Sometimes you go to bed at night wondering what is going on in this silly world of ours. Last night before I decided to call it a day I stopped by the Fox Sports site to see what was happening out there in the sports world. And wouldn't you know it, I found plenty of material for another ARE YOU FREAKIN' KIDDING ME post. Who would have thunk it?

Pete Sampras is going to play Roger Federer in a 3 match exhibition tour in Asia this summer. ARE YOU FREAKIN' KIDDING ME? Pete retired like, what, 3 or 4 years ago. Hung up the ol' rackets after an illustrious career. He practiced with Roger this past March andsaid he didn't embarrass himself. Federer just suffered a rare loss. Is this a wise move...on either players part? Why can't these guys just stay retired and let the current touring pro's play? Didn't he struggle with Federer when he was at the end of his great career and Federer was coming on? I didn't read on to see if this is some kind of benefit tour although one can only hope it is. If it isn't I prefer to remember Sampras as I watched him for years. If it is then so be it but that begs the question that I always wonder about in these scenarios. What is the attraction in watching a retired professional athlete play a competitive professional athlete especially when the retired one has been away for so long? I don't get it and wouldn't pay tose it.

George Foreman has a new book coming out and, no, it isn't about how difficult it was to name most of his offspring George. In it he claims he was drugged when he fought Muhammed Ali in Zaire in 1974. A lot of George's behaviors have always begged the question as to what he was taking when he did them but this sounds different. ARE YOU FREAKIN' KIDDING ME? George, it is 33 years after the fact. Is this a ploy to sell your book? Or is it fodder for all the boxing world to contemplate and expound upon? You know, maybe that is it. The De La Hoya-Mayweatherfight didn't deliver what it ws supposed to deliver so throw up something that could be considered "scandalous" (like boxing needs any more of that) and get people talking...about somethig that happened 33 years ago. He says he drank a glass of water before the fight that tasted "funny" and he still had the taste in his mouth in the ring. OK, I'm not a Health Department Official for Zaire but, maybe, just maybe and stick with me here, I'm just spitballing this, but maybe...he shouldn't have drank a glass of water in Zaire, in 1974, without knowing it's origin. C'mon George! I think the only thing that tasted funny to you on that night...33 years ago was the leather from Ali's gloves. Goodnight George!

Out of the ashes comes word from the one man that all of MLB can trust an dtruly depend upon. Is it Jason Giambi. Bud Selig, George Mitchell, Curt Schilling...? We know it isn't Barry Bonds. No, we have now been blessed with comments from...are you ready for this...Faye Vincent. Yes, he has reared his ugly head just in time to impart his strong words of advice on Bud Selig. Faye's advice to Bud...stay away from Barry Bonds. Don't be anywhere near the ball park when Bonds breaks the all-time HR record. ARE YOU FREAKIN' KIDDING ME?

" He has every right to say: "I'm willing to congratulate him but Idon't honor him by my presence," Vincent said in a telephone interview with the Associated Press during spring training.

During spring training? And this needs to be brought up now...why? Oh, yea, Bonds is 10 HR's away. So the Associated Press is throwing fuel on the Bonds issue as he approaches the record. And Faye Vincent is the current sounding board. Perfect, absolutely, perfect!

"I think if nothing changes...I would say to Bonds: Because you haven't told us what you did, because we assume and because we believe you cheated and because you haven't helped clean baseball up, we will recognize your record but we will not honor you", Vincent said. "It's sort of anasterisk in the public eye"

Hey, Faye (I had to get that in) ARE YOU FREAKIN' KIDDING ME? "Becuse we assume" and "because we believe" are not convictable evidence to guilt. But thanks for your input anyway. If I were standing next to Bonds when you had the nads to say that to him, if he didn't hit you with a bat I might. He says if Bonds would hire a good lawyer and admit to wrondoing, "Look, Idid what I did, I'm sorry" then the American public would immediately become supportive. And you have been where lately Faye? That would never happen. Why don't you slither back into a quiet retirement and keep your avice to yourself. Bud has helped screw things up enough without your input to this point.

