Tag Archives: steroids

February 27, 2012

Manny, Steroids, and the NFL Combine

By chappy81

If you didn’t know, Manny packed up his estrogen and brought it to Oakland. The hysteria has swept over Oakland’s Spring Training in Arizona since he arrived Friday morning. I’m not sure if the bearded lady is a sideshow or the main attraction yet, but it’s become clear that the players are having fun with it using Mannyisms in their interviews whenever possible. I’m not sure why some people think it’s a terrible signing when he’s only making a prorated $333K after he serves his 50 game suspension. If he sucks, so what, they can just cut him. If he’s a cancer to the team, let’s face it, they probably aren’t finishing higher than 3rd in the AL West anyways. At the moment, I’d much rather watch Manny strikeout swinging as hard as he can than see someone else tap out on a weak grounder to the pitcher. If I thought the A’s were a contender, then maybe I’d be angry he’s taking atbats away from someone else, but at the moment that’s just a silly thought, so let’s see what the bearded lady can bring to the circus that is Oakland these days! The circus has for a moment taken over whatever the Giants are doing right now, so for a day or two at least Oakland is in the headlines over the Giants…

Lord knows I’ve never cared about players doing steroids, and if I did, I’d probably have to condemn my favorite A’s teams with the bash brothers or even more recent versions with Giambi and Tejada. When I heard about Ryan Braun’s negative test, I didn’t bat an eyelash. When his ruling was overturned, I didn’t bat an eyelash. When I heard Braun’s prepared statement, I felt like it was Rafael Palmiero waving his finger at me again, but didn’t truly care what his message was or what others thought of him. Whether he’s innocent or guilty, it’s obvious something happened that wasn’t right. The whole steroid era is overblown. It’ not like crappy players were all of a sudden good because they took steroids, they may have become average, but never great. The great players might be able to enhance their longevity a little, but who cares. I don’t watch games worried about who is using and who isn’t. I watch it to be entertained, and if PED’s end up being a part of that entertainment so be it. Hell, I don’t even care what message it sends to kids. Call me heartless, but if parents don’t instill to their kids that cheating is wrong, then they’re probably not that good parents to begin with. It comes down to a life choice for each athlete, and it should be their choice since they know the repercussions in the media and on the field.

I never watch the NFL combine (since I try to have a life), I’ve always felt it’s sole purpose was to keep NFL fans entertained with something during the off-season while players are poked and prodded in their underwear. Maybe if they had pads on doing some of the workouts would make more sense to me, but they choose underwear instead. As a Raiders fan during the Al Davis era you always had to look at the numbers coming out of the combine, because whoever had the fastest 40 time or could bench the most would most likely end up on our team at some point. Now that he’s gone and we only have two draft picks, I have zero reason to care what’s happening. The only thing that I really do think matters is their wonder-lick scores. No, I don’t really care if a player gets average or high scores, but I’d stay away from any player that scored low on the test, because it’s made for elemetary school kids. Other than that, look at film and call it good with making your picks.

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March 23, 2011

The Government Needs to Move On….

By chappy81

I’ve tried to avoid watching/paying attention to any of the Bonds perjury case, but low and behold we are subjected to updates regularly on ESPN, so there’s no way to avoid noticing what’s going on with it. I don’t think it really matters what the outcome of the trial is. If he’s convicted eight years after his testimony for what he said he didn’t knowingly do, will that really send a message to the MLB or current players? Proving he was a liar in court and trying to make him the poster boy for the steroid era earns a big, whoopitte-de-do-da since there were so many guys taking PED’s. Many fans are still calling Henry Aaron the home run king whether it was the PED’s or the difference in the way the two men carried themselves. We all know Barry isn’t exactly the perfect human or really that nice of a guy in general, but does the ruling in this trial make any kind of difference? I think we can all agree Barry took some type of PED’s (outside a Giants fan or two), and if he didn’t take steroids, then Jimmer is an All-American defender. If Bonds ends up in jail, would I argue? Doubtful. If he gets off with nothing happening, I can see myself caring to the extent of a serious exhale and shoulder shrug combo. I think the public court of opinion is all that matters to him or baseball fans.His legacy amongst baseball fans and HOF voters is more important than the outcome of this trial, which makes me feel that this is a giant waste of time and money for our court system.

This guy doesn't believe Barry would take PED's!

