That sound you hear coming from Milwaukee is Bud Selig patting himself on the back.
Major League Baseball just passed the “toughest steroid policy in professional sports.” Yippee. Excuse me while I do somersaults. “It was an integrity issue,” Selig said Thursday. “The integrity of the sport, the integrity of everyone involved, including the commissioner. I really felt that very deeply.” Excellent. Now I need to vomit.
I guarantee you, Selig is not the main villain in the ridiculous drug party that baseball has become in the last 20 years. That role is reserved for Players Association president Donald “Satan” Fehr. But please stop self-congratulating, will you, Bud? I’m the first to criticize ESPN for being a network of bogus corporate vultures generating hype, but ESPN.com (along with ESPN The Magazine) took an incredibly thoughtful and in-depth look at who knew what about growth. of steroids in baseball, and I believed it. And everyone knew it. How Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds and Ivan Rodriguez and Jeff Bagwell and Jason Giambi and Rafael Palmeiro and Jose Canseco and Gary Sheffield and Juan Gonzalez and Bret Boone “saved” baseball by posting huge offensive numbers after the Series was canceled 1994 World Cup, all of them (supposedly!) turned into meat pillows through chemistry, and everyone knew it. General Managers Proprietary Officers. managers Other players. doctors The commissioner. And everyone turned the other way, because he made the game billions of dollars.
Selig jumping around and criticizing the new drug policy sounds a lot like McGwire sitting in front of Congress and saying, “I’m not here to talk about the past.” Of course, none of them want to talk about the past. Because if they did, they would be subject to class action lawsuits from the millions of duped fans who believed they should pay thousands of dollars for seats to the 1998 Cardinals and Cubs games. And they would all have their names expunged from the record book. And they, you know, would go to jail.
So shut up, Bud. This is not a happy day.
Are the Philadelphia Eagles fully cooked?
Rob Gillespie, BoDog.com: Yeah. McNabb proved TO right with that poor call last night and Andy Reid should have taken him out instead of sacrificing the penultimate series. They have four wins and two of them came against struggling teams this year (SF and Oakland), and another required a miraculous comeback from locked FG. They have the Giants twice, Seattle and Washington on the horizon. Green Bay also appears to be playing better and St Louis is on the mend. That leaves just one easy game on the schedule. Start planning for next year, guys, and get McNabb healthy.
Bob Aggarwal, Pro Handicappers League: This club is fried. They’ll win a few games (at home to Green Bay in Week 12 and a road contest at Arizona in Week 16), but that’s about it. Not only do they have no McNabb or TO, but questions about LJ Smith’s health aren’t helping this offense either.
What is your opinion on the TO situation? Do you expect him to surface with another team this year? If so, who?
BA, Pro Handicappers League: Hard to say if anyone will want him. I know he wouldn’t, and there aren’t many teams in the NFL that would want to carry that baggage. I see him getting dressed, but not until next year. Get ready for another summer of This and That.
RG, BoDog.com: Some random thoughts: (a) The Eagles shouldn’t be surprised it came to this. TO was an irrepressible mouth in SF, and paying him more wasn’t going to keep him quiet; (b) his contract is big overall, but there’s no question he was underpaid last year and this year, so the Eagles should have known there were potential problems; (c) Drew Rosenhaus was the gasoline that ignited a situation that was dormant. Without him, TO is still mouthy, but his toes are probably just below the suspension line. (d) They can’t cut it, they need to move it and get some talent and/or picks in return to justify what they’ve done to it. (e) Personally, I was never a fan of TO until last year’s Super Bowl. When I heard that he was defying doctors’ orders to come back and play for a ring, I felt a whole new respect for him as a player. That has evaporated in my mind, and I’m sure in the minds of numerous CEOs or marketing people looking to spend sponsorship dollars. By asking for more money, Owens likely cost himself a lot.
Because I heard a lot from Vince Young last week, I’m going to ask a question again: Does Reggie Bush still win the Heisman?
RG, BoDog.com: Bush had 82 rushing yards and four receiving yards last week, with no touchdowns. He was 113/27/1 the week before and 97/40/0 the week before. Those aren’t Heisman numbers for three games in which his team has a combined 141 points. Too many weapons at USC for any player to be the winner, unless Young has a really bad game and loses to the Aggies or in the Big 12 Championship Game.
BA, Pro Handicappers League: No, I don’t think so. Vince Young has been putting up amazing numbers this year, and to his credit he hasn’t had the offensive help that Reggie Bush has. Young has had most of his success with defenses targeting him alone, while USC has several weapons opposing defenses have had to worry about (LenDale White, Matt Leinhart). That said, I think what Young has done this season is more impressive. It must be considered; I think Young should win the Heisman.
Were there any postseason baseball awards that bothered you?
BA, Pro Handicappers League: In my opinion, Andrew Jones deserved the National League MVP. The definition of this MVP award really is Most Valuable Player for his team. Pujols had a lot of help throughout the lineup with Edmonds and Rolen (for part of the year), as well as a very solid pitching staff. Jones literally carried his team midway through the year with Chipper Jones out of the lineup and Rafael Furcal also hitting. With a pitching staff that was nothing to write home about and a lineup that really couldn’t protect him (full of rookies and sophomores), Jones managed to put up stellar numbers and lead his team to the postseason. In my opinion, he was the Most Valuable Player in the National League, as the Braves would never have had a successful season without him.
RG, BoDog.com: Not really. I thought they were all more or less as expected and deserved. A Rod vs. Ortiz is probably the most contested, as the numbers were close and Ortiz was more decisive. The argument that A-Rod plays on the field is not so much the factor for me as where he plays. If he was LF or RF, I’d probably vote for Ortiz, but the fact that A-Rod can play SS or 3B, positions where competitors don’t come close to numbers, allows the Yankees to push their offense down the field or in DH. That is the difference for me.
