Is There Anyone Left?

Another day, another legend down the tubes.

This is the environment we've all been conditioned to live in. It's not a great time to be a baseball fan. It's not a great time to be a sports fan. As face after face of America's pastime gets associated with cheating and lack of organic numbers, there's only one clear loser here: the fans.

You could argue, as I might, that Barry Bonds is one of the "winners" today. This guy has born the brunt of the steroids discussion for so long it's just absurd. It was the to the point where I think the majority of people actually believed that outside of BALCO, there wasn't much steroid use in baseball.

As we can see now, that was simply not true.

I know there are a lot of Red Sox fans who will be on the defense for the next few weeks trying to defend the '04 championship. And realistically, it's going to be a tough argument. But it's not just the Sox; it's every team in the Major Leagues. You just happened to win the World Series; just like Bonds happened to hit 73 home runs.

It's not the Sox' fault. I personally don't believe they cultivated a steroids culture to obtain success. However, you could argue that without performance enhancing drugs, the Sox never win the World Series, never recreate Red Sox Nation and never ultimately receive the ultimate fandom that gives them so much money and power in the MLB.

Look, the Red Sox and the Yankees have the most money. When you have the most money, you can sign the players that put up the biggest numbers. The Sox got Manny and the Yankees had Giambi. Whether Manny turned Ortiz on to roids or whether it was someone in the Twins' organization, we don't know yet. I'm sure Selena Roberts can do some digging and find out (As a Twins fan, I really hope he wasn't on roids when we had him because his numbers suckkkkked).

And to be fair, the Sox and Yankees and Dodgers and all the other big market teams went out and signed the biggest players with the best numbers. It's what anyone would have done. We didn't know the extent of steroids use in 2003 (and for argument and sanity's sake, let's assume GMs and owners didn't either) and therefore, it's not unreasonable to assume they thought these players were putting up gigantic numbers legitimately. When the Yankees signed Giambi, they didn't sign him with a caveat suggesting he needed to continue taking steroids and HGH and the Clear while he was on the team. The numbers were just expected to show up.

When the Red Sox signed Manny to his deal and when the Yankees signed A-Rod to his deal, it was likely not expected these players would continue to pump their bodies full of chemicals to continue putting up big numbers and putting asses in the seats. Presumably, their teams are as shocked by the testing results as much as us.

But here's the point: you should be angry. It's not an excuse to say that everyone was doing it. You should be angry that we were all duped. We all watched the long balls fly out of ballparks all across the country and we were all too stupid to realize what was going on. When Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa went bananas, we all watched. We didn't ask questions. We just loved Big Mac Land and the Sosa Hop.

When David Ortiz started "pulling the ball for the first time," we didn't ask questions. When A-Rod put up season after season of incredible numbers, we didn't ask questions. Even when relief pitchers were throwing 98-99 and reviving their careers at age 33, we didn't ask questions.

The difference? There's no victory for us as fans. We didn't get to make the millions of dollars that all the other players did. Look -- I'm not blaming Ortiz or Manny or Sheffield or Giambi or Bonds or Benito f***ing Santiago for taking 'roids. They were available, they made you better and, more importantly, they made them a ton of money. But it's ridiculous. Think about it logically.

Let's assume, for argument's sake, that some people didn't take HGH. If that's actually true, then how unfair were the contracts everyone else got? I will personally never believe a player when they say they're clean. If you're putting up big numbers (and we're all staring at you, Albert Pujols), you're on something. Plain and simple.

Because here's the truth of the matter: What they've done is just not possible. The astronomical numbers. The record breaking seasons. It's not true. None of it is true. The numbers we know -- 755, 56, .406, 61 -- there's a reason why those numbers are records. Obviously, .406 and 56 haven't been broken yet. But what this has proven to me is these numbers are actually untouchable or close to it. Bonds broke Maris's record, McGwire's record and Aaron's record. And only because he cheated.

The Sox and Yankees scoring 900 runs a season. Joe Nathan becoming a dominating closer after an injury-riddled history. Did Nathan get there because of HGH or the Twins' "velocity development program"? I don't know for sure.

I've always made a joke out of steroids because I argued it was so fun to watch the players. You think about Sosa, Bonds, Manny, A Rod, McGwire, Sheffield; these are some of the most exciting swings and athletes in the major leagues. I loved watching Clemens throw heat at age 44. It was really cool in a way.

But now, as more of the list tumbles out, I'm beginning to realize our generation doesn't have a Ted Williams or a Joe DiMaggio. I was devastated to read the other day that Bill James is convinced Kirby Puckett and Gary Gaettti (two key cogs in the Twins' first World Series title in 1987) were on steroids. But they probably did. Puckett's numbers were incredible and he died young.

What we're getting at here is the ugly truth: it's not BALCO. It's not just Bonds and the Giambi brothers and Ortiz and Randy Velarde and Ken Caminiti. It's everyone.

All the players from your generation. The ones who graced the walls of your room and received the largest contracts in the history of the sport cheated their way to the top. And the worst part of it all is the ones who aren't implicated are probably just not guilty yet.

You think Jeter was clean? We don't know for sure. He put up some huge numbers in 1999. Nomar? Probably on steroids. Tony Gwynn? Cal Ripken Jr.? Go up and down the list and you can make a case for almost anyone.

Hell, Rickey probably juiced.

Baseball is supposed to be pure and I think we all recognize that. With everything in this world that's stupid and unfair, we should at least have some semblance of fair play in between the baselines. But what we've realized over the past couple years is it's not an even playing field.

