This just in. Baseball has a steroid problem. That's right, I said it. And I'm willing to bet if you are reading this right now, this is the first you've heard about it.
I know, it's shocking isn't it. It's as if everything you ever thought you knew no longer matters anymore. Up is now down, which is the direct result of the sun now rotating around the earth. I'm sorry you had to find out like this, but there was no easy way to break the news. Hopefully you can forgive me someday.
With that bit of ridiculous sarcasm now out of the way, It's time to post again. I haven't done a single thing since the day before the Mitchell report came out. Surprise! Some big names were mentioned and names of the same caliber were not included because no one would talk. First let's start here. If you think for one second that all the names included are it, that there is no one else who tried/did/is doing steroids or HGH, then you my friend are nuttier than Mr. Peanut himself.
The only thing we should draw from this is that the game has not been clean for sometime now. That numbers are skewed, and our hero's may have been a little super after all. It's not that big a deal in the long run however. It is simply what we all hope, the end of an era.
I don't see a reason to take anyones records away because of this. We don't take away Cy Young's win totals because he pitched in the dead ball era. Babe Ruth's home run total remains in tact even though he never faced a black pitcher. No one wants to take away the numbers of Jackie Robinson because there was no Latin American players. In the 70's and 80's there was widespread use of cocaine and amphetamines. So why then would we take away the records of those who used performance enhancers, while they played against others who were enjoying the same benefits.
It's amazing isn't it? All the talk about home runs. Barry Bonds, Mark Mcgwire, Sammy Sosa, Raphael Palmeiro to name a few. The whole time the story's been going on, it's always about home runs. For some reason the long ball captivates an audience like nothing else and we are so quick to try and protect the hallowed career numbers for the greats of the past.
Well it turns out that pitchers use the stuff too. Again, big surprise. And wouldn't you know it Ol' Georgie MItchell reeled in a big fish. Roger Clemens. Again I have to ask, does this really surprise anyone? I don't care. It's not that I condone cheating or anything, but look at the situation. Baseball wasn't doing anything to crack down on anything. By the time they banned steroids HGH was already the designer drug of choice. And then finally in 2005 HGH was banned, yet there is no way to test for it with out blood.
As far as I'm concerned with guys who used and hold major records (Bonds and Clemens especially), if you used before any of the stuff was banned that's fine. If you used after, then you're a cheater.
Then there's this I have to say while I'm at it. Roger, I grew up wanting to be "The Rocket". You were the idol of every New England boy. But you appear to be more guilty then O.J. There's a saying in the world of the law. If you have the facts, pound the facts, If you have the law, pound the law. If you have nothing, pound the table. And all you're doing is pounding the table. You look like a mob goon trying to convince a jury "it fell off a truck".
I don't know who your advisors are or where you found Mr. Hardin to represent you. But here's some advice you should take. When you need to find a lawyer, don't pick the one with a University of Phoenix online diploma hanging on his wall. What was that tape with Brian supposed to prove? Were you just showing us that you have so many anytime minutes from Cingular that you can not talk about anything for 19 straight minutes?
You've put yourself in a terrible position and if Mcnamee gets immunity from the United States Congress, people are going to learn more about you then you ever wanted them to know.
So what can we take away from any of these findings? Nothing. For now we can go on living that it is Ken Griffey Jr. and not Barry Bonds who is the greatest hitter of their generation. And It is in fact the professor Greg Maddux who is the greatest pitcher, possibly of all time, but at least of their generation. That is until we learn something else. Now, can we just move on and talk about the game?