Hooray for Guillermo Mota- he's suspended for 50 games!

But it's not the fact that the one-time Red Sox property (for about 2 days) and current Mets reliever was suspended by MLB for violating the substance abuse policy that I'm cheering. No, it's the simple fact that the guy did what we as sports fans want Floyd Landis, Marion Jones, Shawne Merriman, Raffy Palmiero, Justin Gatlin and all the rest of those who have been busted by a positive test to do: admit you were wrong, accept responsibility, and take your punishment like a man(or woman, Marion.)

I mean how refreshing is it to hear a man who clearly knows he made an egregious error in judgement step up and acknowledge his stupidity? Listen to Mota's comments at the presser announcing his 50-game suspension:

"I have no one to blame but myself. I take full responsibility for my actions and accept MLB's suspension. I used extremely poor judgment and deserve to be held accountable."

Seriously, how awesome is that? As if accepting responsibility and admitting wrongdoing wasn't great enough on its own, Mota went on to apologize to a variety of people:

"To my teammates and the entire Mets organization, I am sorry. I truly regret what I did and hope that you can forgive me. To baseball fans everywhere, I understand that you are disappointed in me, and I don't blame you. I feel terrible and I promise this is the first and last time that this will happen. I am determined to prove to you that this was one mistake."

Okay, I'm not stupid enough to glorify an athlete who cheated and used performance enhancing drugs in order to gain an unfair edge on his opponents. But I am smart enough to give credit where credit is due; we are always so quick to rip athletes when they use their sorry "I didn't know the supplement contained Nandro" or "I thought it was flax seed oil I was rubbing on my knee" excuses, so I am here to congratulate a player for stepping up to the plate, admitting he was wrong and trying to move on from there.

After all, isn't that what we try to teach our kids?

So congrats, Guillermo- you may be a cheater, but you're also a man.