Back from the Dead

Okay, musings into the world of sports, after an extended period of, well, amusement at the travesty of people in the sports world today...

Does ANYONE give a damm about the Tour de France after yet ANOTHER doping incident?! When will this sport go away? You think steroids in baseball or football are out of control?!

Speaking of steroids in baseball - SHAME ON YOU Bud Selig for avoiding the inevitable breaking of the career Home Run record. Yes, it's Barry Bonds. Yes, the circumstantial evidence to indicate he took steroids is off the charts. But this is AMERICA, where you are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, and he owes it to the GAME to be there when the record is broken. Not doing do, not making at least some mention and ceremony about it, means that in his mind he's already convicted Bonds of using performance enhancing drugs without due process. Did Bonds use 'em? Probably, hard to imagine he didn't. But "imagining" and "having definitive proof" are two different things, and say what you want, Selig needs to be there. Well, in any event, regardless of this, I think he's an asshole anyway...never like the guy, he's got a major Napoleonic complex.

And in the "holy shit I thought the athletes were assholes!" department, we present Tim Donaghy. Almost makes the asshole punk ghetto thugs in the NBA seem like stand up guys...well, almost...

Here comes the Yankees? Several weeks ago, in the middle of an 11 game winning streak, I said "looks like they are making their charge". I was wrong then. I might be wrong now. They certainly are a Jeckyll and Hyde team this year. But the Sawx can hear footsteps behind them now, a once near insurmountable 14 game lead is now down to 7 1/2 games. The Yankees are playing with a fair amount of confidence now, I wonder what is going through the minds of the Boston players.

Becks, we hardly see ya mate! Your much ballyhoo'd inagural appearance in MLS was a late game substitution, and now you're out of action with that ligament injury. Here's to hoping you begin what I hope to be a successful career in the US.

Do I need to add anything to the Michael Vick story than you've probably been overloaded with at this point? Are they targeting him because he's high profile? Maybe a little. But to bring down a hydra like this you have to chop off the heads. The fact that he IS high profile makes this a fundamentally different case and message - it provides a platform to get a MAJOR player in the dogfighting subculture, and a chance to show other people that fame means nothing - if you are committing a FEDERAL crime, we will get you. If this were Bill Gates, Andrew Young, it'd still be the same. This might also show that you cannot lie and say "I didn't know what was going on with my homies". Frankly, judging from the rampant stupidity displayed by his younger brother, Marcus, Michael's idiocy isn't particularly surprising.

Is there a sadder story of an old out-of-the-spotlight athlete trying to get his face into the public issues than Gary Player? Had anyone seen Jason Gore? Phil Mickelson? Hell, John Daly?! The guys on the tour don't have any of the physiques that would indicate that they took steroids at all - well, except maybe for *GASP* Tiger Woods. Tiger is a workout freak, that is known, but steroids? He's not hitting it any longer than he used to - matter of fact, I think he lost some distance. Also, Adam Scott, Sergio Garcia, Camillo Villegas - young, in shape, slim men who probably haven't tried a day in their life to bulk up. HEAR IT NOW - If ANYONE in the PGA has done steroids, based on the players' builds, they have failed miserably! *lol* The only guy who made a real significant change in his physique is Bill Glasson, and his was probably 10 or so years ago. I'm not sure what Gary Player is trying to accomplish here, but if he is trying to bring attention to the "best bodies" in golf, you need only look at the #1 player in the world. Is this a veiled accusation? Hmmm. Gene W has an interesting article on Gary's vague statements, calling him to the carpet...

Speaking of Sergio, what a whiner! Hitch up your big boy britches and admit you played a lousy 18 holes on the final day of the British Open and lost the tournament. Don't piss and moan about your "fate" and the "bad breaks". "I didn't miss a shot in the playoff and hit unbelievable putts. But they just didn't go in." Umm, if you hit unbelievable putts, they would have dropped. Unbelievable putts don't miss, they go straight in the clown's mouth! After a birdie at the third hole gave him a four-shot lead, he made bogeys at the fifth, seventh and eighth holes to let the world back into the tournament. Were all those bogeys bad luck? Don't think so. What about other golfers? Wonder how Andres Romero feels about his second shot on the 17th hole that barely missed clearing the burn, but somehow ricocheted directly to the right and out of bounds? Or what about Harrington, whose tee shot at the home hole narrowly missed bouncing across a bridge to safety only to find the burn? Or Ernie Els, who missed a playoff by two strokes and is wondering how a couple of back-nine putts stayed out of the hole? PUHLEEZE! It is a game of bad breaks, of cruel bounces, of putts that spin out of the cup. Sergio should know that. Stop hiding behind the excuse of "bad luck" and admit that you didn't close the deal - then go back out, settle down, and win one of 'em.