Cave Ins and Steriods
Another day another Democratic party cave in.
Dear Lord just what was the point here? Other than some kabuki dancing before the bills get passed things are the same as they were before the 2006 election W does whatever he wants and get whatever he wants.
Meantime the Mitchell report on the use of steroids in baseball and by all accounts is a pretty damning document showing a persuasive use of performance enhancing drugs by the players with the owners putting their fingers in their ears and going “La la la I can’t hear you”
The actual report will not be released until 2 pm but the names being named are flying around the internet. Not too many Mets that I can see (I won’t name the names cause it’s not confirmed – I have some standards) which may explain why they didn’t play so well.
Still this is a huge black eye for the game – which at least isn’t dealing with guys with dog fighting rings but still it’s gonna make things bad.
Most bad for the rest of the players who didn’t - cause there will now always be that suspicion that will be there when someone’s having a good year – or had one that maybe he was just better at hiding that he was on the juice than these guys – (some of whom are mentioned in the report apparently paid for their steroids by check – guys when you are buying illegal drugs cash only! What the hell is happening to this country?)
This reminds me, somehow of an interview from a great baseball book – The Glory of Their Times by Lawrence Ritter – which you should read if you haven’t – What Ritter did back in the 60’s grab a tape recorder and talk to as many of the old time ball players that were still around (from the 1900-1920 dead ball era with some others) and just let them tell their stories. The result is just a marvelous picture of a time and an era long gone.
(Side note everybody loved Christy Matthewson and hated Ty Cobb – like big woop).
But to the point – all during that era gambling was slowly starting to eat the game from the inside (esp in the late teens) culminating in the 1919 black sox scandal.
Anyway while it’s common (hell even I do it)– especially after field of dreams - to cast Shoeless Joe Jackson as the tragic victim of the scandal – I still remember the interview with Heinie Groh (that’s him with the weird bat – he choked up on it and slapped balls around with it) who insisted that his team the 1919 Reds could have beaten the Black sox even if they didn’t throw the series. Now this was a very successful player – borderline hall of fame even – good hitter and a very good third baseman and this is what burned at him. He got to the series again when he played with the NY Giants in 22-24 even was on a winning team. But 1919 is what burned him as he was looking back.
And he was luckier than some for example his team mate hall of famer Ed Roush – his only time in the big dance was 1919.
So anyway while there will be plenty of excuses and well everybody else was doing it stuff flying around soon – and while I can feel for these players on some level I mean my god this is only a game in the end – their sad legacy will be that all the feats of this era will be darkened by steroid use and even the clean players will not be untouched.
Meantime it’s snowing out and the NY weather press is going mad – they haven’t had a winter storm watch in a while so they have forgotten how to be adults I think. It’s just a storm people it’s almost winter we have them from time to time.
Anyway later folks are waving papers at me and making strange gibbering noises.
Peace Love bottle bat
Dear Lord just what was the point here? Other than some kabuki dancing before the bills get passed things are the same as they were before the 2006 election W does whatever he wants and get whatever he wants.
Meantime the Mitchell report on the use of steroids in baseball and by all accounts is a pretty damning document showing a persuasive use of performance enhancing drugs by the players with the owners putting their fingers in their ears and going “La la la I can’t hear you”
The actual report will not be released until 2 pm but the names being named are flying around the internet. Not too many Mets that I can see (I won’t name the names cause it’s not confirmed – I have some standards) which may explain why they didn’t play so well.
Still this is a huge black eye for the game – which at least isn’t dealing with guys with dog fighting rings but still it’s gonna make things bad.
Most bad for the rest of the players who didn’t - cause there will now always be that suspicion that will be there when someone’s having a good year – or had one that maybe he was just better at hiding that he was on the juice than these guys – (some of whom are mentioned in the report apparently paid for their steroids by check – guys when you are buying illegal drugs cash only! What the hell is happening to this country?)
This reminds me, somehow of an interview from a great baseball book – The Glory of Their Times by Lawrence Ritter – which you should read if you haven’t – What Ritter did back in the 60’s grab a tape recorder and talk to as many of the old time ball players that were still around (from the 1900-1920 dead ball era with some others) and just let them tell their stories. The result is just a marvelous picture of a time and an era long gone.
(Side note everybody loved Christy Matthewson and hated Ty Cobb – like big woop).
But to the point – all during that era gambling was slowly starting to eat the game from the inside (esp in the late teens) culminating in the 1919 black sox scandal.
Anyway while it’s common (hell even I do it)– especially after field of dreams - to cast Shoeless Joe Jackson as the tragic victim of the scandal – I still remember the interview with Heinie Groh (that’s him with the weird bat – he choked up on it and slapped balls around with it) who insisted that his team the 1919 Reds could have beaten the Black sox even if they didn’t throw the series. Now this was a very successful player – borderline hall of fame even – good hitter and a very good third baseman and this is what burned at him. He got to the series again when he played with the NY Giants in 22-24 even was on a winning team. But 1919 is what burned him as he was looking back.
And he was luckier than some for example his team mate hall of famer Ed Roush – his only time in the big dance was 1919.
So anyway while there will be plenty of excuses and well everybody else was doing it stuff flying around soon – and while I can feel for these players on some level I mean my god this is only a game in the end – their sad legacy will be that all the feats of this era will be darkened by steroid use and even the clean players will not be untouched.
Meantime it’s snowing out and the NY weather press is going mad – they haven’t had a winter storm watch in a while so they have forgotten how to be adults I think. It’s just a storm people it’s almost winter we have them from time to time.
Anyway later folks are waving papers at me and making strange gibbering noises.
Peace Love bottle bat
posted by Unknown at 10:04 AM
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