Da Juice...again

To be perfectly honest, I, for one, am getting tired of writing about the crap-tastic world of juicing athletes, but given the news cycle regarding Alex Rodriguez, it looks like I kind of have to.

Am I surprised by the recent revelations? Not in the least. Is there anyone whose name would surprise me at this point? No.

Sure, there are players that I hope haven't been on anything, but I'm convinced at this point that well over half the players from the so-called steroid era were juicing in one way or another. Considering that the only source for the Mitchell Report was a clubhouse attendant from New york, and the preponderance of names contained in the report were East Coast guys, I have to wonder just how many names would have been in the report had they found the supplier in Atlanta? San Diego? Arlington? Chicago?

There is no schadenfreude in this. A-Rod is just the explanation point on what isn't really even the end of an era. There's a misconception that juicers are going to go away. A-Rod has any number of issues which are fair game, but for anyone who has defended Rodney Harrison, or Nick Kaczur, or any number of other NFL players, to attack Rodriguez on this is not just disingenuous, it's hypocritical.

The NFL makes the idea that the juicing era in baseball a lie. And let's call it what it is - the Juicing Era, not steroid.

The designer drug makers will always be a step ahead of those enforcing the league's rules. The sins are out of Pandora's Box, and there's not putting them back in.

Maybe there will be fewer juicing, but the era isn't over. It's just beginning, the tip of the iceberg, and more is bound to come out.

Reaping what they sow

The house of cards that Roger Clemens has built is crumbling. Quickly.

Consider - Sure, his accuser is about as shady as back alley with a roof covering, but Brian McNamee has had his story corroborated by multiple sources, including by Clemens' buddy Andy Pettitte, fellow steroid distributor Kirk Radomski, and even to some extent, by Clemens himself (way to throw your wife under the bus, Roger).

Clemens has a baby sitter who appears to have been tampered with and a Jose Canseco testimony that appears to have been contradicted by photographic evidence.

To put it plainly, if you're going to do something illegal, don't leave a paper trail. It will come back to feast on your ass like a rabid hyena on a slow, fat kid.

As far as one's arrogance leading to digging a hole for one's self, Brett Favre is quickly making himself into the second coming of Terrell Owens.

Evidently he spoke in vague generalities while accusing Ted Thompson and Mike McCarthy of not being honest with him. The Packers GM and Coach responded with specifics as to repeatedly asking Favre back.

As near as I can tell, Favre was upset that Thompson a) failed to re-sign two of Favre long-time protectors along the line, opting instead for youth along the O-line, b) failed to land Randy Moss in a trade, refusing to mortgage the future of the team in so doing. In essence, Favre doesn't trust Thompson because Thompson wants Favre to be a quarterback, and not do his general managing job for him. Go figure.

Now, Favre is "tempted to call their bluff," but is unwilling to file the paperwork for reinstatement until it wouldn't cost him any money to avoid mandatory minicamps and to just come into training camp - where he could, effectively, be disruptive.

The funny thing, in his effort to create public support, all he has done is alienate even the majority of Packer fans. A recent show of support for the NFL's least wanted man outside of Lambeau drew fewer than 200 fans.

And, often times, those who are supporting Favre are not only blinded by their hero-worship, but evidently aren't as knowledgeable as people like to say Packers fans are supposed to be - as demonstrated by this recent letter to Mike Silver -

“Your article about making the hard call in Green Bay shows why you write for a living and are not in football operations. If Green Bay’s GM dumps a proven Pro Bowl QB over QB who hasn’t proven anything he won’t be a GM for long.”

Ken Biddle
Philadelphia

Let's see -

Daryle Lamonica was replaced by Kenny Stabler, and he was replaced by Jim Plunkett. Nobody was complaining about Al Davis' personnel moves in the early 1980's

Joe Montana was traded in favor of Steve Young who wasn't showing a whole lot in Tampa. Sure, the 49ers brain-trust caught some flak when they traded Montana, but three Super Bowl trophies later, no San Fran fan is saying that it was the wrong move.

And, of course, within the last decade the Patriots dropped pro-bowler Drew Bledsoe for an unproven sixth round draft pick. Three Super Bowls (two trophies later), none of the Pats fans are calling for Scott Pioli's head.

Dirty little secrets

I have become...shall we say...quite cynical in regards to professional athletes.

It started long before now, but it's been coming to a head.

I've spent a lot of keystrokes on this recently.

Cheating, drugs, the sports version of Enzyte...unnatural athlete enhancement. Call for details. Side effects could include acne, shrinkage, and impotence. Long term effects could include cancer.

I have gotten to the point where the benefit of the doubt is no longer afforded.

Hank Steinbrenner can cry all he wants about what he perceives as a drug problem in football, and baseball being picked on. He will get sympathy from precious few out there. He deserves none.

Yes, there's still a performance enhancer problem in football. The difference is that the NFL has at least made an effort for over a decade and a half, or the appearance of an effort. Baseball had to be pushed into it. And the Player's Union is still being dragged into compliance.

Don't believe the last statement, consider that Donald Fehr told his constituents not to talk to George Mitchell. To stonewall the investigation.

What's the dirty little secret of professional sports?

The dirty little secret is that we're watching the games, races, matches and what have you, being contested on an even playing field...in a really twisted way.

While I'm sure that there are many professional athletes that are clean, I have to believe, in light of the numbers in the Mitchell Report, that there's a majority of players out there on the juice. I won't even get into team-related things like Spygate, salary cap violations, allegations of teams in baseball setting up cameras over the centerfield wall in order to steal signs, and so on.

