The news had no sooner hit the wire and already Schill was speed-dialing WEEI to spew his take on the McGwire confession.

“I’m glad,” Schilling said. “I’m glad he did it. … It seems like everybody else lies about it, and then they lie about the lies.” Schilling said of McGwire, “I think he’s the first guy to come really clean, legitimately clean. … I think everybody knew, to some degree.” Schilling reflected on the Congressional hearing on steroids that he and McGwire both participated in, saying he hadn’t said anything because “there was nothing for me to say,” having not witnessed any player take performance-enhancing drugs.

Schilling went on to applaud McGwire’s approach in the statement released today, with numerous details included, saying, “He told the story we’re expecting to hear from everybody else who got caught. … Other than admitting it five years ago, he did it perfectly.”

I seriously don’t even know where to begin listing what’s wrong with this. He did it perfectly? He’s the first guy to really come clean? Allow me to read between the lines: He wants to get back into baseball! His tearful apology was the most disingenuous display since the Richard Nixon “I am not a crook” speech.

But worse than McGwire’s cheap ploy to get in Selig’s good graces was Schilling’s blessing. It is about time for someone other than Jose Canseco to grow a pair and call out the cheaters. Schilling played 19 seasons, sharing locker rooms for seven months out of every year, and never witnessed a single player taking steroids? I’m calling bulls%&t. Who’s with me?