While watching an update yesterday on how the jury selection was going I couldn’t help but think of an article I read in Rolling Stone Magazine a week or two ago on the financial collapse a few short years ago. The article was talking about the executives for AIG, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, JP Morgan Chase, etc., and how nobody went to jail! I’m far from an expert on what happened during that collapse, but I know that those executives that were pulling in billions of dollars out of their companies for themselves, set our economy back as much as the tsunami/earthquake will in Japan, yet one person (Bernie Madoff) is the only one that went to jail. Here’s the article if you’re interested, it’s a pretty solid idiots guide for the financial collapse for people like myself that didn’t quite understand everything that went down. The executives paid minimal fines for these egregious crimes, and the government bailed them out in the end. How is that justice!?! It’s not, and there never really will be as long as those execs have the money to hand over to people deciding their fate. For some reason instead of the government spending the time and effort to chase down the guys that ruined our economy four years ago, they’ve spent the past eight years forming what sounds like a very beatable perjury case against one of baseball’s most hated super stars. Really boggles the mind…

Bonds may have lied to a grand jury, but you could argue that nearly every other player lied as well in their testimonies, yet they still go after Bonds because nobody likes him. I don’t condone lying in federal court, but it feels like there’s about a million other things they should be worrying about. I’m guessing they  hate the guy like much of America does, so they are trying to prove some lame point. Maybe that’s why they seem care about Clemens as well, because he’s a big name that is a jackass. The Clemens case seems a little more solid than the one against Bonds, after he keeps changing his statements, so why not drop the weak case and carry on with the solid one if your trying to make some kind of example out of a baseball superstar. I guess the theme for this post is caring or not caring in this instance. Why should anyone care as much as the government does about whether Bonds lied or not. Why do we care more about Bonds putting a needle in his ass more than we care about executives tearing apart the country’s economy? Probably because our country as a whole reminds me of a functioning addict.

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April 1, 2010

McGwire Ruins Another Sluggers Career

By chappy81

It was reported the Mark McGwire sold PED’s to Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols today. McGwire’s admission over the offseason was only a front, so he could openly sell them to players.

Big Mac stated, “He just had shoulder surgery, and I wanted to help him make sure he was healthy when the season started. You know just like how I used them, only to get healthy faster when I was hurt.”

Fairly shocking news since Pujols was the last hope we had of a big slugger not using steroids in the steroid era. Tony Larussa claimed he didn’t know about the alleged HGH hook up, and admitted that he already was regretting letting Mark be their hitting instructor. Larussa thought the clubhouse was clean, and that Mark would be an advocate of getting rid of steroids opposed to bringing them in. Continue reading

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September 3, 2009

Is the Kid Going to Ride Off into the Sunset?

By chappy81

Ken Griffey Jr. Ichiro Suzuki laugh

If this ends up being the final season for the Kid, it will be the same way many stars end their careers, on the down slide. Junior returned to Seattle in hopes of regaining that effortless swing that bashed back to back 56 home run seasons in 97 and 98, and consistently played gold glove defense robbing homers regularly, but that wasn’t meant to be in this chapter of his career.The Kid Ken Griffey Jr. Junior is hitting .221 with 14 homers and 43 RBI’s in his return season to the great northwest. His smile is still the same, and his body looks relatively the same, except maybe a extra spare tire around his gut that he didn’t have in his first tour with Seattle. He was my favorite non-A’s player growing up, and you couldn’t ask for a better role model. He showed us how dominating a game can be made to look easy from defense to that perfectly smooth swing.

If this is in fact his final season, why isn’t there more chatter about him? I find it odder than Rafael Nadal’s freakishly smaller right arm that Griffey, one of baseball’s golden boys in the steroid era, isn’t being paraded around like a hero during his last tour of duty. He is Pujols clean from a PED standpoint, so shouldn’t the MLB be kicking up a mini campaign to celebrate his career as it comes to a close. It’s not like he’s going to be like Barry Bonds, and be able to play three more seasons averaging 45 home runs a season. Which is a shame since we all were so sure he’d be past the all time and season home run records by now.Ken Griffey Jr I wouldn’t blame him if he wanted to continue to play as all stars like to hang on, unless you’re weird like Barry Sanders. His return to Seattle mirrored many stars that are past their prime trying to hang on. It may not have looked good numbers wise for The Kid this year, but Steve Kelley of the Seattle Times really believes his time there this year has been worthwhile. It’s good to see a player end their career where it started, even if he never had the chance to play in a world series. He’s going out like Hank Aaron going back to Milwakee and Willie Mays going back to New York. He is undeniably a first ballot hall of famer with his 625 home runs (and counting). It’s a shame, that not even The Kid can fight off the old age…

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July 30, 2009

Doin Work E-mail debate: Who Else is on the list of 100+ that used PED’s?

By chappy81

Manny Ramierez & David Ortiz

In the wake of the leaked positive test results of Manny Ramierez and David Ortiz back in 2003, there has been unrest on what exactly should happen, and what should happen with the rest of the names on the list. We debated all morning in an e-mail chain that you can decide for yourself what the MLB should do.