As for those numbers in the Mitchell Report...as I recently noted to someone, there were over 80 players implicated in the former senator's report. Better than three teams' worth of players. That's based largely on the testimony of two dealers/informants out of New York City. Mitchell himself said that his work was not definitive.

It makes me wonder, if the investigators were able to link 80 names based on two guys out of New York, just how many they would have been able to name had they been able to identify the suppliers in Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit, Seattle, Philadelphia, and any number of other places. Fifty percent of major leaguers? Seventy?

Everyone talks about Hank Aaron's home run record, but how many records are tainted by PED use? We all now know that Eric Gagne was juicing when he set the record for consecutive saves, and anyone that wants to tell me that those drugs have no effect, look at what Gagne was like this past season. Don't tell me it was the injuries he suffered a couple of years ago. He was healthy this year. Based on what he was like last season, Gagne would never have approached the level he was at when he was the most dominant closer in baseball.

I'm not trying to pick on baseball here.

As I mentioned before, Steinbrenner is (I can feel the bile in the back of my throat) right. Football still has a problem. According to transcripts in the BALCO case, the vast majority of players on the Broncos and the 49ers were implicated in the use of HGH.

That doesn't take into account our hometown Rodney Harrison, the members of the Panthers Super Bowl entrant, Bill Romanowksi, Shawn Merriman, and any number of other players who have been nailed since.

I'm not even touching on bicycling, which saw its thinnest competition in the Tour de France last year due to doping disqualifications. Or running, a sport that has seen some of its biggest stars nailed over the course of the last two decades - Ben Johnson, Marion Jones, Tim Montgomery, marathoner Uta Pippig.

Then, of course, we even saw boxing (big surprise) implicated in the Albany investigation.

It's hard to look at what is happening at the highest levels of athletic competition and not view these people with some level of skepticism.

Select fraternities no one wishes to be in...

There are several select and growing fraternities among the professional athlete set.

None of which are ones you want to pledge if you are an athlete.

Okay, the first is one no one wants to be a part of and it has a new pledge.

It's the one with a membership that includes Lance Armstrong, Jon Lester, and Joe Andruzzi now includes Vikings defensive end Kenechi Udeze. According to a report in the Mineapolis-St. Paul Star-Tribune that hit the Internet at about midnight, Udeze has been diagnosed with leukemia, a cancer of the blood that originates in the bone marrow.

According to reports, Udeze spent time at the Mayo Clinic last week.

Currently, Udeze is undergoing tests at Fairview Southdale Hospital to determine the grade/severity of the particular type of leukemia with which he is afflicted. For more information on leukemia, and its four different varieties, visit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Web site.

Kenechi, Joe...get better soon guys.

The other fraternity...

Pi Epsilon Delta...PED, the performance enhancing drug users.

As much as Roger Clemens is desperately trying to make it look like he hasn't already pledged this group with a defense that pretty much amounts to, at this point, "what I say is right, what everybody else says is wrong."

His agents want to compare him to other pitchers, but when Ivy League statistics professors point out the errors in the methodology of the Clemens camp, and present their own report, they're wrong and "The professors make the mistake of thinking that his career arc should look like the arc of every other pitcher in their selected group," Hendricks said in a statement. the professors, of course, didn't use a small cross section, and they likely got the age ranges of their pitchers right. But no, according to the Clemens camp, the statisticians are wrong.

Now it's beginning to come out that Andy Pettitte's version of events appears to back Brian McNamee's story (never mind the fact that the Clemens camp still has failed to explain why McNamee would be telling the truth about both Pettitte and Chuck Knoblauch).

Even more amazing - why wasn't there an immediate denial from Clemens and his people in regards to his wife getting shot up before an SI shoot? Is it because of the physical evidence that has surfaced? Are they now concerned that they've backed themselves into a corner over the Rocket, and are worried about painting the corner smaller?

He may be fighting tooth and nail to not be a member of Pi Epsilon, but, by all appearances, he's already a member - along with the likes of Marion Jones, Barry Bonds, and the whistle-blower - Jose Canseco.

Fuzzy Logic

Fuzzy logic seems to be in abundance these days.

Fuzzy logic comes from fuzzy math...let's start with some fuzzy math - the kind that doesn't add up.

Yesterday Roger Clemens continued his farce with a 17-minute tape of a phone conversation with trainer-turned-informant Brian McNammee. The tape told us absolutely diddly-squat.

Here's the math on this subject -

Clemens' initial denial issued by his lawyer and reported by CNN on December 14...

"Roger Clemens adamantly, vehemently, and whatever other adjectives can be used, denies that he has ever used steroids or ... improper substances," Clemens' attorney, Rusty Hardin, said Thursday.
"He is really, really concerned and upset that he has been named in this report. It's based on the allegations, apparently, of a trainer that he's had in the past. ... That's not a standard someone should be held out in public to have done something as serious as using steroids in baseball."

...

"Roger has been repeatedly tested for these substances and he has never tested positive," Hardin said in a statement. "There has never been one shred of tangible evidence that he ever used these substances and yet he is being slandered today."
Hardin told reporters that Clemens had not been given the opportunity to defend himself.

Let's start with the last point Hardin makes. Clemens had plenty of opportunity to defend himself when invited to talk to George Mitchell. He chose not to do so. Let's be realistic about this as well - it's not as though Clemens was going to assume Mitchell just wanted to hang out and talk about baseball. He knew what Mitchell was doing, he had to know that Mitchell called him because he had been named. Issue one that doesn't pass the smell test.

Lidocaine is a class VI drug. Class VI drugs require a prescription for use and is administered by a physician - not a physical trainer. Issue two.

