Thursday, April 30, 2009

Baseball and steroids....

So what does Alex Rodriguez do now? Now he has had a Sports Illustrated writer on his jock for the past few months trying to take him down by reporting now that he did engage in the use of performance enhancing drugs in high school. One of Rodriguez' ex-teammates from high school said that he gained 25 lbs. and gained 2oo lbs. on his bench press between his sophomore and junior years. Supposedly the entire team and the manager allegedly knew that Rodriguez was using. It sounds like Rodriguez was trying to maximize his abilities at a time when a lot of players were doing the same. I'm not condoning his actions but there weren't any policies in place concerning the use of steroids. All A-Rod is saying now is that he wants to do what God put him on this earth to do and that is play baseball. He is not commenting on the latest stories about him.

What about the pitch tipping that allegedly took place in lopsided games while Rodriguez was in Texas? If this allegation is true, then Rodriguez has no respect for the game. I personally can live with his steroid use and not blink when mentioning him among the all-time greats of the game, but if he was telling the other team what pitch was coming in exchange for the favor in return then I will lose all respect for Alex Rodriguez as a person. You simply do not do that to your team sabotaging them for the sake of your own personal statistics.

This Selena Roberts character from SI will not go away. I believe that she is trying to make her career blossom on the bad decisions of a very visible athlete. Roberts is capitalizing on Rodriguez while other known users get away. Mark McGwire fell of the face of the earth. Rafael Palmeiro will be embarrassed the rest of his life for the clown he made himself out to be in front of Congress. Sammy Sosa forgot how to speak english in front of Congress as well. Just remember Sammy, baseball has been very, very good to you!! Barry Bonds is about to crucified for his alleged steroid use. I can't wait until this is all over and steroids no longer are a big-ticket story. Granted it was a dark age in baseball but we all need to accept it and move on. It seems like the game is cleaning up. Lets quit beating a dead horse.

Heath? Again? Why?

Heath Bell followed up a save with some very eye-opening comments. To his credit, Bell has apologized to all parties involved. Granted he may have been emotionally fired up after getting his league-leading 8th save at the Rockies, but as a professional you do not open yourself up to scrutiny by calling out your colleagues. Bell stated, in short, that Rockies relief pitcher Huston Street was not "closer" material and that Kyle Farnsworth has fear in his eyes when he pitches despite his great stuff. Bell then went on to state that he is "closer" material and that he does have it in him. I was unaware of these comments so when I heard them on 1090 AM today I was shocked.

Heath Bell was a set-up man last year for Trevor Hoffman, the greatest closer of all-time. Now he has been blessed with a chance to close for a sub-par team and has done a nice job so far. I believe that Heath needs to eat a piece of humble pie and take a step back and realize what he had said. He is not yet an established closer and has not earned the respect of his peers as a legitimate stopper. The early success may have gone to his head a little but the game of baseball has a funny way of humbling players. I just hope that he does not hit too rough of a patch making the Padres suffer along with him. Next time someone approaches Heath for a quote, Heath should stick to the cliches and not step on any toes. He hasn't earned his stripes yet...

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Boycott ESPN...

Ever since the Padres' Heath Bell voiced his opinion on the worldwide leader's unashamed tunnel-vision coverage of the "Evil Empire" (Yankees) and "The Nation" (Red Sox), I have noticed how bad it really is. I was watching the previously mentioned channel where Yankees-Tigers and Red Sox-Indians highlights were shown followed by a promo teasing the viewer how they were going to look more into depth both the Yankees poor performance and the Red Sox heating up. It seems like ESPN is in a deep love affair with these two teams and their markets. When will it stop or will it ever? I understand that those two teams have a tremendous following all across the country and that each team is a ratings magnet but for the sake of not losing the rest of MLB's fanbase try toning it down a bit. I am starting to watch MLB Network a lot more where all teams are covered in an unbiased way. Please consider doing the same.
 
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