Are we desensitized by pro drug reports?

As sports fans and journalists, we’ve become numb to the thought of baseball players tarnishing their reputations by using performance-enhancing drugs.

Barry Bonds was outed for alleged steroid use in the midst of his home run chase. It seemed that whenever he deflected questions about his ties to BALCO, his forehead grew another half-inch.

Alex Rodriguez? About the only thing that was shocking about his entire saga was that he played the entire 2015 season without incident.

We are desensitized. No matter what Major League Baseball does to clean up the game, there’s always that wait-and-see feeling. Who is the next to get caught, and why should we care when they do?

We care when a Philly sports legend (or something close to it) is men- tioned. Last month Ryan Howard’s name was connected to PEDs in an Al Jazeera report that seemed shady from the start.

Al Jazeera originally reported that Howard and Washington Nationals first baseman Ryan Zimmerman received Human Growth Hormone, but published a correction days later to say the drug was Delta 2, which is also banned by MLB.

According to CSNPhilly. com, attorney William Burck, who represents Howard and Zimmerman, called the Al Jazeera report “outright lies” and is seeking a full retraction of the story, which also linked future Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning.

Despite the correction, Al Jazeera has never wavered from its original report.

We may never know for sure if Howard is guilty. For now, that’s for the public to decide. But seeing Howard’s name — or any other pro athlete’s — linked to steroids isn’t a surprise anymore.