Thursday, July 21, 2005

There Are All Kinds Of Performance Enhancers

                         

*I was reading in a magazine about how people feel that anyone found to have used steroids in baseball should have their numbers wiped out.  The article went on to say, "why stop there?"  Why not "wipe out" all things that were influenced by performance enhancing drugs?  I mean...how many albums were recorded under the influence of the sticky icky, coke or any variety of drugs??  Should the Beatles have some songs "wiped out"??  Or various art that was created under the influence of mind altering drugs??  Or how about those adult movies that were made using that little blue pill called Viagra???  That's "performance enhancing".  Heck...how many marriages began with a little alcohol to loosen up the mood??  Let's annul them to.  Look, I'm not on the side of steroids....but let's be real.  The solution would be to root out the problem without starting a witchunt to figure out which numbers are real and which are fake.  Do that...and you have the WWE on your hands!

*Due to a hamstring pull, new Timberwolf Rashad McCants didn't play at all in the Minnesota Summer League.  Yet, McCants got into the boxscore by yelling at an official from the bench and receiving a technical.  Ahhh....Sheed Pt II

*I haven't weighed in yet on that whole Larry Brown thing yet.  So...my opinion?  The Pistons sorta kinda fired him.  I think that Joe Dumars figures the distractions hurt more than his being there helps.  Brown's health is a very big issue and it was a distraction this year and may be a bigger one next year.  They got their title...and another Finals appearance to boot.  They canned Rick Carlisle after winning the Central Division twice [one more than Brown] in two years....so this dismissal isn't out of the norm.  I'd like to see it work out for everyone, but it seems as if the Pistons and Larry Brown are ready to move on. 

*The NHL is back in business!!!  Play ball!!!  Errrr.....uh....slap puck?  People with mullets and sports denists everywhere rejoice!

                                    

*So Ricky Williams is back in Miami.  I have been all over this guy during the past year about his hippie lettuce lovin' ways.  BUT if he really commits himself to getting truly back to football form...he will be a nice asset to the Dolphins.  I doubt he will be the rushing leader he was a few years back, but platooning with Ronnie Brown will give Miami a very strong running game that could mask their passing problems. 

*Lance Armstrong is freaking amazing!

*What crawled up Livan Hernandez' butt???  After hitting 4 batters and losing to the NL's worst team, Colorado, Hernandez stated that he's pretty sure he's done with baseball for the year.  "I'm not happy for three years. After the season, I'm going to tell you.  It's 99.9 percent I'm not going to pitch no more.  I'm done, I think, so let's see what happens. ... I'll go to sleep and I'm going to make a decision tonight.  I'm tired of something. ... I'll tell you when the season's over. I'm mad."

*Since the start of the 2004-2005 NBA season last October....the Knicks [twice], Sixers, Magic [twice], Cavaliers, Pistons, Bucks, Mavericks, Grizzlies, Sonics, Blazers [twice], Timberwolves [twice], Nuggets [twice] and Lakers [twice] all made coaching changes.  Heck, even the Heat, who finished with the East's top record, has controversy surrounding a possible coaching change.  Really, unless your name is Jerry Sloan or Greg Popovich...you have no security. 

*You want to see exciting baseball??  Head east.  No, this isn't more East Coast Bias...but it seems as if most of the other division races are decided.  The Central Divisions have already been won [White Sox, Cardinals] while the West Divisions have a little more heat, the Padres and Angels are the best teams in those divisions [heck, San Diego is the only team over .500 in the NL West].  But those Eastern divisions are hot and heavy.  The freaking Washington Nationals are in 1st place with the Braves breathing down their neck.  Not too far away are the Fish, Phills and Mets.  In the AL East, it looks as if there will be a free for all between the Orioles, Red Sox and Yankees.  Oh....and don't look now but the Blue Jays are just 5 games back.  With the trade deadline looming, look for all of these teams to at least be living in Rumor Central!

 

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sportz, the Beatles were not in competetion with other recording artists to accomplish a particular predetermined feat (hit the ball the fastest/farthest, ride the bicycle the fastest, etc).  The creative process is far removed from that of the competitive playing field.  If Lewis Carrol used opium to write Alice Through the Looking Glass - whose accomplishment is diminished, just because they chose to write without an opiate?  But when a player sets records and by so doing breaks the records of others, he or she is bound by the concept of fairness to not use unauthorized advantages.  Would you allow a 2 minute mile to stand in the record books, if it turned out that the runner had been wearing jets in his/her shoes?  You'd probably not want such an "achievement" to erase the honest efforts of runners who had relied on their training, talent, dedication and determination.

Anonymous said...

"Sportz, the Beatles were not in competetion with other recording artists to accomplish a particular predetermined feat (hit the ball the fastest/farthest, ride the bicycle the fastest, etc)."

Despite calling themselves "artists"...musicians put out albums to make money, sell out arenas, etc.  I mean....why else would they frown about their "art" being freely distributed on the internet or anywhere else?