SPRINGSTEEN LIVE @ UNITED CENTER TONIGHT

We will be there somewhere on the second level behind the stage, so hopefully they play more to the back of the stage and much less to the left. HAHAHA. That's a joke son. Maybe Michael Jordan can school Bruce on his famous quote about Republican buying sneakers too.

That would be nice. I guess it would be tough to voice displeasure if Bruce goes politico. I mean if you booooooooo, it sounds too much like Bruuuuuuuuuce, so maybe he's getting an over-inflated opinion of the importance of his political opinions.

For me, I wouldn't pay $95 a seat to hear Rush Limbaugh or Al Franken for that matter so I don't want my entertainment dollar turned into an opportunity for a political rally.

Just sing Boss. Just sing.

HAPPY 20TH ANNIVERSARY - STOCK MARKET CRASH OF 1987

Wow, has it really been 20 years? I had been with Raymond James for six months when the roof caved in October 19 ,1987. The market slashed approximately 25% of the value of stock owners wealth in one day!

Today the market would have to decline 3,500 points to approximate 1987's carnage. Although, given the superstitious nature of market mavens and some of the recent headline bad news that comes along with a Presidential campaign, the market today appears to be off to a pretty good start to replicating some of the damage. JK, it's just another normal crappy day.

Interesting to look back and see how far an institution like the market has come in 20 years. We're told that with the circuit breakers that are in place, a crash like 1987 couldn't happen again. That always leads me to think that while it may not be "exactly" like the crash of the past, there is no reason to think that something "similar" could happen with somewhat more or less magnitude, given that we are dealing with human beings, who are driven by the same primal emotions of fear and greed that have driven these types of markets for as long as they've been around.

It's a game, like baseball or golf, that it seems like even those who do well in it are at times humbled by occasions like this, true "black swan" events that cause you to pause and wonder if you really know anything about the game. We've all heard of Hall of Fame players, when interviewed about the thoughts they go through when they're in a slump, say they wonder if they'll ever get a hit again. And that's the superstars!!

Sometimes you become a victim of your own analysis, or over-analysis. It becomes tough to decide what to do. During events like this you almost have to have the mind-set like the first responders during 9/11, rushing in while everyone is heading for the exits. And that is a tough mind-set to have.

In just the short time I've been managing my own retirement account, the worst mistakes I've made were selling good companies too soon even after they made me considerable amounts, but continued on after I sold them. Companies like PetroChina, CNOOC, Google, Penn National Gaming, Posco and Google were allowed to leave the fold and showed their displeasure by continuing to rise. More recently I lost LuluLemon right before they announce earnings and skyrocketed. Years ago I sold Sears right before Eddie Lambert stepped in and took control. But you have to look at where mistakes were made in order to avoid them in the future, regardless of how painful the introspection may be.

We'll see how this one goes, but if history serves as a guide, shortly after the 1987 Crash, the market recovered, returned to pre-crash levels in short order and catapulted to historically high levels and beyond throughout the 90's. Hopefully history repeats in this regard as well.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY CRASH OF '87!!!

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE #2 RANKED USF BULLS

It's great to see Jim Leavitt and the University of South Florida Bulls rise to the #2 spot in the most recent college football polls. Leavitt started the program ten years ago, overseeing the operations from a trailer office.

Well, now it seems like that trailer can go back to some deserving local middle school where it will fit in better, because USF football has hit the big time. It started with the win on the road over Auburn, but they really caught the pollsters attention with wins over West Virginia and Louisville.

Leavitt has had to overcome the competitive disadvantage of recruiting against the Florida State universities such as Miami, Florida State and Florida as well as other fledgling football programs looking to muscle in on the action like Central Florida and Florida Atlantic. Both of those schools have hired storied football coaches like George O'Leary and Howard Schnellenberger to lift them.

Another significant hurdle that USF has overcome is what Maslow described as the "Jonah Complex" which simply stated is "a fear of success which keeps people from becoming self-actualized". Maslow believed that the Jonah Complex arose due to 1) a need for humility and 2)the emotional surge that fulfillment brings with us is too draining to experience on a constant basis. It becomes almost a fear of success or a thought that perhaps we aren't worthy of the success. In some instances it revolves around fear of the responsibility that comes with achieving greatness or potential. Greatness often seems dangerous and overwhelming (like looking into the sun).