Brian: It’s so lame they don’t just release all of the positive test names. The big ones are out there, so why don’t they release the rest of them…

Andre: Apparently Clemens wasn’t on the list, but we all know that Barry Bonds is crapping in his pants every time he hears more names have been leaked.

Tony:If they released, the MLB would be sued immediately by people as well as the players union. Legally they can’t just release because of privacy.

Brian: So who’s getting sued for all of these leaks then? If I was the players union, I’d be going after someone…

Nelson:MLB has not been the ones to officially leak anything, hence why they cannot say, “Here’s the whole list”…. like Tony said, a mess of lawsuits and headaches would come from it.  These names will just continue to trickle out.

Andy:MLB has the rights to this information for they were the ones conducting the test, for the good of baseball they should concede both the players union and MLB with a stipulation that no action will be taken against them.

Tony: The players Union exists for the exactly the opposite to happen. They are there to protect the player across every possible spectrum including players privacy. If a players name on that list isn’t public yet, they will fight to keep it that way.

I do agree it’s pretty much BS at this point however.

Nelson:You guys are all living in a fantasy land….the tests were CONFIDENTIAL.  MLB will never just release the whole list.  It may all get leaked, but you will never see MLB publicize it.

Andy:Nelson your missing the point I am saying what would be best for the game not that this will magically happen.  MLB is just like every other business which at this point is filled with lies, cheats and people covering them up. 

Nelson:What point am I missing?  You guys keep saying what MLB and the players union should be doing.  I’m just saying why it shouldn’t and won’t happen.  It might be best for you to enjoy the game, but it is not best for the business of baseball.

Andy: See I disagree 100% I don’t think bleeding out a list of the course of the next 5 years and constant wondering if your favorite star player took steroids is “best for business”.  Ownership needs to be taken on topic because as the onion slowly get peeled back fans will become more and more discouraged.  Especially in a economic downturn, I mean 1994 people got fed up with high salaries in a recession and it took years to get the fan base back.

Nelson: What I am saying is that opening up the flood gates and saying, “Here’s the whole list, wonder no more” which then opens up the lawsuits that was previously mentioned is not best for business.  I don’t buy the John Q. Public wondering about who did (is?) take steroids is hurting business all that much.  Baseball is hotter than ever right now.  Have you honestly stopped watching any games or buying merchandise because of this?  No you haven’t so why would anyone else?

The fan base went away in 1994 because of the strike.  Baseball is still being played despite these news items, so it’s not the same thing.  There is still something to watch, and since this test was years ago, it really is somewhat irrelevant at this point in time.

Andre: It’s funny, the conversation went from what’s right and wrong in terms of morality, fairness and legality to those names already leaked, to what’s god and bad for the game of baseball financially.

What happened there?  Talk about missing the point, it’s not about how baseball will be affected financially, it’s about gaining the respect and trust of the fans back.  Baseball needs to prove itself worthy of their fans after looking the other way for way too long and hiding information from the public who are the only victims here.  We have watched the entire situation turn into a gigantic circus of smoke and mirrors, sample tests with hidden results,  and privacy contracts that aren’t even really being enforced because they can’t.  The MLB Players Union is not a victim, they are the culprit and shouldn’t be able to hide behind the false pretense of secrecy from sample testing.  MLB Owners and MLB Front Office were enablers willing to put profit ahead of the truth the fans deserved.  NO ONE in baseball should expect any sympathy, the fans are the ones who deserve this way before the millionaires walking around on egg shells waiting for their name to be dropped next.

Matt: Did you guys catch “More to Love” last night?….

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May 27, 2009

Voters don’t care about Steroids

By chappy81
Relaxing on his suspension time?

Relaxing on his suspension time?

I know steroids have been a big issue over the last decade of baseball, as more and more names come out, does anyone truly care? Based on recent All-Star balloting it doesn’t seem like the very many voters care, and I have to side with them.  I just want to see the best players no matter what they’re on. I don’t disagree with penalizing them when they are caught, but if the never are so be it. Manny is currently the fourth in the outfield race for the NL, and hasn’t played for the last 18 games! He was caught using a banned substance, and suspended for 50 games. And none of this has made any impression on the All-Star voting. You know what, I hope he makes it.

The other roid rager of this year, A-Rod, is currently third in the balloting list for AL All-Star third baseman. I guess this proves that people don’t like bad liars that are too stupid to think that they’ll get away with it.  I’ve come to believe that fans just want to see the best players on the field no matter what they did. Personally I’d vote nearly all the guys from this steroid era into the HOF, but that’s a whole other topic…

I had to add this Little John and Manny comparison that I ran across… YEEAAAHH!

manny-ramirez

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