Welcome back you freak.
Tonight in Baltimore, the New York Yankees will welcome back their "star" slugger Alex Rodriguez to the lineup. Ironically, with a 14-16 record and 5.5 games back of the Toronto Blue Jays, the Yankees need Rodriguez more than ever. At this point with the rotation, bullpen, and lineup struggling mightily, New York will put up with the bad publicity magnet that is Arod, if it means he socks a few dingers. And I am sure the rest of the Yankees Universe feels the same way. We will put up with the Madonna-loving, steroid-taking, pitch-tipping, bitch-titting mental midget, if he hits with runner's in scoring position. Also, with Rodriguez in the lineup, it will take some pressure off Mark Teixeira. Who, it's look like, has just as fragile a psyche as Arod. He can barely handle the smattering of boo's from a half-empty Yankee Stadium, imagine if he were back at the old park. He would be taken off the field in a straitjacket muttering, "All boo's and no hits make Marky a dull boy".
Who'd a thunk it? Arod a potential savior? Well, we'll see.
Manny being like everyone else
Major League Baseball announced earlier today that Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder, Manny Ramirez tested positive for a banned substance and will serve a 50-game suspension effective immediately. There is still speculation as to whether the substance was specifically a steroid or just a banned substance. Ramirez and his agent Scott Boras contend it was a medication that was prescribed by a doctor. Here is the statement from Manny Ramirez:
"Recently I saw a physician for a personal health issue. He gave me a medication, not a steroid, which he thought was OK to give me. Unfortunately, the medication was banned under our drug policy. Under the policy that mistake is now my responsibility. I have been advised not to say anything more for now. I do want to say one other thing; I've taken and passed about 15 drug tests over the past five seasons. I want to apologize to Mr. McCourt, Mrs. McCourt, Mr. Torre, my teammates, the Dodger organization, and to the Dodger fans. LA is a special place to me and I know everybody is disappointed. So am I. I'm sorry about this whole situation."
The 50-game suspension will cost him $7.7 million, which is roughly 30% of his base salary. The suspension with also cost the Dodgers their best hitter and biggest attraction.
Yawn. Wake me up when a star player DOESN'T test positive for a substance. Putting aside the fact that I predicted this (see last line), this story is far from shocking. If this is some odd attempt by Ramirez to get back in the news, he's a little late. That ship sailed months ago. The baseball-loving public has gone threw this, it seems dozens of times before. Sammy Sosa, Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Rafeal Palmeiro, Eric Gagne, Gary Sheffield, Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, Jason Giambi, Alex Rodriguez and many more. It's getting boring. I'm bored now. If anyone is shocked by this, they need to get themselves out from beneath the covers and get their head checked.
I am at the point when I believe that in the era between 1992 and now, every single player was on something. Steroids, performance enhancing drugs, amphetamines, creatine, insulin, glycogen, shark urine, horse ejaculate, pot, coke, speed, heroine, speed, uppers, downers, fixers, the blue pill, something. The era was saturated with players who stopped at nothing to gain some sort of an edge. And who can blame them? There was no test for anything and players were essentially held to the honor system. The bigger question is: Have we reached the end of the steroid era or are we in the middle of something that will never stop? This Manny "shocker" begs to the latter.
Whether or not this substance was prescribed or not, whether it was a steroid or not, whether it was banned substance or not is irrelevant. Ramirez was caught cheating in the eyes of Major League Baseball and the public, even after he saw scores of his fellow players who did the same ridiculed, humiliated, and ostracized by the media. Let's say it comes out that Manny was telling the truth. That this substance really was prescribed by a doctor. How does he not double-check with the union before physically taking it? Maybe he thought "I have taken lots of drugs to help myself heal over the years. I don't need to check." If that is the case, does this banned substance list cover nearly as much as it should? Or are baseball's attempts to rid the sport of drug use futile? Ramirez didn't even THINK about consulting with the player's association. It didn't even cross his mind. If he were in inject/ingest/swallow anything without thinking about the consequences, what else has he been taking? Not only that, who else has been doing it? There are thousands of "performance enhancing substances" that are not on the banned substance list. With the laissez-faire attitude at which Manny Ramirez took this mystery substance, who is to say the rest of the league is not doing the same? It doesn't matter though. We as a society have become numb to BREAKING NEWS stories about athletes who use performance enhancing drugs. At first, we would be shocked and devastated by the news. We would question their motives, their integrity, and their Hall of Fame status. The story would last for days, even months. The actual sport would take a back seat. Now, I am changing the channel right after I hear, "Big story. The player who tested positive for...". Click. I have better things to worry about. If this is what sports is going to become, a freak show with a bunch of amoral, egotistical, athletic juice-heads; so be it. I used to care about these steroid stories. Not anymore. If you want to inject yourself in the testicles with grizzly bear sweat before pitching game seven, knock yourself out.
