Anthrax / Baseball
InfoSuperHwyRoadKill
Now the disease seems to be only contrated from African drums.
The only one left on the Anthrax terror investigation was O.J. Simpson. He
was looking while also searching for Nicole's killer and Osama, but his
recent incarceration has brought this investigation as well as the search
for Osama to a screeching halt.
Department of Homeland Security | Preserving our Freedoms ...
http://www.dhs.gov/xinfoshare/programs/Copy_of_press_release_0046.shtm
WASHINGTON -- The release of the Mitchell Report on Thursday prompted
members of Congress to quickly begin trying to find out more detailed
information about the state of steroids and performance-enhancing drugs
throughout Major League Baseball.
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20071213&content_id=2325808&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb
NEW YORK -- Over the 409 pages of the Mitchell report, one singular theme
resonates more powerfully than all the rest: Only the enormous power of the
federal government allowed former Sen. George Mitchell to produce the
often-flawed but powerful document that now stands as baseball's official
explanation of the years immediately leading up to and following the 1994
player strike.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?id=3153843
I will rest better tonight knowing Roger Clemens has been accused of using
steroids.
Olin
"InfoSuperHwyRoadKill" <republica...@hellsgate.com> wrote in message
news:hjx8j.28502$mb....@bignews9.bellsouth.net...
Used to watch Roger Clemens dominate other teams in Austin when he played
for the Longhorns. Maybe he did use steroids. Maybe he didn't. I do not
know, and a part of me does not really care.
The last twenty years of MLB has been so juiced as to make OJ look like he
really might not have done it.
What I do care about, though, is the atmosphere in big time sports, where
merely an accusation is quite enough.
Baseball's got a huge problem... maybe even bigger than the Black Sox
scandal, and even back then the "investigators" may have gotten the culprit
wrong. Shoeless Joe may not have done what he was accused of doing, i.e.
helping to throw games, but he got to go sit in the corner and hang his head
in shame just as if he'd been convicted in court with pesky little things
like considered evidence and proof. And, I'm just not entirely sure MLB
cures its ills by throwing a few big time players under the bus, without
them having much recourse at all.
Some or all of the players on that list may have done precisely what they're
accused of doing... or not. So far, the only player to actually face a jury
looks to be Barry Bonds.
The one good thing to come out of crap like this is that it would appear
kids are a good bit smarter than we've given them credit for being, in that
they now largely look up to star athletes as gifted, but hardly the role
models we used to consider them as.
But, still, I'm saddened by the atmosphere that seems willing to turn the
entire justice system into traffic court, where you're guilty until you
prove yourself innocent. Even Mitchell says his report amounts to little
more than a lot of smoke and the evidence that a lot of names got named in
the process... along with the apparent and already pretty well known
assumption that the game's been juiced for quite some time.
Baseball's gotta start a house cleaning, and it's gotta begin with
Commissioner Bud Selig, and it wouldn't hurt for Players Union Head Dude,
Donald Fehr to be shown the unemployment line too. Independent substance
testing sounds like a great idea until you consider the Tour de France and
their "independent" labs that have been shown to falsify test records. Sure,
they got it right several times, but the "independent" labs have shown
themselves to be as susceptible to corruption as anybody else.
InfoSuperHwyRoadKill
"Olin" <oli...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:x-CdnRh9Vvg6Ov_a...@comcast.com...
What bothers me is that you can't fix the past.
1) We know there is/*WAS* a problem without the help of the federal
government.
little 'is' because there will always be someone looking for an edge/big
'WAS' because BASEBALL ignored the problem while all other sports were
addressing it. Mark McGuire openly displayed andro in his locker when it
was banned by all other sports because it wasn't a banned substance. You
can go down to GNC and get some andro right now. There is still no
uniformity among the leagues regarding what is banned and what is not, i.e.
Travis Henry would not be in trouble now or ever if he was in the NBA
instead of the NFL.
2) You can't penalize someone who may have violated a rule before you make
it. (Andro)
3) You can't penalize someone who did not get caught by the procedures in
place for enforcing the rule.
4) You can't penalize someone on hearsay. (ex-wife, former trainer, etc)
5) You make the rule and enforce it going forward. Copy the IOC model.
They have the experience -- cut their teeth policing the GDR man-women for
years and watching out for the chemist of the world.
