are often aware of these drug test long before they happen giving them plenty of time to stay off the substances or at least long enough to past the test. Until, the rules and regulations take a big change you are going to continue to have these issues in the years to come. It is not surprising one bit that Alex Rodriguez one of the biggest names in the sport has used a type of performance enhancing product, because if the truth was to actually come out (which it never will) you would be absolutely shocked at the number of players that have used these types of drugs at some time or another in their career. For MLB athletes, I would expect no less than the 70% range.

I have seen arguments were people have tried to claim that using these steroids make no big impact on baseball or performance on the field. Those people could never be so wrong. I have seen players go to take these drugs and start hitting balls they never could dream of. For people to try and say that it does not affect the game of baseball, are simply in a delusional world. The sad thing steroids really do is they take away from the level of play from some of the greats of the old-age of baseball. Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, and Hank Aaron were some of the names that could change the game with a swing of the bat. Today there are many guys that can change the game with a swing of the bat, or the injection of a needle. The stats from the legends of the past mean nothing to the new players juiced on some inhuman type advantage. The all-time greats that revolutionized the game may lose their value to history because their stats will fall to the new rise and new age of this type of play edged by an unfair advantage. Also, even more disappointing is to those players that are not using or have never used these products. Imagine a player breaking out with 60+ homeruns, and breaking RBI records that is doing it the right way. The majority of America will never believe they have not used performance enhancers in today’s game. Unfortunately, the game of baseball has been tarnished even if it is the greatest game in the world. What is even more unfortunate, is that there is no doubt that Alex Rodriguez will not be the last hero to fall victim to performance enhancements.