About a week ago, I commented on the role that The Daily Show has taken up in the present day news landscape. A few days later, Bob Costas appeared as Jon Stewart’s guess on the show. At the mention of steroids, Costas had this to say:

Everyone talks about Bonds, whatever, but to me, the most interesting guy in the midst of all this is Rafael Palmeiro of the Orioles: recently passed 3000 hits; closing in on 600 homers; seems to be a good guy; emphatically denied any steroid use and I accept that. But it’s interesting while he denies using performance enhancing drugs, he is the national spokesman for Viagra. So I don’t say that one necessarily connects to the other, but I will say this: for the past few years this guy’s been getting good wood on everything.

This morning on the ride in to work I heard it on NPR, and now I see in the Washington Post, that Palmeiro has been suspended for using what a well-placed industry source calls “a serious steroid.”

People are watching The Daily Show, and I have a feeling some of them are pretty important people. A few weeks ago, the Broward Art Guild fired their executive director after appearing in a Daily Show bit. Now Palmeiro is suspended for steroid use within days of these comments about him airing on The Daily Show.