“Those who would shine must learn to endure burning.”
-- Viktor Frankl

The Bulls won't have too much time to enjoy the lofty ranking. They will get to look look straight into the mirror Thursday night when they face Rutgers, a team that has travelled on this road that USF currently finds itself on. Hopefully, Coach Leavitt is able to continue to pilot them around the tailwinds and turbulence that flying at this altitude can bring.

GO BULLS!!!

MAYBE THE ROCKIES ARE GOD'S TEAM

The Rockies approach, as noted in a post from 2006 cited below, has paid off in spades. They are in the World Series.

The pressure now turns to the Devil Rays to get there. The Marlins have made it to the World Series and won. The Diamondbacks have made it and won. And now the Rockies have made it and have a punchers chance, a David vs. Goliath chance I suppose if the Red Sox make it. The Rockies get to take some time off and realign their pitching rotation, but you have to think that as hot as they are, they would just as soon keep playing everyday. Just a historically phenomenal stretch run just to make it to the playoffs. A one-game, do or die against Jake Peavy to get in and now quick dust offs of the Phillies and the D-Backs.

Looking ahead to the Big Show, can there be a better potential World Series match up than Cleveland - Rocks ?? It's meant to be. Two newbies, another team with a long string of futility could finally reward it fans patience, putting further pressure on the Giants and the Cubbies to participate.

GO ROCKIES!!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

THIS IS FROM JUNE 8, 2006 POST @ Yahoo Discussion Board:

Interesting stuff from Dave Zirin and the "Edge of Sports". It must be difficult
for them to distinguish between those that can talk the talk, and
those that can walk the walk.

Sure every player says, "I'm a warrior", "I have what
it takes". They all think they have the requisite work
ethic and character. Most don't know what the word
character means.

Baseball is the ultimate character game however. And
it doesn't necessarily build character as much as it
reveals it. Although for most players, true character
is not revealed until times are tough and they can't
make the tough decisions, the right decisions. Sooner
or later, true character is revealed.

It's good to see an organization applying this type of
litmus test to it's players. While I'm sure it won't
be applied perfectly, I'll bet they will be able to
get rid of a lot of "players" and find out who the
true players are.

Too many organizations have the philosophy "We'd draft
Charles Manson if he could hit the curve ball or run
the 40 in 4.4." Who wants to see scumbags like that
succeed?

Go get 'em Rockies..weed out those with weak
character, you'll be better off in the long run.


Thu Jun 8, 2006 11:09 pm

Go Tell it on the Rockies: Baseball's Faith-based Team

This article can be found on the web at
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060619/zirin

by Dave Zirin

In Colorado, there stands a holy shrine called Coors
Field. On this
site, named for the holiest of beers, a team plays
that has been chosen
by Jesus Christ himself to play .500 baseball in the
National League
West. And if you don't believe me just ask the
manager, the general
manager, and the team's owner.

In a remarkable article from Wednesday's USA Today,
the Colorado
Rockies went public with the news that the
organization has been explicitly looking for players
with "character". And according to the Tribe of Coors,
"character" means accepting Jesus Christ as your
personal lord and savior. "We're nervous, to be honest
with you," Rockies General Manager Dan O'Dowd said.
"It's the first time we ever talked about these issues
publicly. The last thing we want to do is offend
anyone because of our beliefs." When people are
nervous that their beliefs will offend, its usually
because their beliefs are offensive.

As Rockies chairman and CEO Charlie Monfort said, "We
had to go to
hell and back to know where the Holy Grail is. We went
through a tough time and took a lot of arrows,"

Club president Keli McGregor McGregor chimed in, "Who
knows where we go from here? The ability to handle
success will be a big part of the
story, too. [Note to Keli: you're in fourth place.]
There will be
distractions. There will be things that can change
people. But we truly
do have something going on here. And (God's) using us
in a powerful
way."

