Saturday, February 07, 2009
Jose Canseco Was Right...
...again! Alex Rodriguez reportedly tested positive for steroids in 2003.
|
Labels: Alex Rodriguez, steroids
Thursday, February 14, 2008
A Few Good Baseball Men
|Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Rocket's Red Glare
Only sporadically got a chance to check in on Roger Clemens' congressional testimony. However, ESPN's Jayson Stark blogged it (scroll to bottom and then work up). His verdict: Clemens defintely faces some problems, but still came across as a generally strong witness. His former trainer, Brian McNamee has some major credibility issues.
Oh -- surprise! -- the hearing became partisan: As the Times' noted in its own running blog, Democrats -- starting with the execrable Henry Waxman kicking off the hearings by saying that Clemens' earler depostition was "not true" -- going after Clemens; the Republicans went after McNamee:
UPDATE: A wrap-up of the left-over questions and possible legal hurdles now faced by Clemens. Oh, yeah, and his "nanny problem," too!
|
Oh -- surprise! -- the hearing became partisan: As the Times' noted in its own running blog, Democrats -- starting with the execrable Henry Waxman kicking off the hearings by saying that Clemens' earler depostition was "not true" -- going after Clemens; the Republicans went after McNamee:
This is not surprising: the committee chairman, Henry A. Waxman, is a Democrat, and those in his party clearly want to emphasize his belief that this hearing (as well as others) is necessary and important. Painting Mr. Clemens as possibly guilty of perjury is important to that end.Also not surprisngly, Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.) in particular was on fire in attacking McNamee.
Meanwhile, the Republicans, less eager to back the Democratic committee chair, have focused on McNamee’s credibility, all but asking, “Why are we wasting our time with this guy?”
Given both sides’ analysis and accusations of motives, this dynamic appears relevant as well.
UPDATE: A wrap-up of the left-over questions and possible legal hurdles now faced by Clemens. Oh, yeah, and his "nanny problem," too!
Labels: baseball, Roger Clemens, steroids
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Needles and Pins
The Mitchell Report on steroid use in baseball is said to include "several prominent Yankees".
ESPN reported this morning that one of those names is Roger Clemens. The Rocket's (and Andy Pettitte's) former trainer is said to have told Mitchell that he supplied Clemens with steroids.
If this is true, that means that arguably the best position player (Barry Bonds) and the best pitcher of the current era may have padded their stats with performance-enhancing drugs.
The report is to be released today at1 2 P.M.
UPDATE (1:00 PM): Barry Bonds, obviously, is facing a trial for perjury in the BALCO steroids case. It will be some months before that is resolved. Depending on how that trial goes, the appearance of Roger Clemens in the steroids story may, ironically, enhance Bonds' chances of going to the Hall of Fame. Many sportswriters were saying that they wouldn't vote for Bonds because of the steroids issue -- even though he had already amassed a Hall of Fame career before he apparently started juicing (circa 1999). If it now looks like Clemens started doing the stuff around the same time, will sportswriters make the samed conclusion that the Rocket should be kept out -- or will they conclude now that this is a completely tainted era (including the best pitcher and the best player, among many others) where players should be judged on their stats apart from when they started taking stuff (if that can be ascertained). Keep in mind that if Bonds never plays again and Clemens officially retires (as it is now almost certain he will), they would both be eligible for the HOF in 2012.
While this isn't a good thing to contemplate, I'm thinking that Major League Baseball is "happy" that a big white superstar like Clemens has been implicated. There was an undercurrent in some articles that Bonds was being persecuted because he was black -- while white stars like Mark McGwire and Jason Giambi hardly got much attention. Now, of course, the main reason for that is that Bonds was still playing and he was chasing one of the sports most cherished records. McGwire was thoroughly humiliated after his 2006 congressional hearing -- an appearance that cost him election to the Hall of Fame the next year. Meanwhile, the majority of players suspended for steroids/HGH use throughout baseball (including the minors) have been Latino.
Fairly or not, having a white superstar gets MLB off the hook of looking like this is an attempt to unfairly target minority players. (Yes, I recognize that players like Rick Ankiel, David Segui and Paul Byrd have been named in previous performance enhancing stories, but they aren't in the same category as a Bonds or Clemens).
UPDATE II (2:15 PM): Here's the full Mitchell Report -- all 400 pages!This list was circulating around earlier today. Use it guardedly, as a possible, ahem, "cheat-sheet" to compare with the official report.
UPDATE III: Current and former New York Yankees players of some prominence mentioned in the Mitchell Report: Clemens, Giambi, Pettitte, Chuck Knoblauch, David Justice, Gary Sheffield, Kevin Brown, Ron Villone...
UPDATE IV: Sports Illustrated reports that this is hardly the end of the "naming of names." Ongoing investigations will inevitably bring more names to light.
|
ESPN reported this morning that one of those names is Roger Clemens. The Rocket's (and Andy Pettitte's) former trainer is said to have told Mitchell that he supplied Clemens with steroids.
If this is true, that means that arguably the best position player (Barry Bonds) and the best pitcher of the current era may have padded their stats with performance-enhancing drugs.