Vitam B12 is a professional sports euphemism for the steroid Winstrol, which is what McNamee claims to have injected Clemens with. Don't believe it, just ask Rafael Palmeiro. Issue three.

Here's my favorite, and it comes from an interview with Steve Phillips on ESPN's Mike and Mike in the Morning - Phillips, for those of you who don't know, played baseball and was at one time the general manager of the New York Mets - "We're talking a strength and conditioning coach. In my twenty years within a major league organization, seven as a player, thirteen in a front office, I have never heard of a strength and conditioning coach giving any legitimate injection to a player. In fact, trainers do not give injections, only physicians give injections."

This was followed up by the former NFL defensive tackle Mike Golic's agreement, "I will say, I was never injected by a trainer...I have never heard of that before." And Buster Olney's statement, "I completely concur with what Steve said. In talking with people around baseball last night, they said they cannot see a situation in which a trainer would be giving injections to players as a matter of routine." Issue four.

From an ESPN.com report -

Asked why McNamee would tell the truth about Pettitte and lie about Clemens,
Clemens said Pettitte's case was "totally separate."

How is it that Mike Wallace didn't follow up on this? How are the cases totally separate? From all accounts, Clemens introduced Pettitte to McNamee. Pettitte confirmed that McNamee was telling the truth in regards to him - why would he then be lying about Clemens? Both sloppy reporting and issue five. He offered no explanation in regards to how Pettitte's case is "totally separate."

I don't buy that the timing of when his lawyers (finally) filed the suit against McNamee as a coincidence either. It came two days after Clemens was asked to appear before Congress along with Pettitte and McNamee. The allows Clemens to, in effect, go in front of the Congressional committee and claim that he can't answer certain questions due to the pending litigation without ever having to take the Fifth. Issue six.

Right now it looks like Clemens is trying to convince the court of public opinion that by adding five and five, you get six.

Fuzzy math part two -

The closer it gets, the funnier the math gets. Somehow, Mercury Morris and his 1972 Dolphin compatriots would have us believe that 17=19. Neat trick, but wrong.

Yes, it would be only the second team in the NFL to go undefeated during a season, but what does that really mean? It means that they had a streak that ran during one season, rather than over the course of two.

The whole discussion always comes back to how hard it is to win 16 in a row. The Tom Brady/Bill Belichick Patriots have done it twice.

Those 17 Dolphin wins included the postseason. The Patriots already have one streak that exceeds that at 21.

The longest regular season winning streak the 'Phins even had was 15 games. The Patriots are owners of both an 18-game and now 19-game regular season winning streaks.

None of this takes into account the fact that the Patriots deal with free-agency, the salary cap, and weighted schedules - all elements of today's game designed to keep the sort of dominance the Patriots have shown from happening.

Sure, the Patriots haven't gone 19-0, and might not, but the self-appointed greatest team to ever play the game would have you believe that 17=19, and that the best the Pats could do is "join us on the mountain top."

Sorry guys. They do it, then they're the king of the mountain.

Mythology

It's amazing, the difference between fact and fiction in professional sports. That which is accepted as fact, often by the apologists or those looking to bolster their own arguments in an effort to make a player, coach, or organization look either better or worse. Sometimes the myth is true...or more accurately, the truth is so wild or great that it becomes mythic - the Immaculate Reception, Carlton Fisk's home run in game six of the 1975 World Series, Kirk Gibson, the 1980 Olympic American ice hockey team, and so on. Sometimes it becomes difficult to separate myth from fact.

Let's take a shot at a couple of the big myths floating around professional sports today...

Myth - Bill Belichick was fined $500,0000.00 for filming the Jets' signals. The knock, among fans of other teams, is that Belichick cheated by stealing signals.

Fact - Belichick was fined for filming from the sideline, the fact that he was shooting the defensive signals was incidental. According to the following report from when the story broke -

From reports when the story broke -

As part of the league's investigation, Goodell determined the filming of Jets coaches had no impact on the outcome of the game. Goodell also ruled that Robert Kraft and Patriots ownership were unaware of the filming...The NFL's rules state that "no video recording devices of any kind are permitted to be in use in the coaches' booth, on the field, or in the locker room during the game" and that all video shooting locations for coaching purposes "must be enclosed on all sides with a roof overhead."

In a memo to NFL head coaches and general managers on Sept. 6, 2006, NFL executive vice president of football operations Ray Anderson wrote: "Videotaping of any type, including but not limited to taping of an opponent's offensive or defensive signals, is prohibited on the sidelines, in the coaches' booth, in the locker room, or at any other locations accessible to club staff members during the game."

So...according to the NFL, the issue had nothing to do with them taping signals, and everything to do with where they taped from. According to this, any team can film its opponent's signals as long as the filming location is not accessible during the game - like, say, one of the skyboxes, which is enclosed on all sides with a picture window facing the field.

Myth - "Steroids don't help you hit the ball." This is the favorite defense of Bonds apologists who first will argue that he never used (he did, he admitted it, get it through your thick skulls) and even if he did...(see statement above)...

Fact - No, the performance enhancers largely don't help a person with their natural ability to hit the ball, but they do, in the end, help a batter hit...

To wit, steroids and other performance enhancers in baseball are used in order to recover faster from games, double headers, and other workouts. They also make the player stronger.