Faye Vincent makes reference to "helping clean baseball up" in one of the quotes I referenced above. Why would any of these guys want to speak up and say anything with the actions that have surrounded Jason Giambi for his comments last week. Since he made his "we all knew" statements last week did MLB say they concurred or that perhaps they might have someone who could shed a brighter light on this subject...like a guy who admitted it and may be willing to expound on it now. No, they begn investigating Giambi...AGAIN!!! If he had kept his mouth shut I bet we wouldn't even know that he failed a test for amphetamines. The Yankees wouldn't be scrambling around in denial and bickering about his contract. ARE YOU FREAKIN' KIDDING ME? Nice move Bud! Use your resouces wisely. Not Bud! Throw your resources to the wolves! Teams on the West Coast are clamoring for Giambi now! The Angels said they would take him. With the leadership that Bud Selig provides I don't think I would even want to play anymore. This is the kind of #### that makes me want to turn away from this game, the game that is not played out on the field but the game they play off of it.

The MLB Player's Association has left cooperation with former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell's investigation into steroid use in baseball up to the players. To this point in time no active players have been interviewed and only a few players have submitte their medical records. The union made a decision and left the action in the hands of its members. There was a day when we would have applauded that action. Today many ridicule it. Whatever. Giambi's actions and his words have been met by ridicule as well. Ridicule by the public and by the leadership of MLB. Why? If they let him speak he may shed light on the subject unlike any light before. But no, the accusatory fingers are now wrapping their hands around Giambi's throat...AGAIN! The more things change the more they stay the same.

"I think the union is making a big mistake. I think stonewalling Mitchell as a strategy is an enormous mistake. It pushes Bud and George Mitchell to consider going to Congress. I think that it's important for Mitchell to be able to write the rel story an tell us what happened and what didn't happen, and how many playerswere involved. I don't think the issue is, should there be punishment?"

"The Mitchell report is a very important document. Among other things, he's got to dispell all these people who believe that baseball knew what was going on, that they didn't do anything about it because they wanted to encurage Soas and McGwire. It's a very widely held view. I don't think they knew. I don't think there is a smoking gun"

The two quotes above are from the telephone inteview with Faye Vincent. ARE YOU FREAKIN' KIDDING ME? How naive does Vincent, or MLB, think their public is? Apparently very, very naive. I wouldn't trust this document because I believe it WILL be about punishment and not about "how many players were involved. It has already turned into that and that is why it is so important for everyone to know names. Why did the press just mention the 2 Mets minor league pitchers who were busted for steroid use BY NAME if it isn't about punishment. I wouldn't trust this document because it was ordered by an owner and placed in the hands of an owners friend. Don't be fooled for a second... Bud Selig is an owner! I wouldn't trust this document because, as Vincent says, it has to dispel all of those who think MLB and all involved with it knew what was going on and did nothing. So it has to be a document that removes any responsibilty from MLB's leadership. ARE YOU FREAKIN' KIDDING ME. Again, go back into your retirement Faye and refuse comment when a sports reporter cals you o the phone.

And that's the bottom line...

 I try, I really try.

 I see things and read things that make me wonder and sometimes I can blow them off and, well, other times I can’t. But it is getting to the point where every time I turn around something makes me want, no, need to say…Are you freakin’ kidding me? A lot of you have already posted on some of this stuff and I have commented on a lot of your posts. But I just need to throw in my comments for anyone who visits my blog to read and either respond to or just move on. It’s all good, one way or the other. Let me start from last night and retrace the weekend.

 

 

 

I sat down to watch the Giants-Phillies game last night and to enjoy a night of baseball and see if Barry Bonds could hit his 745 career HR.