The report is to be released today at
UPDATE (1:00 PM): Barry Bonds, obviously, is facing a trial for perjury in the BALCO steroids case. It will be some months before that is resolved. Depending on how that trial goes, the appearance of Roger Clemens in the steroids story may, ironically, enhance Bonds' chances of going to the Hall of Fame. Many sportswriters were saying that they wouldn't vote for Bonds because of the steroids issue -- even though he had already amassed a Hall of Fame career before he apparently started juicing (circa 1999). If it now looks like Clemens started doing the stuff around the same time, will sportswriters make the samed conclusion that the Rocket should be kept out -- or will they conclude now that this is a completely tainted era (including the best pitcher and the best player, among many others) where players should be judged on their stats apart from when they started taking stuff (if that can be ascertained). Keep in mind that if Bonds never plays again and Clemens officially retires (as it is now almost certain he will), they would both be eligible for the HOF in 2012.
While this isn't a good thing to contemplate, I'm thinking that Major League Baseball is "happy" that a big white superstar like Clemens has been implicated. There was an undercurrent in some articles that Bonds was being persecuted because he was black -- while white stars like Mark McGwire and Jason Giambi hardly got much attention. Now, of course, the main reason for that is that Bonds was still playing and he was chasing one of the sports most cherished records. McGwire was thoroughly humiliated after his 2006 congressional hearing -- an appearance that cost him election to the Hall of Fame the next year. Meanwhile, the majority of players suspended for steroids/HGH use throughout baseball (including the minors) have been Latino.
Fairly or not, having a white superstar gets MLB off the hook of looking like this is an attempt to unfairly target minority players. (Yes, I recognize that players like Rick Ankiel, David Segui and Paul Byrd have been named in previous performance enhancing stories, but they aren't in the same category as a Bonds or Clemens).
UPDATE II (2:15 PM): Here's the full Mitchell Report -- all 400 pages!
UPDATE III: Current and former New York Yankees players of some prominence mentioned in the Mitchell Report: Clemens, Giambi, Pettitte, Chuck Knoblauch, David Justice, Gary Sheffield, Kevin Brown, Ron Villone...
UPDATE IV: Sports Illustrated reports that this is hardly the end of the "naming of names." Ongoing investigations will inevitably bring more names to light.
Labels: baseball, George Mitchell, Mitchell Report, New York Yankees, steroids
Friday, November 16, 2007
Triple Play
All about baseball -- even though the World Series ended two weeks ago!
1) Bonds In The Dock. As Filip Bondy points out, "It's always the cover-up that gets them." Ironically, Bonds would have made it to the Hall of Fame before his plunge into Steroid World in 2000. Now, it is far likelier that he will be, like Pete Rose, be walking in baseball limbo -- when he's not in jail.
2) A-Rod returns. Whether this cause for curses or celebration in the Bronx won't be known for many years. It's also interesting to note that despite all the recriminations against A-Rod for opting out of his previous contract, the numbers that are bandying about -- especially talk of a bonus if he breaks the all-time home run mark (with or without steroids is un-'clear') -- are pretty close to the 10-year/$300 million goal that Rodirguez and his agent Scott Boras were throwing around at the beginning of the season.
3) After everything that has bedeviled Eliot Spitzer in recent days, weeks and months, is it really smart to be seen going after Derek Jeter for tax evasion? Yeah, yeah, the state might be right on the law, but it still seems politically dumb.
|
1) Bonds In The Dock. As Filip Bondy points out, "It's always the cover-up that gets them." Ironically, Bonds would have made it to the Hall of Fame before his plunge into Steroid World in 2000. Now, it is far likelier that he will be, like Pete Rose, be walking in baseball limbo -- when he's not in jail.
2) A-Rod returns. Whether this cause for curses or celebration in the Bronx won't be known for many years. It's also interesting to note that despite all the recriminations against A-Rod for opting out of his previous contract, the numbers that are bandying about -- especially talk of a bonus if he breaks the all-time home run mark (with or without steroids is un-'clear') -- are pretty close to the 10-year/$300 million goal that Rodirguez and his agent Scott Boras were throwing around at the beginning of the season.
3) After everything that has bedeviled Eliot Spitzer in recent days, weeks and months, is it really smart to be seen going after Derek Jeter for tax evasion? Yeah, yeah, the state might be right on the law, but it still seems politically dumb.
Labels: Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds, Eliot Spitzer, steroids
Friday, August 10, 2007
Needlin' Barry
Baseball had a controversial moment this week, and I chose to not bother commenting on it. However, this story puts Barry Bonds' record-making swing in proper perspective.
|
Labels: Barry Bonds, baseball, steroids
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Is The NHL Happy...
...that nobody cares about the sport? Look what happens to the sports that have real fans in the U.S.:
|
- MLB: Feds going after Barry Bonds over perjury in Balco steroid investigation.
- NFL: Feds going after Michael Vick over alleged dog fighting.
- NBA: Feds going after alleged point shaving and mob ties by ref.
- WWE: Feds looking into murder/suicide of professional wrestler (with steroid implications).
As long-time RT supporter ERA (who came up with the idea) says, "ESPN should launch a new channel with Court TV."
Labels: gambling, Sports, steroids