Well, someone is using somebody, but it ain't God.
San Francisco
Giants first baseman-outfielder Mark Sweeney, who
spent 2003 and 2004 with the Rockies told Nightengale.
"You wonder if some people are going along with it
just to keep their jobs. Look, I pray every day. I
have faith. It's always been part of my life. But I
don't want something
forced on me. Do they really have to check to see
whether I have a
Playboy in my locker?"

Then there is manager Clint Hurdle and GM O'Dowd.
Hurdle who has guided the team to a Philistine 302-376
record since 2002, as well as fourth or fifth place
finishes every year, was rewarded with a 2007 contract
extension in the off-season. Hurdle also claims he
became a Christian three years ago and says, "We're
not going to hide it. We're not going to deny it. This
is who we are."

O'Dowd, who also received a contract extension,
believes that their
27-26 2006 record has resulted from the active
intervention of the
almighty. "You look at things that have happened to us
this year. You
look at some of the moves we made and didn't make. You
look at some of the games we're winning. Those aren't
just a coincidence. God has
definitely had a hand in this." Or maybe the
management that prays
together gets paid together.

O'Dowd and company bend over backwards in the article
to say they are "tolerant" of other views on the club,
but that's contradicted by
statements like this from CEO Montfort: "I don't want
to offend anyone,
but I think character-wise we're stronger than anyone
in baseball.
Christians, and what they've endured, are some of the
strongest people
in baseball. I believe God sends signs, and we're
seeing those."
Assumedly, Shawn Green (Jew), Ichiro Suzuki (Shinto),
or any of the
Godless players from Cuba don't have the "character"
Montfort is
looking for.

Also, there are only two African-American players on
the Rockies active roster. Is this because Montfort
doesn't think Black
players have character? Does the organization endorse
the statement of their stadium's namesake William
Coors, who told a group of black
businessmen in 1984 that Africans "... lack the
intellectual capacity
to succeed, and it's taking them down the tubes"?
These are admittedly
difficult questions. But they are the questions that
need to be posed
when the wafting odor of discrimination clouds the
air.

Then there are the fans. I spoke with journalist Tom
Krattenmaker who
has studied the connection between religion and
sports. Krattenmaker
said, "I have concerns about what this
Christianization of the Rockies
means for the community that supports the team in and
around Denver--a community in which evangelical
Christians are probably a minority, albeit a large and
influential one. Taxpayers and ticket-buyers in a
religiously diverse community have a right not to see
their team--a quasi-public resource--used for the
purpose of advancing a specific form of religion. Have
the Colorado Rockies become a faith-based
organization? This can be particularly problematic
when the religion in question is one that makes
exclusive claims and sometimes denigrates the validity
of other belief systems."

You might think MLB Commissioner Bud Selig would have
something
stirring to say about this issue. But Bud, who hasn't
actually
registered a pulse since 1994, only said meekly, "They
have to do what
they feel is right."

It's not surprising Bud would play it soft. First and
foremost, Bud's number one commandment is "Thou shall
not criticize the team owners." Also Bud and Major
League Baseball are experimenting for the first time
this year with something called "Faith Days at the
Park." As if last season's Military Appreciation
Night's weren't enough, the New York Times reported
yesterday that this summer "the religious promotions
will hit Major League Baseball. The Atlanta Braves are
planning three Faith Days this season, the Arizona
Diamondbacks one. The Florida Marlins have tentatively
scheduled a Faith Night for September. These religious
promotions are attractive to owners because they
leverage a market of evangelical Christians who are
accustomed to mass worship in stadiums at events
staged by sports-driven proselytizers like the Promise
Keepers and Athletes in Action.

As part of the MLB promotion, local churches will get
discounted
tickets to family-friendly evenings of music and
sports with a
Christian theme. And in return, they mobilize their
vast infrastructure
of e-mail and phone lists, youth programs and
chaperones, and of course their bus fleets, to help
fill the stands."

At one of the Faith Days in Atlanta, the team will
sell special
vouchers. After the game, the stands will be cleared
and then only
those with the specially purchased vouchers can be
readmitted. Those
lucky chosen "will be treated to an hour and a half of
Christian music
and a testimonial from the ace pitcher John Smoltz."
Smoltz is the
player who in 2004, opined on gay marriage to the
Associated Press
saying, "What's next? Marrying an animal?" Good times
for the whole
family.