 I am one of those who really want Bonds to break the record and then get into the HOF. I don’t get west coast games very often and when I do they are usually on late and I don’t stay up to watch them. So an evening game on ESPN figured to be one of the few times I will be able to watch Bonds until he gets close (and they start updating me on everything from his AB’s to his bowel movements) to breaking Aaron’s record. Are you freakin’ kidding me? I didn’t even see Bonds in the dugout or hear his name mentioned in connection with the game in progress. I got to hear a lot of Willie Mays but not Bonds. Oh, well, so much for trying to figure out baseball scenarios.  I’ll get over it because in the next few weeks the Bonds attacks will increase and I’ll end up so ticked off that when they interrupt what ever it is I am watching to show me his historic HR (and it will be) I’ll scream loud and cheer on the athletic achievement and watch him round the bases with a smile on my face. That will make up for missing him last night.

 

 

 

However, speaking of Barry Bonds, there was important news regarding him last night that came out during the game.

 Are you ready for this?  In a poll conducted by ABC and ESPN black people are more supportive of Bonds in his pursuit of the all-time HR record than white people are. Significantly more supportive. Are you freakin’ kidding me? No freakin’ s—t. Duh, thanks ABC and ESPN for conducting a poll to tell me what common sense had already led me to believe. Where or where would I be without solid information like this to guide me through my evening of baseball watching? I needed this important information almost as much as I needed the report last week that white referee’s called more fouls on black players in the NBA than on white players. Thank you so very much for that little racial shot. Are you freakin’ kidding me? It’s no freakin’ wonder we can’t get out of the stone-age in regard to racial issues when we are being force fed “studies” like this ####. Sadly, I found Joe Morgan’s attempts to justify Bud Selig’s and Hank Aaron’s support or non-support of Bonds more acceptable than the ABC/ESPN poll. And that is pathetic.

 

 

 

Speaking of pathetic.

I ordered my first PPV event in years and years on Saturday night when I ordered the De La Hoya/Mayweather, Jr. boxing match. I got the under-card bouts and got to watch Marc Anthony’s fine rendition of our National Anthem. I got to see Mayweather and his group in prayer and I got to watch De La Hoya crack his jaw a couple of hundred times and then my screen went black. Are you freakin’ kidding me? The picture never came up again and I ended up tracking the fight round by round on ESPN online. It’s kind of hard to discuss the fight with anyone on Monday when you didn’t get to see it. The good thing about this is that even though I spent an hour and a   half on hold with my cable company and expected a major battle of my own over billing, they had already reversed the order and would not be billing me for what I didn’t get to  see. Cool! But, alas, I digress (not much of a shock there).

 

 

 

Back to pathetic.

I realized that I had not ordered a PPV boxing event in many, many years, not only because I think boxing has more issues than MLB and Paris Hilton combined, but because of the commentators. Are you freakin’ kidding me? I have absolutely no freakin’ idea how Jim Lampley became a HOF broadcaster. It must be the hair. Or maybe it is because he actually looks, and sounds, like there is life left in him compared to Larry Merchant. I watched the most painful interview I HAVE EVER SEEN when he interviewed Floyd Mayweather, Sr. I listened to the interview and I still have no idea what Sr. said or why Merchant is allowed ringside with a microphone in his hand. Merchant should retire, seriously. He was annoying years ago and he has only gotten worse. So, from my perspective, another good thing about losing the picture for the fight meant that I didn’t have to listen to these two twerps ramble on for another hour or more.

 

 

 

As for the fight itself.

Are you freakin’ kidding me? I kept hearing that Mayweather, Jr. wanted to fight De La Hoya in his prime. Did he mean his prime or De La Hoya’s prime? Because honestly, and I know there will be those who disagree with me, how can any fighter be considered “in his prime” when he has lost 3 of his last 5 fights. You can be in great shape and condition, as De La Hoya said he was, and not be in your prime. Skills diminish with age and time. Is this De La Hoya’s prime? And if it isn’t his prime anymore did Mayweather, Jr. accomplish what he wanted? Sure he won another belt but I wonder how many people will mention in the years to come that De La Hoya wasn’t the De La Hoya of old. I have already heard it from a few people. When they show it on television in a couple of weeks I will be able to make my own opinion. But I know what I used to think of De La Hoya and I thought had he not had a few distractions along the way he had the boxing world at his fingertips. And hadn’t he been away from the ring for a while before coming back for this fight? Hey Floyd, you won the fight and you are a very, very good fighter…but I don’t think this De La Hoya is in his “prime.” I think he is past it.

