Wednesday, August 24, 2005

Drugs

Before I get started, a little request: is there any way to somehow filter out the spam comments while still allowing non-blog members to comment? I like getting the legitimate input from various readers from time to time. Maybe Blogger is working on this?

Now, on to today's topic - more from me on various drugs issues in sports:

1. Rafael Palmeiro: I'm still so angry at this jackass. I have no idea what's been going on with this in the last few weeks, and came back to read Frank Robinson's comments. I don't know whether Robinson thinks that deleting stats is actually feasible, but regardless, the sentiment behind his remarks is quite valid. Maybe Palmeiro's name and numbers will remain on the books, but there ought to be some effort, explicit or otherwise, to let every current and future baseball fan know about Raffy's failed drug test. It's not enough to merely place all records from 1994-2004 under the cloud of a "Steroid Era" label, because there ought to be a distinction between merely playing under general non-specific suspicion and actually getting caught. Guys like Frank Thomas, Jim Thome and Jeff Bagwell, who excelled during this era, will forever have to answer questions about the legitimacy of their statistics, even though most fans would probably agree that there's little reason to suspect any of these stars of malfeasance. We should not simply throw Palmeiro into that group; he got caught. He deserves to be thrown into a special sub-group of those dirtbags who we know, for a fact and by the rules of the steroids game, to have cheated.

2. Doc Gooden: This is just so sad! As unstoppable as Doc was during his time with the Mets, he seemed to turn it up an extra notch against the Cubs, back when the two teams were big NL East rivals. Doc's the first pitcher that I personally remember as being dominant - he emerged two years before Clemens broke onto the national scene and stole every headline available during those first two seasons. We hated Doc on the north side for how he made us look like the Russian little league team, and yet we loved watching the artistry behind his masterful pitching. I hope and pray that somehow Doc finds it within him to get on the straight and narrow and lead a productive, safe and sober life.

3. Barry Bonds: Now GM Brian Sabean says Bonds might be back this year. He's been "sprinting and cutting" since last Wednesday, we're told. But no baseball activities yet. On his website, last Monday, Bonds said he will "definitely be in the 2006 lineup," if not sooner. He then went on to plug his 2006 apparel line from Majestic.

I'm still taking bets. Bonds never plays again. That darn knee just won't cooperate, will it, Barry? It just won't let you play at the level you expect from yourself, huh? What a shame. And so close to the record. Of course, this has nothing to do with the steroid testing, right?

4. Stephen A. Smith: Ok, this has nothing to do with drugs. But quite frankly, Stephen A., I didn't miss you one bit while I was travelling.

3 comments:

Mighty Mike said...

Welcome backs to Hart. His fact finding tour will soon be published so keep your eyes peeled the next time you go to a bookstore.

My IT department is working on the comment section (e.g. how to keep comments open without getting spammed). Will let you know when they get to the bottom of it.

For the record I agree with Hart on Palmeiro. He got caught and should be pilloried.

MJ said...

Welcome back Hitman.

I don't agree with you on the Raffy issue. He cheated, he got caught, he got suspended, his Hall of Fame credentials are cast in doubt. Besides that, there's not much more that can be done. I'm reasonably certain that all bios that will be written about Raffy after he retires will mention his suspension so it's not like his transgression will be forgotten 70 years from now when we're all senile.

Furthermore, I don't think the sentiment that Robinson expressed is valid at all. You can't wipe away something that you don't know to be tainted. The only thing we know about Raffy is that he was caught cheating this year. We don't know if he cheated last year or the year before or back in 1980-something when he was on the Cubs. Frank Robinson is a good guy but his comments sound less like a guy concerned with the welfare of baseball and more like a guy concerned with his place in history.

As for the rest of the players that haven't been caught, they ALL deserve to be put under that cloud of suspicion. Why shouldn't Jeff Bagwell and Jim Thome and Frank Thomas be lumped together with Sammy Sosa, Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi? How do we know that they didn't cheat? None of the players allowed for testing so they should all bear the responsibility of their collective choice as a union. Furthermore, I'm not so sure that Bagwell, Thome and Thomas didn't use steroids. Their injury history seems pretty fishy to me. The point is, however, that since we don't know for certain who cheated and when they cheated, it's a black eye that the players, owners, fans and writers just have to accept.

Onto Bonds. I bet he plays next year. Like I've said before, the financial reward for him passing Babe Ruth is too great an inducement for him to simply retire. Even without steroids, he'll be able to hit his 10 homers or whatever it is. Sammy's hit 14 this year and it's damn obvious that he misses his monthly shot of "Vitamin S" into his dick vein.

Gutsy Goldberg said...

Welcome back Hart. Everybody knows, "You gotta have Hart." [that song from Damn Yankees is running through my head].

Anyway, while you were gone, there was a discussion about steroids in baseball. I had posted a comment about how an X-files quote is very appropriate: "Trust no one." And that quote is appropriate for Jim Thome also (who I am a fan of). There's just no way to trust any of these guys from 1994-2004.