Increased strength and faster recovery time results in the following -

• Balls hit harder, thus, the ball travels both farther and faster. Balls dying on the warning track get deposited three rows behind the outfield wall. Balls barely reached by the middle infielder in the hole get by for hits.
• The player using these drugs is fresher at the end of a ten game stretch than the one not using, thus allowing the user to turn on a ball, with the greater likelihood of putting it into play than the tired opponent whose timing might be off enough to make his swing result in a foul ball or strike, instead of a hit. Hmmm...help hitting the ball. Who would've thought. Oh, right, the ball players injecting themselves with steroids.
• Balls get thrown harder by power pitchers losing their power

Myth - Baseball didn't even have a rule banning steroids in 1998.

Fact - MLB had a rule passed in 1971. According to the Mitchell Report a drug policy was written in MLB that prohibits using any prescription medicine without a prescription. From all reports, virtually none of the players named for use of either steroids or HGH had a prescription from a doctor. And those that did had their prescription from less than reputable doctors (see Paul Bird).

So, based on this 1971 rule, steroid and HGH users were in violation of MLB's rules and regulations, and use of those substances, in essence, has been against baseball's rules for the last 26 years.

Then in 1991, just to be safe, then commissioner Fay Vincent added steroids to the prohibited substance list.

Myth - The offensive coordinator of a record setting offense will make for a great head coach.

Fact - Right now 31-year old Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniel is generating interest from both the Falcons and the Ravens for their head coaching vacancies. Recent jumps from record setting coordinator to head coach have included Mike Martz and Brian Billick.

While it can be debated as to how successful Billick was, winning a Super Bowl and making multiple playoffs, one thing is certain - Billick was brought to a Ravens team that already had a solid defense, with the purpose of putting together a championship caliber offense. His offenses, over his nine years with the Ravens, have averaged 23rd. Only twice in the Ravens last six seasons have the Ravens achieved at least ten wins and the playoffs.

He inherited a team that had an improving defense, a slowly improving record, and an opportunity to build the offense he wanted. The offensive guru has been so good at identifying the talent he needed at key positions that he had 12 different quarterbacks start for him during his nine seasons at the helm.

Mike Martz won a Super Bowl ring running the Greatest Show on Turf for Dick Vermeil. Without Vermeil's tempering hand, Martz eventually went pass-happy, let the defense deteriorate, and the team's record eventually suffered in subsequent years.

Under Vermeil, during his last season at the helm, the Rams ranked 4th in points allowed on defense. Under Martz in the first year, 31st. Over the five full seasons at the helm, his defenses finished an average of 17th in points allowed and was fired in a year that the team was again 31st.

Gaudy numbers get you noticed, and there is success to be had with these coaches, but the numbers in a record setting season sets the bar impossibly high. Billick's offense in Minnesota was fueled by a young Randy Moss, just as McDaniels' offense in New England is fueled by Moss.

What is the likelihood that McDaniels will be the solution in Baltimore when they have a scouting office that can't identify a pro-ready quarterback on the collegiate level, or a veteran that still has some gas left in the tank?

Philosophical question(s) for the week...

In light of the Mitchell Report and the pending holiday which always invokes, for me, the films of Frank Capra (It's a Wonderful Life), I am forced to correlate MLB to Mr. Smith Goes to Washington...

Is it just me, or does Roger Clemens somehow come off like Senator Joe Payne (the corrupt politician played so well by Claude Rains) right now and after an early round of skepticism from the masses, George Mitchell as the naive but well meaning Jefferson Smith?

Does that make we, the baseball fans, the boys for which Mitchell is trying to build a camp?

The Baseball Writers Association of America, which is looking at this as "The Steroid Era" as justification for enshrining a generation of cheaters, part of the Taylor Machine?

The bloggers who are expressing outrage reporter Diz Moore? (Diz Moore: [into phone] Throw out that last, take this. This is the most titanic battle of modern times. A David without even a slingshot rises to do battle against the mighty Goliath, the Taylor machine, allegedly crooked inside and out. Yeah, and for my money, you can cut out the "allegedly.")

Just some thoughts...

Rules violations

Eat it steroid apologists who defend steroid usage by these players with the following argument - well it wasn't banned by baseball at the time. There are a number of reasons that it doesn't matter. Many which I have already addressed. One is that Baseball shouldn't have to make rules regarding substances that are banned by federal law. It should be understood that you can't administer anything to yourself that is banned by federal law without a prescription.

And there's one of the key words. Prescription.

Which brings me to 1971.

It's an important year for baseball.

MLB is within its rights to discipline players for steroids and HGH for the pre-ban time period because of 1971. According to the Mitchell Report a drug policy was written in MLB that prohibits using any prescription medicine without a prescription. From all reports, virtually none of the players named had a prescription from a doctor.

So, based on this 1971 rule, steroid and HGH users were in violation of MLB's rules and regulations.

In 1991, just to be safe, then commissioner Fay Vincent added steroids to the prohibited substance list.

All of the above notwithstanding, I put the following question to the steroid apologists out there - If administering these drugs wasn't really cheating because, as you like to say, it wasn't against baseball's rules (which, apparently it was), then why did the players do all of this in a clandestine manner? Why sneak around? Why deny it when caught if there's nothing wrong with what you're doing?

No Excuses

"I did it to recover faster from an injury, not to gain a competitive advantage on the field."

That is the popular excuse being presented by athletes caught using HGH and other performance enhancing substances. "I only used it to recover from (insert injury du jour here)."

This is the excuse that San Diego defensive end Louis Castillo first made popular before the 2005 NFL draft. It is the excuse that Patriots safety Rodney Harrison used (in spite of the fact that records show he initially purchased it during a time that he had no reported injury - no one followed up on that and he offered no additional excuse) when caught, it is the excuse that Andy Pettitte is hiding behind and it is the excuse that former second baseman Fernando Vina.