Who's next?
By the way, A.J. Daulerio and Deadspin should have an increased credit score.
The dam is starting to crack
With Alex Rodriguez only a few weeks away from returning to the Yankees, more allegations are beginning to come out about him. In her new book, which is set to be released in May, Sports Illustrated writer Selena Roberts alleges that the third basemen did not stop using steroids when he came to the Yankees and he might have been using as far back as high school, the Daily News reports. Among the other details in the book include:
Yankees teammates nicknamed Rodriguez "B--CH T--S" ("Man boobs" for the layperson) in 2005 because he put on 15 pounds in the offseason which resulted in womanly pectorals, a condition called gynecomastia.
Rodriguez tipped pitches to opponents during blowouts when he was playing for Texas. He hoped players would recriprocate when he was having an off night and needed to get his average up.
He had a poker habit, which was detailed in his divorce proceedings. Also included was his affair with Madonna and others.
Rodriguez was hated at Hooters, where he routinely tipped the minimum 15 percent.
If anyone is suprised by any of this, please raise your right hand. Nobody? I thought so. I mean honestly, at this point, there are only a handful of things that could come out about Alex Rodriguez that would be a shocker. 1. If he killed someone. 2. If he got a sex change (Well, now that I think about it.). 3. If he died. I think that's where the list ends. Of all the things listed here, the only thing I am mildly suprised about is his tipping of pitches to opponents. Because of that was the case, you would think he would get caught by a teammate and called out. My only theory is that either his teammates did not care, or that everyone was doing it.
Speaking about his high school steroid use, that sounds about right. Coming out of high school he was regarded as the greatest prospect in the history of the sport. Coupled with his daddy issues, arrogance, and constant need for the approval of others, im suprised he didn't start using in middle school. Everyone saw this coming. You, me, the Yankees, baseball fans, your grandmother, everyone.
So what the heck is going to happen when he comes back to the Yankees? My guess is, probably not much. He will be bombarded with questions, asked about further steroid use, not tipping at Hooters (Even I tip 25%), bitch tits, and what not. And since he already when through this charade during that apology press conference, he will think he is done with this and say "No comment" or "Next question".
Rodriguez returns to the mess he made in two weeks. He will eventually have to address his steroid use, his broken family, his muscular women fetish, all while holding together the Yankees offense. I have said it before, only nine more years of this. Who knows what else will come out?
Big East Tournament Underway
I would have liked to post my predictions for the tournament prior to the first game, but I have too much other work going on. I have to write an enormous paper for my International Sport Management class. The topic is of our own choosing, and I chose the effects of doping on the Tour de France. I decided on that because of the amount of research already done on that topic. And after doing some research of my own, I have come to the conclusion that the French are literally "fanatical" about Le Tour. France is largely a secular country and most French men and women are highly cynical. However, if you brought up the Le Tour they wouldn't stop blushing or sighing. And they do not seem to mind about the use of performance-enhancing substances in the sport. That is unless, you are talking about Lance Armstrong. For over a hundred and five years, the race as been riddled with cyclists who have taken just about every type of PED to gain a competitive advantage. However, ever since the period between 1999-2005, the are up in arms about how the Americans are ruining their precious race. I will admit it though, it is only a matter of time before something huge comes out regarding Lance Armstrong. There are too many instances where he has been indirectly connected with PEDs. But the French need to relax. Back in the early years of the tour, riders would chug bottles of wine while riding. Since then, nothing has changed but technology. These competitors will stop at nothing to shift a physical favor in their direction. Where was I...
DePaul defeats Cincinnati in Big East Tournament
I am going out on a limb here and guessing that no one saw this game on television. Because no one has the Big East Network. However, being the sports nerd that I am, I watched the game on www.bigeast.org. Currently, they are showing the Georgetown v. St. Johns game. But if you didn't follow the Big East this year, the DePaul win was a fairly large upset. For the entire season, DePaul did not win one conference game (o-18) and were the #16 seed in the tournament. By soundly defeating the Bearcats, they set themselves up nicely to get destroyed by Providence tomorrow.
