A REBUKE and Some Random Confessions

I must confess, writing a blog at this time of year is hard. It’s difficult to narrow down your topic with so many great ones out there: steroids, the surging Yankees and Rangers, the Canadian League playoffs (hockey), the NBA Lottery, the NBA playoffs, NFL mini camps. It’s like sending a fat kid (me) into Cold Stone Creamery and telling him he can only have one “mix-in.” I REBUKE this mindset and as a result here are my random thoughts /confessions:
• The recent revelation that Manny Ramirez took steroids has caused shock across the baseball world once again. Now, I am an optimist by nature, but one question popped into my mind: “Why are we shocked?” Manny completely fits the profile. And by profile I mean the following:
o A player who seems to defy his age by getting better as he gets older, or…
o A player who suddenly produces All-Star caliber numbers after year of futility, or….
o A player who seems to have an inability to stay off the disabled list (most likely with ligament problems, or….
o Players with sudden and drastic drop offs after random steroid testing began, or….
o Had a substantial physical change over a short period of time.
Don’t believe me…look at those players we KNOW used steroids:
o Clemens---Defied age
o Bonds--- Defied age, physical change
o Manny- Defying age
o Ken Caminiti- Ligament problems, physical change
o Palmerio- Defied age
o Giambi- Injuries
o A-Rod- Defying age
o Jason Grimsely- Sudden All Star
o Brett Boone- Sudden All Star---not to mention 144 RBI’s one year…WHAT?!?! And a physical change
With all this stated, many are throwing an asterisk on this era from 1994-200?, but I caution against that mind set. This era has given us some of the greatest players of all-time and in light of the fact that they played in a generation that was cheating, makes them all the more unbelievable. Players such as:
1. Ken Griffey Jr.---the mark of consistency (over 600 home runs)….got hurt in freak injuries (wrist in ’96, Knee in ’00-’02), and has had a physical change, but that’s because he looks more like The Pillsbury Doughboy now.
2. Cal Ripken Jr.- The Iron Man…over 3000 hits, 2 time MVP…age slowly wore him down rather than the other way around.
3. Greg Maddux- Please don’t tell me that 85 mph puss was on the juice as he rolled to 355 victories, while wearing some sweet spectacles: http://z.about.com/d/baseball/1/0/e/M/-/-/maddux96celeb.jpg
4. Derek Jeter- Like Cal, is slowly deteriorating from age and is considerably slower than he once was, but buy the end, he will amass over 3000 hits, 400 SBs, 2 Gold Gloves, and at least 4 World Championships.
5. Lastly, Albert Pujols---When his career comes to an end there is a realistic chance that we all will have witnessed one of the 5 greatest EVER to play the game. His number over his first 8 years are untouchable by EVERYONE, and he would probably have 3 more MVPs if it wasn’t for the aforementioned Bonds. Now I know what you are thinking…”Look at Albert, he’s huge, and didn’t he have elbow problems?” But if you go back to our criteria, Albert hasn’t had a physical change, has rebounded from the elbow, and has had consistent stats for his first 8 season. Like I said, I am an optimist….please Albert, don’t let me down…be for real.

• Next, The ThugBA Lottery
I want to thank Chris and Mark Cuban for pointing out that each TBA roster looks more like a lineup you would see at NYPD than a lineup you want to watch on your TV. How can ANY respectable league use a gimmick to determine its draft order? No seriously, imagine if the 11-5 Patriots who missed the playoffs would have “won” the first pick in the NFL draft, while the winless Lions got the 4th pick. No wonder the Clips, Raptors, Knicks, Grizzlies, etc. can’t seem to build a team. With that said, I would like to officially announce my favorite NBA team to be the Knicks.
• TBA Playoff Predictions:
o Nuggets over the Lakers in 7--- Denver is 26-3 at home over their last 29…they just to steal one game in LA. Look for Kenyan “Don’t talk to my Momma” Martin to put Gasol on his back.
o Cavs over Orlando in 5---Too much mojo going for the Cavs.

• Random side notes:
o Congrats to Kris Allen for winning American Idol. America my faith in you is restored. Adam Lambert your screaming will make you a star in “Saw XXV”
o Jack Bauer beaten by a comma…are you kidding me?
o The Biggest Loser inspires me to gain about 100 pounds eating Velveeta and then try to lose it on the show. Not sure that’s the goal of the show.