The Rockies right now are a noxious reflection of a
time in US history
when generals speak of crusades, and the President
recounts his
personal conversations with Yahweh. ("You're doing a
heckuva job
Goddy!")

If Monfort, O'Dowd, and Hurdle want to pray on their
own time, more
power to them. But the ballpark isn't a church. John
Smoltz isn't a
preacher And fans aren't a flock. Instead using their
position of
commercial power to field a God Squad, the Rockies
might want to think about getting some decent players.
There was once this guy named Babe Ruth. Not too much
for the religion, and his character was less than
sterling. But I hear he could play some decent ball.

Dave Zirin is the author of "'What's My Name Fool?'":
Sports and Resistance in the United States. He is
speaking at the conference Socialism 2006, June 22-25,
in New York City, with Etan Thomas and Toni Smith. See
www.socialismconference.org. Contact him at
dave@edgeofsports.com

WHAT ARE THE ODDS?

I think I'd plunk down a few $$'s on the Cardinals or Devil Rays at these odds.

Interesting article from
From BaseballProspectus.com "Where Will Barry Bonds End Up in 2008" by Nate Silver


Based on a variety of factors related to need, money, culture, and geography, this is how I’d set the odds.

Padres 4-1
A’s 5-1
[Retirement] 6-1
Angels 10-1
Tigers 12-1 (Leyland's quotes would seem to take them out)
Giants 12-1 (Sabean's and McGowna's quotes would seem to take them out)
Orioles 25-1
Diamondbacks 50-1
Mariners 50-1
Rangers 50-1
White Sox 50-1
Indians 50-1
Yankees 50-1
Red Sox 75-1
Pirates 100-1
Braves 100-1
Cardinals 100-1
Mets 150-1
Devil Rays 150-1
Blue Jays 200-1
Phillies 200-1
Astros 200-1
Cubs 200-1
Brewers 200-1
Nationals 300-1
Dodgers 300-1
Twins 500-1
Reds 500-1
Rockies 1000-1
Royals 2000-1
Marlins 5000-1

CUBS FANS WILL ALWAYS HAVE THIS GOIN' FOR THEM, WHICH IS NICE

In the immortal words of Carl Spackler (Bill Murray) from Caddyshack I:

So I jump ship in Hong Kong and make my way over to Tibet, and I get on as a looper at a course over in the Himalayas. A looper, you know, a caddy, a looper, a jock. So, I tell them I'm a pro jock, and who do you think they give me? The Dalai Lama, himself. Twelfth son of the Lama. The flowing robes, the grace, bald... striking. So, I'm on the first tee with him. I give him the driver. He hauls off and whacks one - big hitter, the Lama - long, into a ten-thousand foot crevasse, right at the base of this glacier. Do you know what the Lama says? Gunga galunga... gunga, gunga-galunga. So we finish the eighteenth and he's gonna stiff me. And I say, "Hey, Lama, hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know." And he says, "Oh, uh, there won't be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness." So I got that goin' for me, which is nice.

So now the Cubs very quickly are down 0-2 in the series. But the Cubs have this goin' for them, which is nice:

The series is coming back to Chicago, where maybe the young D-Backs will get distracted and transfixed by the young T-backs in the Wrigley crowd, as demonstrated here:

AND DOWN THE STRETCH THEY COME!!!!

You have the Mets dying, the Cubs crying, the Phillies trying.....

3 games left and only the NL West is decided. The Cubs could clinch the Central but they have seemingly forgotten how to win one game.

Oh well, at least I got three of four of the AL teams right in my pre-season predictions (Tigers out, Red Sox in). If the Mets finish their gag job and the Phillies get in, I go 0-for the NL.

Maybe next year.

Interesting article by Nate Silver of Baseball Prospectus ranking the all-time gag-jobs:

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=6764

Mets would be 2nd all-time on his list, Cubs 12th. The 1964 Phillies and the 1969 Cubs are ranked surprisingly low using his methodology. Considering these are two of the poster-teams for late-season collapses. Silver highlights some others.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BONDS WILL NOT BE A GIANT NEXT YEAR

Nothing really shocking here. There was a good shot he might not have been in a Giant uniform this year (if the Giants had signed Soriano or Carlos Lee) so we'll go through the "Who's' going to want Barry Sweepstakes" again in the off-season.