Drug items link Clemens to McNamee
Hey! Remember this story? It's frightening to think that this was only a year ago. Only a year removed from Clemens accusing Andy Pettitte of "misremembering" the past, or that wierd audio tape of the Clemens/McNamee phone call. It is hard to believe that Roger Clemens will most certainly not be inducted into the Hall of Fame. I think the voters are not worried about the actual "cheating" aspect of his career, they are just sparing everyone from an awkward induction speech. Players like Bonds, Clemens, McGwire, and Sosa have been ripped to shreds in the media, if they were ever finally voted into the Hall, would they even make a speech? I sure hope they would.
A player who probably should be under suspicion for steroid use: Part 1
Now that Alex Rodriguez has officially come out of the closet (so to speak) in regards to taking performance enhancing drugs, I believe it's safe to say that we should and will suspect EVERY player when their stats look a little "iffy". In no way am I accusing any player of taking PEDs, but I think we should take a closer look at a players performance when suspicion is warranted. Whether it be because of spikes in their numbers or an unexplained resurgence late in their career. That being said, here's the player:
Greg Vaughn. You remember him right? He played in the majors between the years of 1989 and 2003 for the Milwaukee Brewers, San Diego Padres, Cincinnati Reds, Tampa Bay Rays, and Colorado Rockies. In that time he amassed 355 homeruns, 1475 hits, and 1072 RBI's. I bring up Greg's name because of his phenomenal 1998 season in which he hit 50 homeruns and 119 RBI's. Prior to 1998, Vaughn had been playing in the majors for nine seasons and his career high in homeruns and RBIs were 31 and 98, respectively. In 1998, in increased his career high in total bases by 68 (342).
Obviously, you can credit his resurgence simply by having a terrific year where the winds were with him, the balls rolled his way, and he honestly worked out more effectively and efficiently. But we are at a crossroads as fans. Are we to believe these players to be honest, hardworking, righteous individuals who shouldn't be under our suspicion if they never tested positive for a banned substance? Or should we suspect every player who performs at an abnormal level now that we know that no one is beyond temptation. Personally, I don't believe Greg Vaughn took PEDs at any time during his career. I think he was a terrific player who outperformed his own abilities in 1998 to lead his team to the World Series against the Yankees. But what Alex Rodriguez did last week was take away our innocence as fans. Now, no one is beyond suspicion.
Next up: Jeff Franceour
What Now?
What now, you ask? We move on. What else can we do? For us fans, we can't just give up on a sport altogether. But honestly, this can't possibly be a shock to anyone. We all liked to think that he was different. For all his emotional, psychological, personal, and sexual (Madonna) problems, we still thought he was clean. That all his homeruns that never seemed to land were just the product of divine talent and a historical work ethic. Are we nuts?
From what we know about Rodriguez, the most prevalent of those is that he is insanely insecure and obsessed with his numbers. Of course he took something. If he knew that players were doing drugs to gain an edge, the needle would be in his ass before his pants hit the floor. No one can gain an edge on Arod!
So he admitted to taking steroids from 2001-2003, and that's it. I don't believe it for a second. He stated that he felt an enourmous amount of pressure to perform when he was given that $252 million dollar contract from the Texas Rangers, so he decided to use steroids. Then in 2003, he realized the error of his ways and stopped. He never used again, he says. I don't believe it. For a man as insecure and paranoid about his legacy, why on Earth would he stop using when he was traded to the New York Yankees? If he feels pressured to use while performing in front of 19 fans in the middle of July, how can he just stop using when being traded to a team with a stadium that literally shakes when a homerun is hit. That's pressure. But according to him, he never used as a Yankee.
I asked a couple weeks ago for baseball to hurry up. Winter's dragging on. But now, it can take its time. There's no rush. Because there are still 103 names on that list from 2003 that will get out no matter what happens. Confidentiality? Out the window. Those names will be scrolling along the bottom of ESPN come hell or high water. And when that day comes, we will be shocked and appalled at the names. When we shouldn't be. As much as we revere and adore our athletes for their physical abilities; mentally, they're as weak as toddlers. Most of them are arrogant and selfish and will do anything or take anything for an edge.
I love baseball. But my love for it took another jab to the midsection yesterday. I feel like a battered wife. As much as baseball hits me, I'll come crawling back on my knees saying "It's changed. It's doing it because it loves me."
I was born in 1987, the beginning of the steroid era. This is basically all I know. I can't leave now.
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