There seemed to be a split over whether ballplayers who used PEDs, who were accused of using PEDs or who were suspected of using them, belonged in the Hall of Fame. Well, Manny Ramirez has resolved that issue by being blatantly caught using them for the 2nd time in a year. As Mike Lupica says, "It's like he thinks the rules don't apply to him." Now, sportswriters are coming right out and saying that guys like Palmeiro, Bonds, MacGuire, et al, will never get elected. As one writer put it, "You hate to see athletes with so much ability, lose an accolade they probably would have achieved without the cheating." Certainly an understandable attitude, which is why there was so much waffling on the issue. But that reluctance is disappearing. Why? Because Manny crossed that line.
***THE COLLEGE ISSUE*** Drake University staged a little party yesterday. A custard Pie Fight. It was their attempt to get into the Guinness Book of Records by having the worlds largest pie fight. Approximately 700 students participated. So it seems that , "Hey Mom, I made Dean's List!" is being replaced by, "Hey Mom, we made Guinness by throwing pies!" Those parents must be so proud.
Not like the parents of Rutgers University parents, whose sons and daughters spend their hard earned dollars on commencement speakers. Speakers such as Nobel Prize winner, Toni Morrison ($30,000). Oh yeah, and Snooki ($32,000). Snookie? Okay, that's crossing a line.
***THE MEDIA ISSUE***
Oh boy, where to start. How about the boys at Fox Sports (I use the term loosely). Yesterday, Joe Buck turned a boring Yanks-Red Sox game into a poetry reading. If you don't want to be there, Joe, please leave. And take Mr. McCarver with you. Tim simply doesn't have anything interesting to say. After watching all the Yankee games all year, it's difficult at best to listen to national broadcasters, because they bring up things Yankee fans have known for some time, as if they were revelations. Now, they're saying things that are very obvious to everyone, simply because they haven't done their homework. When McCarver tried to tie Boone Logan of the Yanks to former player Bob Boone, simply because of the name Boone, well...he crossed the line.
***LINE? WHAT LINE?***
Media people don't even like each other. This little tidbit from the NY Daily News' Bob Raissman (who, I think, doesn't even like himself): "ESPN...traded in Joe Morgan, a perpetually ill-prepared gasbag for Bobby Valentine, a perpetually full-of-himself windbag." Okay, it's true, but can't we all just get along?
Then there's Steve Phillips, that bastion of truth and justice. His comment: "Thank God for steroids. It brought the game back from extinction." He didn't cross the line, he obliterated it.
***BACK TO SPORTS***
The Yanks won, exhibiting power that has to concern the rest of the league. They're on a pace to hit 350+ homers for the season. Never happen, of course, but it is fun to watch. What isn't fun is watching the starting pitching. Who would have believed at the start of spring training, that AJ Burnett would be the most impressive starter on the team? Sabathia is Okay, Hughes is totally lost, Nova is erratic and we still haven't seen starter #5. Are the Yanks worried? They just signed another retread, Carlos Silva, from the ranks of free agency. Here's a guy getting $12.7 million from the Cubs, who was released even though the Cubs still have to pay him. Sure, it's a free roll of the dice, but doesn't something sound fishy here?
So now the Yanks have Bartolo Colon in the bullpen, waiting to slide into a starting spot, Freddie Garcia, gathering dust on the bench, waiting for Girardi to develop the guts to give him the ball and Kevin Millwood and Carlos Silva in Scranton, pretending to still be major leaguers. No, the Yanks aren't worried, they're just getting a head start on next year's Old Timers game.
CP-
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