It is the excuse that any number of athletes I expect will use in the future.

It is a complete crock.

For anyone who thinks it isn't, I put to you the following question - if star player from Team A and star player from Team B suffer identical injuries, and Player A goes through proper (ie: legal and legitimate) physical therapy and rehab to get back on the field and it takes that player five weeks to get back, but Player B uses HGH and is back in three and half weeks, then how is that NOT a competitive advantage?

This smacks of the same argument put forth by Bonds supporters of, "it doesn't help him hit the ball," but, in light of recent studies - they're wrong. There was a recent report stating that HGH appears to improve eyesight. Improved eyesight will help a batter see the ball. The hormone helps muscles rebound faster from workouts - which means that in that tenth straight game, when non-users are fatigued, the user is fresher and more apt to be able to turn on a ball. It helps them get stronger, resulting in balls hit farther, faster.

Make no mistake. None of this is just about "recovering faster." It's all about getting on the field and an unfair competitive advantage.

Just once, I would like to hear one of these athletes say, "I cheated, I was caught and I'm sorry. I have disgraced myself, my team, and my sport. I knew at the time I was doing something wrong, but I want so bad to be the best on the field that it drove me to do something stupid and unforgivable in the context of the sport in which I compete. I wish I could promise that I would not make the same choice had I a chance to do it all over again, but, given my competitive nature, I don't think I can make that promise. I'm sorry."

We'll never hear it. But it really would be nice to hear one of these athletes completely own up to their mistake rather than try to find a way to excuse it that they believe will be palatable to the general public.

Unfortunately, there are many in the general public that are part of the problem - also making excuses for why, when their sports heroes are caught red-handed, we should take their less-than-heartfelt apology at face value. I'd like to thank Lisa at A Red Sox State of Maine for providing a link to the following from the New York Sun -

Corrupt in conception, inept in execution, this is in general a vile report. What decency there is in it comes from, of all people, Andy Pettitte. The ostentatiously religious Pettitte, who deserves and will receive a rousing ovation the next time he takes the mound at Yankee Stadium, will be scorned by many as a hypocrite, but according to the second-hand accounting of this report, he decided to use HGH because he thought it would "speed his recovery and help his team." And what could be nobler than that?

This reporter's defense of Pettitte is that he's "ostentatiously religious." First, I have to question whether or not this reporter knows what the word ostentatious means, or if he's just using big words to try to make people think he's intelligent. Because he comes off as an idiot. Were I Pettitte and truly religious, I would be offended by someone who described me as ostentatiously so.

For people wondering - it means rich and showy: marked by a vulgar display of wealth and success designed to impress people. So this dude is saying that Pettitte is showing religion only to impress people.

But I digress.

His argument (I will leave the whole "noble" thing to Lisa who handled that quite well) is that we should give Pettitte the benefit of the doubt because he's religious and, in essence, religious people would never do bad things. To that I give two names that are just the tip of the iceberg: John J. Geoghan and Ronald H. Paquin.

For those of you unfamiliar with those names, they are both priests - a profession that most would agree has some fairly religious people. These two were part of the Catholic Church's long running conspiracy to conceal child molesters within its clergy. Geoghan died in jail after convicted, Paquin plead guilty to the crime, claiming that he himself was a victim at the hands of a member of the clergy while a boy in Salem.

By reporter Tim Marchman's reasoning, this couldn't be true because these men are religious.

What an idiot.

On a lighter note (pardon the pun) - down to 184 this morning, a total loss of 4.5 pounds.

Texas Toast

No player was hit harder by the release of the Mitchell Report than Roger Clemens. Sure, Barry Bonds is (the only player) mentioned more often in the former senator's report, but let's face it, the damage was done there long ago.

Following the release of the report, the Rocket's lawyer Rusty Hardin issued the following non-denial, “It is very unfair to include Roger’s name in this report. He is left with no meaningful way to combat what he strongly contends are totally false allegations. He has not been charged with anything, he will not be charged with anything and yet he is being tried in the court of public opinion with no recourse. That is totally wrong. There has never been one shred of tangible evidence that he ever used these substances and yet he is being slandered today."

Essentially, Hardin called Mitchell's witness against Clemens a liar without ever directly denying any of former trainer Brian McNamee's allegations of steroid use (he never said I didn't do it, he just said McNamee's allegations are false - what? That McNamee administered the steroid injections? That it was those specific steroids? What exactly is false?). Hardin made no indication that he would be filing any sort of legal action against the report (and the last time I checked, Major League Baseball, which has assumed indemnity for any legal action, has very deep pockets).

The biggest problem for Clemens and his legacy arose this weekend when former teammate and long-time friend Andy Pettitte, who was named in McNamee's testimony, lent the report a whopping dose of credibility by copping to the use of HGH - a year after he denied ever using the hormone (his name came up with the Jason Grimsley incident).

While Pettitte's apology was offensive to anyone with half a brain - "If what I did was an error in judgment on my part, I apologize...If I have let down people that care about me, I am sorry, but I hope that you will listen to me carefully and understand that two days of perhaps bad judgment should not ruin a lifetime of hard work and dedication." Where's the actual apology there? IF? There are more qualifiers in that statement than they have at the Olympic Trials for Track and Field.

This is tantamount to saying, "I'm not sorry for what I did. I'm sorry I got caught, and I'm sorry YOU'RE offended. But, no, I'm not sorry for what I did."

