Pettitte's news conference

Andy Pettitte did extremely well at his news conference this afternoon.

He openly apologized for using human growth hormone and said he wouldn't choose to go that route if he had another chance. He said he was desperate, as he thought this would help him recover from injury faster.

He doesn't consider himself a cheater - he was only trying to help his team win.

However, I can't buy that argument. While I applaud Pettitte for coming out and apologizing the way he did today, he did try to gain a competitive advantage by trying to recover faster. The HGH may not have made his pitches travel faster, but he was able to return to throw those pitches much sooner.

Also, the fact that Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada were there to support Pettitte shows that the team is behind him. Those three players and Pettitte are from the "old guard" and are the team's leaders.

Now that this is over, we can move on. This is a sad chapter in Pettitte's career, but hopefully he can put this behind him.

(Photo by Robert Browman/Getty Images)