 

 

 

And that’s the bottom line…

 

 

As I mentioned before being back in school sucks.

 It ain't nothing compared to what has transpired in the past few days. Since Sunday my wife has taken ill with a horrible bout of the flu. I woke up this morning to find out that the toilet in my basement erupted like a bubbling, gurgling volcano spewing toilet paper and feces and who the hell knows what else all over my basement. As I write this I have an extraction company wet vacuuming the carpet and removing it as the water and seepage is sewage and therefore, hazardous. Hey, you don't have to tell me. I walked in it. I also have a plumber down there trying to ascertain the damage level of the pipes and seeing if he can get it repaired. The only good thing about this mess is that the kids at school are doing without me today. After the field trip yesterday, they are probably relieved. But it also gave me time to peruse the Fox sports site and I found a few other things that make me think...What the hell is going on here?

Tommy Morrison is staging a comeback.

CHESTER, W.Va. (AP) - Former WBO heavyweight champion Tommy Morrison is staging a comeback, saying Tuesday that a positive HIV test that ended his career more than a decade ago was inaccurate.

 

"I'm negative and I've always been negative and that should be the end of it," Morrison said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.

 The 38-year-old will face John Castle in a four-round fight Thursday at Mountaineer Racetrack and Gaming Resort.

 "The rug was yanked out from under my feet by a misdiagnosis," he said. "All I want to do is fight. ... It's unfinished business."

 State Athletic Commissioner Steve Allred said Tuesday he approved Morrison's participation in the fight after reviewing medical records and consulting with the Association of Boxing Commissions' medical review committee. Allred said confidentiality laws prevent him from discussing Morrison's medical history or the records he reviewed.

 West Virginia does not have mandatory blood testing for boxers.

 "I assure you that West Virginia is doing due diligence to make sure everyone who steps into the ring is healthy," Allred said.

Well ain't that something? Terrible Tommy is coming back to the ring. He's healthy as a horse and now he wants to take care of  "unfinished business." I think everyone deserves a second chance if the circumstances are right. Are they now? I have a wife and family. I will eventually die of something. But I'm still not sure I would want to venture into the ring with a guy who at one time had been diagnosed with a life threatening illness that is spread through the transfer of body fluids. That, of course, is suggesting that he would hit me so hard I would bleed (an almost certainty) and that I would have done the same thing to him (Not unless I had a bazooka). Well, whatever works for Tommy, West Virginia and John Castle, his opponent. To tell you the truth, I always wished Rocky Balboa would have taken him out in a much bigger way than he did. You go, Tommy!

Let's see, what else is there. Oh, hey, look at the Cub's go!

The Chicago Cubs and right-hander Carlos Zambrano settled their arbitration case Tuesday, agreeing to a one-year, $12.4 million contract and avoiding a potentially divisive hearing.

 

Zambrano had requested $15.5 million in arbitration. The Cubs were offering $11.025 million. The settlement figure, while below the midpoint of $13.2625 million, represents the largest salary ever for an arbitration-eligible pitcher, topping the $9.9 million salaries awarded to Kevin Millwood in 2003 and Chan #### Park in 2001.

 Zambrano earned $6.5 million last season while going 16-7 with a 3.41 ERA and 210 strikeouts.

 With Zambrano's agreement, the Cubs have now officially spent over $300 million this off-season, a new baseball record. And that figure does not even include the money spent to bring on new manager Lou Piniella.

 The Cubs committed nearly $300 million to retain and bring in free agents before reaching an agreement with Zambrano. They re-signed third baseman Aramis Ramirez for $75 million over five years, and signed outfielder Alfonso Soriano to an eight-year, $136 million deal. They also brought in starting pitchers Ted Lilly and Jason Marquis.

 Those moves came after they hired manager Lou Piniella following a 96-loss season.