The majority of players get ahead and get rich in sports by cheating. And that sucks.

-Anthony "Balla"

ManRam: The Numbing Experience

Yesterday’s news that Manny Ramirez failed an MLB test for performance enhancing drugs and will be suspended 50 games understandably sent shockwaves throughout the New England region.

Like him or hate him, everyone has an opinion on Manny. And yesterday was certainly no different.

Some people said they were happy. Some said they now are numb to anyone being a PED user. Some said at least he didn’t do it in Boston. Others said he’s been using all along. A few actually believe that he made an honest mistake, and didn’t purposefully cheat the game. And a few more said that this was the last straw of “Manny being Manny.”

Me?

I loved Man-Ram as much as anyone. Through the good times and the bad. An apologist to the fullest degree, I couldn’t even hate him after what he did to get out of Boston.

Do I think he used in Boston? Not really. Do I think he accidently made some sort of pharmaceutical error? Absolutely not. I guess in a weird way, I have no opinion of it. I’m too tired of this now to be outraged anymore.

Sosa, McGwire, Bonds, Clemens, Palmeiro, A-Rod and now Manny. All the players our generation grew up with – all the BEST players – used ‘roids. Picture that. You grew up in the steroid era and at this point, do you even care? Is there a legitimate chance that all the best players from our generation won’t be in the Hall of Fame?

Crazy, right? But I think this actually helps people like Bonds and Big Mac. You can’t keep all of these guys out, can you? It would be a poor representation of baseball, keeping out the top players of an entire decade or more. These are the MVPs, the All-Stars, the Cy Youngs and headliners of the sport. At some point, when the old sports writers die off or retire and the new blood comes in, I think most of them will get in.

I never would have thought this, oh I dunno, 3 months ago. But since A-Rod and Manny have both been painted (and tainted) with the steroid brush, the rules have changed. It’s not whether or not they deserve to be in the HOF, it’s more of an issue that they HAVE to be. A shrine to the best players in the sport would be a shame without, you know, the actual best players.

As one name tumbles out after the next in this self-absorbed witch hunt, we’ve learned that it wasn’t just a few people who were doing this stuff. It’s what Jose Canseco said, and what we probably knew, all along. And I don’t know about you, but I’ve finally accepted it.

--Nick

Did Piazza do steroids?

From NYT writer Murray Chass:

"When steroids became a daily subject in newspaper articles I wanted to write about Piazza's acne-covered back. I was prepared to describe it in disgusting living color. But two or three times my editors at The New York Times would not allow it. Piazza, they said, had never been accused of using steroids so I couldn't write about it.

"But wait, I said, if I write about it, I will in effect be accusing Piazza of using steroids and then someone will have accused him of using steroids. No can do, I was told. I always took the veto to stem from the Times ultra conservative ways, but I also wondered if it maybe was the baseball editor, a big Mets' fan, protecting the Mets.

"Whatever the reason, I never got Piazza's suspicious acne into the paper. Then all of a sudden the acne was gone. Piazza's back was clear and clean. There was not a speck of acne on it. His back looked as smooth as a baby's bottom."



Pretty interesting. I always thought he might have been fiddling with something. Look at the guns in that pic...

--The underappreciated Blogfather who wishes more BU people read this.

A-Fraud

     (Pretty sweet bod on Jeter huh?????)

Alright...in all seriousness, A-Rod is an absolute beast. Roids or not, the guy mashes, and is probably the best baseball player we will see in our lifetime(s). Throw out the notion that you hate him and think of this:

I hate a couple of things about this...FIRST who wants to remember all of their favorite players as cheaters? Second of all the argument that really isn't brought up enough is the fact that not only were a great amount of players juicing during this time period, but some of them were in fact PITCHERS. Juiced up hitters were going yahhhddd off juiced up pitching. 

Secondly, I want to see this whole F*ing list. I bet baseball has protected Arod (and others) for a long ass time, and this coming out was a mistake for sure (only because the list was found after being looked at for the Bonds investigation). If your throwing A-Rod under the bus (the best most hated athlete I've ever seen/heard/read/dreamt about) then I want to know what dudes have flown under the radar.

And once I know this, I want them to admit they took them just like A-Rod and Pettite...not swear to me they never took them fully knowing their man friends were shooting needles in their ass.

I want the TRUTH....is that too much to ask?

-J Perk

BREAKING NEWS: A-Rod Tests Positive

Sports Illustrated is reporting that Yankees’ Megastar Alex Rodriquez tested positive for steroids in 2003, his last year with the Rangers.

Wow and wow. Can’t believe another HUGE star has been linked to roids. Unbelievable. The Golden Boy. The Best Clean Player in the Game. Throw a big fat asterisk up on his stats.

I’m not even reveling in this development. You’d think as a Sox fan and certified A-Rod hater, I’d be soaking this in, jumping for joy. But to tell you the truth, I’m kind of stunned and disappointed. I want at least some clean players in the game.

Between Clemens, Bonds and now A-Rod, that’s a combined 16 MVPs and Cy Youngs. Jesus. Remember all the talk of A-Rod breaking Bonds' HR record and therefore "making it clean again?" Silly.

It sure does make the accomplishments of Griffey, Ortiz, Manny and Vlad seem that much more impressive. You know..until it comes out that they did steroids.

Talked to Perk on the phone quickly today and he raised a solid point: he might be terrible with this swirling him all season. Hope so.