InfoSuperHwyRoadKill
I'm wrong about andro - it was banned in 2005 and you can't buy it legally
anymore. Shows how long it has been since I've been in GNC.
Olin
Thought that to be the case, but you corrected it before I got around to
going to check.
Thing about steroids is, they have a lot of benefits and even more downside.
Lyle Alzaydo(sp?) taught us that.
I'd agree regarding the IOC, save for a couple things. Their list of banned
substances can be a little draconian. Can't remember her name, but that
little twit that broke (or at least helped to break) Nancy Kerrigan's leg
could not use her asthma medication to breathe, because it was a banned
substance, even with provable evidence that it was medically necessary.
I guess being able to breathe is somewhat performance enhancing, but the
other side is if YOU are having an asthma attack and your opponent isn't,
they have an edge that could be mitigated by you being allowed to take
medication for a disease.
But, it's the hearsay (even with Bonds) that I have so very much trouble
with. Ignatz, the trainer, says he shot Andro (or whatever) into Bubba Big
League's butt, ergo, it must be true so why bother with actually gathering
the evidence against the player? Just smear his name, ruin his reputation
and smugly pat oneself on the back and move on as if you've actually
accomplished something.
Never mind that Ignatz is rolling over on somebody to save his own hide OR
that there wasn't a rule against it when it allegedly happened.
You can't be compelled to testify against yourself... matter of fact, you
can't even be compelled to present any kind of defense at all in a criminal
trial, but it looks as if Nancy Grace is running the Sports "Justice" System
these days.
Why not go after the owners, commissioners, union reps and other assorted
nefarious bastards who've helped to create a cash cow that says to players,
juice and run the risk of wrecking your health or don't juice and run the
risk of losing your career to somebody who does juice.
jakdedert
years. What turned her into a fan? None other than the drama
surrounding the McGuire/Sosa home run shootout 'that' season.
That's a pretty powerful thing, to turn a lifelong sports apathetic into
a rabid fan at the very end of her 74 year life. I wonder what she
would think now....
Regarding #3 above: why would you think that somebody should/could not
be penalized for having gamed the system in the past? That's like
saying the real offense in breaking the rules is in getting caught, not
knowingly doing something wrong in the first place.
jak
InfoSuperHwyRoadKill
"jakdedert" <jakd...@bellsouth.net> wrote in message
news:xfz8j.30040$rc2....@bignews1.bellsouth.net...
Once the game is played and in the books, you can't go back and fix it.
Why not institute replay now, and go back and fix every bad call in the
past?
Olin
Not only that, but you really can't break a rule when it wasn't a rule when
you "broke it."
And no, that's not a defense of steroids. The downside of steroids has been
well known for a lot of years, but their use in sports is an iffy sort of
thing. As has been noted, Travis Henry wouldn't even be in trouble if he
were in the NBA, as they've not banned the substance.
I just frankly don't see the justice in punishing people today for something
they may, or may not, have done back in the day when it was not against the
rules.
That said, it's hard to feel very sorry for a bunch of millionaire athletes
who only got their name dragged through the mud.
InfoSuperHwyRoadKill
This is not a just a cash cow problem. It is more of a problem of society
than in sports. If you want to see juice, then visit a THP locker room.
My mother couldn't pass an IOC test. Draconian for sure, but either you get
it out or you let it in.
Olin
Most would be amazed to see just what's actually on some of those banned
lists, who uses them and just how capriciously the rules are enforced.
You're right, it's not simply a sports problem, but that's where the most
noticeable manifestation is.
> My mother couldn't pass an IOC test. Draconian for sure, but either you
> get it out or you let it in.
Agreed, save for those instances where medical necessity is easily proven.
Then again, I've never been one to believe much in the infallibility of drug
testing. Advil can show up as cocaine.
Olin
> Baseball's steroid problem or one child in a well draws more attention
> than the genocide of an African nation. Go figure.
Moths and flames, married to moral superiority would be my guess.
It's easy to stand at a house fire, or watch from afar the travails of a
little girl in a well, cluck your tounge and say, "Thank God that's not me
or mine."
It's easy to point a finger at an accused athlete and say, "Well, it's
probably true and he or she'll get what they deserve."
When you look at genocide, it's rather difficult to come away without some
feeling of responsibility, no matter how distant.