I think that Dan Graziano from the Newark Star-Ledger (Yankees country by the way) said it best when he put the following to paper -

If he truly felt bad about what he did, why didn't he answer Mitchell's questions as earnestly as he's always answered ours? Every player Mitchell named in the report was presented with an opportunity to see the evidence against him and respond. But the final lines of page 176 say about Pettitte what Mitchell says about almost every other player in the document.

"In order to provide Pettitte with information about these allegations and to give him an opportunity to respond, I asked him to meet with me," Mitchell writes. "He declined."

Brian McNamee, the personal trainer for Clemens and Pettitte, told Mitchell that Pettitte asked him about HGH during the 2001-02 off-season. McNamee told Mitchell that he discouraged Pettitte from using it, but that Pettitte brought it up again while on the disabled list in 2002 and McNamee flew to Tampa, Fla., where he injected Pettitte with HGH "on two to four occasions."

McNamee also told Mitchell that Pettitte asked him, in 2003, "what he should say if a reporter asked Pettitte whether he ever used performance-enhancing substances. McNamee told him he was free to say what he wanted, but that he should not go out of his way to bring it up. McNamee also asked Pettitte not to mention his name."

Pettitte knew what he was doing was wrong and he sought advice on how to get away with it. And when Mitchell found out, and tried to present him with the evidence, Pettitte ignored him. Only now that he's been caught does he come remotely clean, and he does so in the way of a cornered criminal, angry at his pursuer for catching him. Why should we believe there's not more to the story? What reason do we have to take his word that he's been clean for all but two days of his life?

Byrd-brained

The early information that's trickling out paints Cleveland's Paul Byrd as a fraud.

The self-proclaimed good Christian who says he would never cheat, said he was on a hormone treatment regimen that he claimed MLB and his team were aware of. He has been thrown under the bus by the Indians and MLB. The Indians who disavowed knowledge of his treatment regimen, and MLB who said he never had an exemption to receive hormone treatment with HGh. As a matter of fact, Indians GM Mark Shapiro said that his contact with Byrd concerning this issue began on Friday.

To make matters worse, Byrd obtained his prescription not from a medical doctor, but from a Florida dentist who was disbarred for fraud and incompetence.

Byrd reportedly spent $25,000.00 out of pocket for what he called a legitimate treatment for a pituitary problem. Personally, I'm a little surprised that the player's union has that bad a health insurance plan. Twenty-five grand out of pocket for a legit prescription? Yikes. That's one shitty co-pay he's got there.

Then of course there's the issue of the doctor who isn't a medical doctor and the fact that Byrd is evasive about when the problem was identified.

I would say, at this point, there is an outside chance he's telling the truth. Unfortunately, too much of what's coming out makes no sense - the doctor, the money, the source of the HGh, the evasiveness as to when it was determined he needed the treatment - in regards to a legitimate reason for taking the hormone.

Yankees braintrust - an oxymoron if ever there was one...

From 1977, Joe Torre's first year as a manager, until 1995 he had only five winning seasons. He was largely a mediocre manager until he was given the biggest freakin' payrolls in the history of American sport.

Since 1996 Torre has managed the Yankees to twelve straight playoff appearances and four World Series titles.

I am of the school that just about anybody could have success managing a line-up of all-stars either drafted or bought at every position. However, the last two seasons Joe Torre might have been the best manager in baseball.

As a Red Sox fan it pains me to say it, but given the Yankees pitching staff for the last two seasons, the fact that he got these yahoos to the playoffs both seasons is nothing short of amazing.

And as much as the Yankees are trying to make it appear that Torre turned them down, they made him an offer he had to refuse. He was fired. Twelve straight seasons in the post-season dance, and the man gets fired.

People that think that manager of the Yankees is the best job in major league sports hasn't taken a close look at the ownership they would have to answer to.

Objects in Mirror may be Closer than they Appear...

Is it just me, or is Francona managing the lead away with the handling of the Red Sox pitching staff?

The Yankees have shaved three games off the Sox lead because -

• Francona brought in Paplebon too early (bullpen error two in that game, by the way)
• Left Schilling in too long
• And expected Gags to hold a one-run lead

In spite of months of evidence that he should do the contrary, Tito did the above and it has cost the Sox three games.

This now makes, I think, four games that Gags has cut off the Sox division lead. Do you suppose he's somehow on the Yankees' payroll? I want that investigated.

Say it ain't so, Rod, say it ain't so...

By now most out there know about the report that has hit about when Rodney Harrison was first doping. I think paraphrasing the final lines from Bernard Malamud's great baseball novel, The Natural is somehow appropriate.

Not necessarily accurate...but appropriate.

For those of you who have never read the book, it is the novel from which the movie was adapted...and it has a decidedly different ending. The character of Roy Hobbs was inspired by Shoeless Joe Jackson, and what happened to him during and after the Black Sox Scandal.

At the end of the novel, after Hobbs has refused to take the Judge's money, he strikes out at the plate anyway. Overcome with emotion over blowing his chance, he falls asleep on a clubhouse bench.

After he comes to early the next morning, he is greeted by a paperboy selling newspapers with the headline that Hobbs was bought off and the paperboy imploring him to, "say it ain't so, Roy."

The fallen hero imagery of the reference spoke to me.

Get well....

Joe Andruzzi. You're fighting your toughest opponent yet.

Get Walking....

Kevin Everett. It's good to hear that you have motion in your hands and legs.

One final comment on Vick until sentencing...

So, as I am sure many that have followed the Vick dogfighting case will recall, a number of athletes such as Deion Sanders and Emmitt Smith gave some form of defense of Vick's dogfighting - based on cultural differences (ie: it should be considered okay because culturally, he grew up around it in the South).

