Retaliation in Baseball

From MLB.com after a recent Yanks-Rays game. The Rays felt that Jaba (sp?) had gone after Longoria on purpose, so Rays' pitcher Garza plunked Teixera:

Garza said that he had grown tired of teams brushing back Longoria, who was also hit on Monday by New York reliever Jonathan Albaladejo.

"I hate to be that guy, but someone had to take a stand and say, 'You know, we're tired of it,'" Garza told reporters. "'You can go after our best guy. We'll make some noise, too.' And that's what happened."

I'm still not the biggest baseball fan, but sticking up for your own...I can get behind that. Good for Garza. And I like that he came out and said it. Retaliation is an unwritten rule of baseball, but Garza explicitly stating his intentions, and why he had those intentions, gets a thumbs up in my book.

A Different Take on the A-Rod Scandal

With the media beating this dead horse, I love how "The Onion" provides satire. Headline from their website:

"Kobe Bryant Shouts 'I Have Been Taking Steroids' As Sports Media Gallops Past Him"

Greatest Sports Video Compilation Ever

I think we've all seen this, but it needs to be up on the blog for inspirational purposes.

BoSox

As I sit here and seethe over The-Game-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named, I want to write about something sports, just not what just happened to our beloved Cougs.

What do we think? Are the Red Sox of recent history the greatest postseason comeback sports team we know? I know they have a long ways to go to win this series, but let's look at things since 2004:

2004 ALCS - Come back from the "impossible" 3-0 to the Yanks and go on to win the World Series.
2007 ALCS - Come back from 3-1 to the Indians to go on and win the World Series.
2008 ALCS - Pull off the second largest postseason deficit in MLB history (7-0 in the 7th) to win the game.

Based on how the Rays are playing, I doubt the Sox will advance, but still...

Unrelated question: Why does Kevin Youkilis grip the bat the way he does?

Poor Cubs Fans

Just saw this on eBay...a Cubbies fan auctioning his loyalty to the team!

Looks like it was removed. Good catch, Casey.

I was listening to Sportscenter while taking care of stuff around the condo today, and apparently this Cubs fan was "selling" his loyalty to the Cubs on eBay. I guess he was going to produce a video of him burning all of his cubs apparel, posters, etc and of him buying all new jerseys, etc for his "new" team of choice.

I guess when I think about it, the winner of that auction should get all of the guy's Cubs stuff, but I suppose it's his choice...

Too Good to Play?

Has anybody heard of this 9-year old baseball player?

Seeing as most kids that play little league baseball aren't going to make the pros, I'm guessing that at least part of what they should get out of playing little league is effort, perseverance, etc. Is banning this kid that "throws too hard" the solution? What does that teach the other kids? I'm assuming that he isn't intentionally aiming for kids; and, if he is this good, I'm guessing he's also accurate.

Or, could they just move him up to an older age group?

A Level Playing Field

I think it’s time to see how high man can really jump; or if a human being can physically break 9 seconds in the 100 meters. I would love to know if the 3:20 mile would actually make a man’s heart stop working like all the “experts” said would happen to the first man to break 4:00. (I’m fairly confident it worked out ok for that Roger Bannister guy. . .) Even that crazy redneck family in the backwoods of nowhere would slip off the couch to adjust the bunny ears if they knew that every conceivable athletic record was about to be shattered by today’s best athletes.

How would this happen, you say? By the governing bodies of sport stepping up to the plate to stop the butt injecting, pill swallowing, blood transfusing, clear and cream rubbing suckers that are ruining fair competition, that’s how. Let’s pick a date. My son Dallin’s 3 year birthday is fast approaching on August 1, so that’s my pick. On August 1, 2008 all banned substance lists will be abolished and every PED on the market (open or black) is now completely legal. No more wasted money on testing; no more inconvenient raids on athlete’s houses out of season to catch them with their pants down; no more perjury cases. All is fair in athletic competition.

The people with the scrilla -- which happens to be the ones competing -- will always stay a few steps ahead of the ones doing the testing. What’s the point!? Marion Jones and Barry Bonds never tested positive for anything other than snaggle teeth and arrogance respectively, but who’s going to bet their monthly salary, let alone their lunch money, that this duo wasn’t taking? I’m an avid American cyclist, yet I don’t know that I can look anyone in the eye and say that Lance and Floyd (tangent . . . who on earth names their kid Floyd anyway . . . can a baby actually look like a Floyd coming out of the womb?) never juiced up in some fashion to win a combined 8 Tour de France titles.

I would venture to say that a large majority of professional athletes have a, “I will do anything to win” attitude. You will not stop the cheating by drug testing and suspensions. As Mr. Conte from BALCO alluded to a few years back, there will always be another chemist brewing up some magic, undetectable substance that will give athletes the edge they are looking for.

The only way to truly level the playing field is to open the flood gates to new world records. Bring em on! Can you say entertaining television? Who wouldn’t want to see some freak of nature with blueberries in his pants line up to run the 200 meters faster than a motorcycle? Count me in. Have them sign a waiver admitting their stupidity for risking their life for money and glory, and let the games begin! Make sure their families have good life insurance and IRAs maturing and let’s call up Guinness to make it official.

I think it’s time to give the public what they deserve, a level playing field.