This is great. The Cub's must have figure out that Kerry Wood and Mark Prior are no longer the answer. Wow! Took them long enough. So now they have position players and a few new pitchers signed for big dough. Provided these guys are worth the dough the Cubs now have to hope that on the rare occasion when an opponent puts the ball in play they don't hit to somewhere other than third base or whatever outfield Soriano is patrolling on that day. Piniella earns every cent of whatever he is making this year if he can out smart opposing hitters and keep Soriano in the right one. Hey, until spring training gets well under way, the Cubs and their fans are grinning the big grins. Go Cubbies

There is more. I wasn't going to go here but I couldn't resist. Barry Bonds is back and he is having FUN!

"Let them investigate. Let them, they've been doing it this long," Bonds said Tuesday after his first workout this year with the San Francisco Giants. "It doesn't weigh on me at all — at all. It's just you guys talking. It's just media conversation."

 Bonds and Zito had a little fun, coming out of the clubhouse at one point in matching black T-shirts with this orange writing on the back: "DON'T ASK ME ... ASK BARRY," each with an arrow that pointed at the other Barry. Zito, who threw to Bonds this winter at UCLA, stood on the left with his arrow aimed at Bonds.

 

I love this. Whether or not they find anything in their investigation is not the issue here. Barry is telling them to do their thing. Why not, he's going to do his. And he obviously couldn't care less about making all better with the media. "It's just you guys talking. It's just media conversation." I don't really care who likes him and who hates him. I think he is a great baseball player and it is great to see him having some fun. The Barry T-shirts is great. Maybe he isn't such a horrible teammate. I think he will pass Aaron this year and he will end up in the HOF. But I'm not going to debate it with anyone. I'm going to watch a guy play ball this year and hopefully enjoy himself while he does. Go get 'em (it), Barry.

 

Alright, one last thing. Makes me think of the end of the movie Slap Shot.

 

NORTH LOGAN, Utah - A University of Southern California hockey goalie put on a show, but it had nothing to do with stopping shots.

 Mickey Meyer rode his stick like a horse, dropped his bulky pants, mooned the crowd and slapped his buttocks during a game against Brigham Young University, police said.

 He was ejected and ticketed for lewdness, a misdemeanor, after an officer who was working security at the rink said he witnessed the scene Saturday.

 "I had my fill of these refs," Meyer said on an Internet broadcast of the game, according to The Herald-Journal of Logan.

 Meyer's antics occurred while play was stopped and referees were trying to sort out penalties in the third period of a consolation game in the ACHA West Regional tournament at Eccles Ice Center.

 The junior from Clinton, N.Y., was "riding his hockey stick like a horse and slapping his butt," North Park Officer Mike Stauffer said in a report.

 After pulling down his pants, Meyer slapped his bare bottom several times, Stauffer said.

 Mickey Meyer. Plays hockey for USC. Had his fill of the refs! Hmmm, rode his hockey stick like a horse while whacking his bare butt. Nothing like representing your school, your teammates and yourself with a high level of dignity and respect. Oh, but wait, it's all the officials fault. Of course it is. They were playing in Utah and couldn't score any PAC 10 officials (I'm sorry about that one but...). Actually I couldn't care less about who officiated this game or who officiates this league. What bothers me is that in a time when hockey across the board (NHL, Collegiate, Juniors, etc., etc.) is trying to promote the game and the dignity of it by making it faster, cleaner, more skill based and more fan friendly, goog ol' Mickey has to help drop it a few notches by playing ride 'em cowboy on his hockey stick with his #### hangin' out. Oh, well. He can deal with the misdemeanor and the fine. And mommy and daddy can wipe his nose and pat him on the head and send hm off to the real world. Oh, wait, he's in college. Point made.

 

Uh, oh! Here comes the plumber and he isn't smiling and there is clumps of brown stuff on him. I guess I'm about to find out what the hell is going on here!

 

And that's the bottom line...

Go Sooners!

For more of these stories just go to FoxSports and you can read 'em all.