Whoopi Goldberg engaged in the same defense just a couple of weeks ago. She said, "He's from the South, from the Deep South ... This is part of his cultural upbringing. For a lot of people, dogs are sport. Instead of just saying (Vick) is a beast and he's a monster, this is a kid who comes from a culture where this is not questioned."

Boy, that's just lovely. I can't wait for the next Ku Klux Klan member who gets charged with murder and hate crimes to start talking about hating non-whites as part of his/her "cultural upbringing," and warning us to not call him/her a monster because he/she comes from a culture where that just isn't questioned.

If Vick were picked up for snorting or dealing cocaine, would she have claimed the same "cultural" defense because he came from a poor black community where drug dealing and use is part of the "culture"? Of course not. Because it's commonly understood that the act is illegal.

And let's face it - if he didn't know it was illegal, why go through great pains to create a set-up where he can at least try to deny involvement?

Let's face it Whoopi, your "cultural" defense is indefensible.

Worth the read...

There has been a lot of blasting here, and on a number of other blogs, newspapers, and media-outlets of ESPN for their recent sycophantic coverage of the home-run chase - most, if not all of it, justifiable. However, let it not be said that I didn't recognize them when they actually post an article or two that takes cheaters to task. They're decent reads.

It got me thinking though. Particularly this paragraph towards the end of the first of the two articles -

And now when I look at the innocent face of my 5-month-old daughter, I want
sports to help her dream, too. I don't want her to see the greatest home run
hitter in baseball history and question whether he was a cheat. I'd rather she
not watch a suspiciously officiated NBA playoff game and instantly think the fix
is on. And God forbid she look at any future female sports stars and just throw
her hands up because she doesn't have their chemist.

That passage could easily apply to me and my 5-year-old daughter or my soon to be born daughter (at least that's what the ultrasound tech told us it was going to be).

It's getting hard to look at professional sports...any professional sports these days and not wonder.

There are golfers talking openly about the need for steroid testing in golf. Golf! That's ridiculous.

In cycling, Lance Armstrong - the poster boy for overcoming adversity - is constantly fighting allegations of doping, even into retirement. Some of the allegations coming from former teammates with nothing to gain by coming forward. I won't even go into Floyd Landis.

I've discussed the issues with baseball at length.

How many football players have failed drug tests this summer and are facing four game suspensions to start the season? Right now, I'm thinking around four.

I don't even follow auto racing, but I feel like I'm constantly hearing about some driver or other who's being docked points for rules violations.

Track and field? I competed in high school and college. It pains me that every time the sport makes the headlines it seems that it is because one of its biggest stars was caught doping. And those that weren't nailed decisively (Marion Jones), have consciously put themselves into doubt by surrounding themselves with coaches and trainers who have been busted as suppliers of performance enhancers.

Like Wayne Drehs at ESPN, I want my daughters to be able to look up to athletes. I want them to understand they have options - that they have the option to pursue athletic excellence on a level playing field, that a woman can be strong and athletic and not have to sacrifice anything but the time on the practice field to be that way.

Right now, my only answer can be to my daughters, should they come to me for advice in regards to performance enhancing drugs is, "you just need to work harder." Sadly, the chemists have been working smarter.

Matthews Speaks...

Rolls over, and possibly plays dead apparently only on the advice of his lawyers.

Mattews yesterday finally came clean, sort of, with the general public, issuing a denial in the use of hGH to boost his on field performance. According to an AP report, the Angels issued a four paragraph release to the press that said the following:

"I have never taken hGH -- during the 2004 season or any other time. Nobody
has accused me of doing so, and no law enforcement authority has said I am a
target of any investigation for doing so.
"Before saying anything publicly I wanted to make absolutely sure of my
ground. In particular, I needed to try to learn whether anybody in authority --
in or out of baseball -- felt they had reason to accuse me of anything with
regard to hGH. If they did, I would have to deal with that. It has taken me, and
those representing me, 16 days to make certain that's not the case. And that is
why it has taken longer than I would have preferred to make a public
statement."

That statement comes approximately a week-and-a-half after the following from Matthews' lawyer, Robert Shapiro (of OJ Simpson fame):

"Gary wishes to cooperate with Major League Baseball, the Los Angeles Angels and
any other investigative agency that may look into this matter. He is eager to
tell his side of the story and looks forward to providing a statement once all
investigations into the matter have been completed.
"However, it is my long
standing policy not to allow clients to comment while an investigation is
ongoing. To do so would be inappropriate and I believe irresponsible."

Now, I will admit to being no lawyer, but these statements ring hollow and leave a whole series of other questions, but precious few answers. Let's cover some of them:

• If Matthews indeed never used hGH, then why wait 16 days to deny use?
• Why did he need to know if someone in baseball was going to accuse him of use before he could deny use?
• Sure, the investigation both he and his lawyer cite - but if he's clean, why did he need to wait?
• Couldn't he have issued a statement when first linked to the pharmacy records denying use and stating that he was sure his name would be cleared? I'm guessing not, or he would have done so. More on that below.
• If he was waiting on the results of this so called investigation to exonerate him, why not release the findings of the investigation?
• Why would it have been irresponsible to issue a "not guilty" earlier than this?
• And most importantly, can he address how his name, address and credit card "mistakenly" ended up in the database of a distributor of the drug along with an order attributed to him?

It doesn't take Sherlock Holmes (or John Holmes for that matter) to deduce the following - the investigation was solely to establish that, beyond his enhanced numbers last season, there would be no way to link his order with him actually taking the hormones. Once they established that a potential break in the chain of evidence existed that would allow him his denial without the possibility of a "Palmiero" coming back to bite him in the ass, then - and only then - Shapiro told him to issue his denial.

Unfortunately he still left the question of how he got into that business' customer database, and really avoids answering the question of why the denial took so long. Personally, I don't buy what he and his lawyer are selling.

Interesting things are afoot at the Circle K...or over at the Razor...

According to a report in today's Boston Herald, Troy Brown is thinking about returning for a 15th season. It poses some questions since Brown has previously said he doesn't see him finishing his career anywhere else, but the Patriots are suddenly rich at wide receiver with the signings of Kelley Washington, Donte Stallworth, Wes "I'm Troy but younger" Welker, and hold-overs that include Reche Caldwell, Jabari Gaffney and Chad Jackson (currently recovering from knee surgery).

It's possible that Jackson will be on IR this upcoming season due to the tear in his ligament which is supposed to take 8 to 12 months to heal (the surgery was in February, so the earliest he will be running is likely to be August, and he probably won't be ready for hitting until the end of September - and that's if he recovers quickly).

Does Brown get resigned as a receiver low on the depth chart? Does he get resigned as a nickel-back? Does he still have enough in the tank to beat out any of the five healthy receivers that the team has under contract - all of whom are younger than him?

I would like to see him go out on his own terms, and go out as a Patriot - but with the current roster, is that really possible? I don't know.

Check out Bitterfans

For a more in depth piece I wrote on pro-athletes juicing to compete.

Sports Juice and Classic Video Games in the News Again

Well, this week we saw a federal drug bust in the on-going investigation into the distribution of illegal performance enhancing drugs. In the wake of this week's bust in the Deep South, several names have come up - Evander Holyfield, The Pittsburgh Steelers, and former journeyman outfielder Gary Matthews, Jr., who coincidentally had a career year last year...at the suspect age of 32.

Somehow I'm less than concerned about the use of human growth hormone in boxing. The sport stopped being interesting sometime ago - but that's a whole separate rant.

The Steelers ownership right now is doing their best to distance themselves from a long-time team physician that was on the customer list of the pharmacy busted as a distribution center for the illegal substance (like steroids, HGH is only legal to possess for valid medical reasons and requires a prescription).

But the interesting one here is Matthews, who, of course, is denying any wrong doing and publicly questioning how his name made it onto the customer list. Until last year Matthews never batted higher than .276, but at 32 years old he hit .313 - almost forty points above his career high, and over sixty points higher than what his career average was before the start of last season (from 1999 to 2005 Matthews was a career .248 hitter).

I invite you to draw your own conclusions, I already know what I think.

On a related note, Game of Shadows was just issued in paperback with a new section detailing Bonds growth since joining the Giants. According to the book, based on information from the Giants (part of the reason to be nicer to the clubhouse workers than Bonds has ever been) the man's shoe size has increased from 10.5 to 13 and hat size has increased from 7 1/8 to 7 1/4. So his feet grew two and a half sizes and head by an eighth of an inch, or one hat size.

I don't know about anybody else out there, but I'm on the verge of turning 37 and I've had the same hat and shoe size for 20 years. Don't even try to tell me it's because he got bigger as he got older - I weighed 142 when I was 16. I'm 180 now. Foot and hat sizes just don't change unless you're altering body chemistry - that's not circumstantial - it's fact. You don't believe that - talk to a doctor.

Bonds apologists can continue to deny Bonds's use of performance enhancers all they like, but they should consider this one immutable fact (and this goes for the same people that defend Mark McGwire). Since the publication of Game of Shadows (and Jose Canseco's Juiced), not a single fact, not a single accusation has been challenged in a court of law. There was sabre rattling when the books hit, but no one - Not Bonds, Not McGwire, Not Palmiero, not anyone else named or implicated in these books has filed libel suits against the authors. Bonds attorney challenged (unsuccessfully) the rights of the writers to publish grand jury testimony, but never once challenged the allegations.

I don't know about anyone else out there, but if I was a pro athlete and authors were writing that I was cheating...I'd have them in a courtroom before the publisher hit the first full week of sales. Think what you want - but the lack of any attempt to recoup damages is pretty damning.

Number 9, Number 9, Number 9...

No, I'm not talking Beatles, I'm talking Pacman. On Wednesday the Tennessean, and later on SI.com, reported that Pacman Jones is now facing obstruction charges in Georgia from an incident from last year. Right now Marvin Lewis has to be breathing a sigh of relief that there's actually someone on another team that makes Chris Henry appear to be a model citizen.

I don't know for sure that this makes a ninth incident (according to the report there have been 10 run-ins with the police which includes four arrests), or if this was reported on as one of his eight since entering the NFL, but I do know that we're looking at Lawrence Phillips territory here. Phillips, for those who don't recall, was a talented athlete with enough off-field problems that the Rams, who drafted him, kept him on a short leash before cutting him.

In a three season career (1996, 97, and 99) Phillips was cut during his second season due to his issues. He played his most in his rookie year, playing in 15 games, then was cut by St. Louis after 10 games in 1997. Was subsequently signed by Miami and was cut after two games. No one touched him in 98. In an effort to restore his image and get one more shot he played for the Barcelona Dragons in NFLE. San Francisco gave him that shot but he appeared in only eight games for the team by the Bay.

In subsequent years he spent time playing for teams in Canada, but was cut by both for insubordination.

The nature of his off-field transgressions? Multiple run ins with the law for assaulting women (including domestic abuse charges) and sometimes children. His fate? He's facing 20 years in prison after his 2006 conviction on seven counts of assault with a deadly weapon.

It's hard not to see Adam Jones heading for the same fate.