Early possibilities:

Detroit - Leland's there and Sheffield. They should have won the WS last year vs. the Cards and this year, not even in the playoffs. That spells re-loading. They have the bucks to spend and the need for a bat. With the PR of the Aaron chase behind, it comes down to purely a decision based on wins and losses.

UPDATE - Leland has been quoted in the Detroit papers as saying Bonds will not be a Tiger next year, so scratch them off the list.

Angels - depends how well they do in the playoffs, as well as in the potential A-Rod sweepstakes.

Yankees - only if they lose A-Rod. Or if the Red Sox make a move first. But especially if the should lose A-Rod to the Mets. The Boss would have to make a back-page counter move and Andruw Jones just might not cut it after his sub-par year.

Red Sox - he'd look great in the lineup, but terrible in the back pages of the sports section here. Not a good fit.

Seattle - their late season swoon puts them in a let's-take-a-peak-under the-hood mode at the very least.

Oakland - possible for attendance bump. His high-OBA fits their approach. They would look for a hometown discount or an incentive laden contract. Or both.

Tampa Bay - looks good for attendance, and not by much. Doesn't help wins and losses much, he can't pitch. They may not want his influence on the young bats coming up the chain as well. Kind of silly thought considering where some of those prospects have been. He might actually provide a stabilizing influence on the youth.

Cardinals - only if LaRussa returns would they even remotely express interest. But Bonds protecting Pujols or vice-versa. Intriguing lineup possibilities. Need a speedy center fielder.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
POINT COUNTER-POINT FROM THE BLOG-OSPHERE RE: BONDS BYE-BYE:

From BaseballMusings.com

I hear Barry Bonds won't be returning to the Giants. Tim Kawakami sums up the reasons the Giants parted ways with Barry:

The Giants are still angry he held them up for ransom last year. Ridiculous action by Bonds. Hope he's happy with the $16M he got this year, but it cost him any shot at 2008.

(Plus the angry reaction from fans after the Giants caved to him last year shocked the heck out of management and told them that the Bonds love affair is over. That's why they signed Barry Zito, and that's a whole other problem.)

Will any team pick him up? Bonds is old, he's not playing much, but he's still very good when he does play. Would an AL team be willing to take him on as a DH? Or will 762 be his final home run total? I'm guessing the latter.

FROM OnlyBaseballMatters.com and Baseball Prospectus article by Joe Sheehan

http://www.onlybaseballmatters.com/archives/2007/09/23/mvp-redux/

BP’s Joe Sheehan tells it like it is, and it isn’t pretty:

…. The naked glee generated by this decision was embarrassing (links courtesy Buster Olney’s ESPN.com blog), with the San Francisco writers falling all over themselves to praise McGowan for cutting loose the best player in franchise history, the most productive player on the current roster, the best hitter in the National League and, dollar for dollar, one of the better values in the game. The press pool showed no recognition that Bonds remains an amazing player and an asset to any team, even one far from contention. Yes, he requires special treatment; is it some kind of news to everyone that the very best people in any line of work tend to get perks that separate themselves from their peers?

…. The Giants are free to run their team however they care to, but we shouldn’t persist in this fiction that Bonds is what stands in the way of the rebuilding process. The Giants, as effective as they’ve been in drafting and developing pitchers, have had little success with hitters. The Dan Ortmeiers and Rajai Davises populating the outfield and the lineup aren’t prospects, they’re MLB fourth and fifth outfielders who are being evaluated generously by virtue of not being Barry Bonds. The Giants have no prospects being blocked by Bonds, and if they did, they’d actually be being blocked by Dave Roberts and Randy Winn. As we saw with Alex Rodriguez and the Rangers, the team, the press and the public is focusing far too much on the best player with the biggest contract, rather than the money being wasted on the ridiculous contracts for inferior players throughout the rest of the roster. Bonds is worth the money; Ray Durham and Barry Zito, not so much.

Barry Bonds is still a great player. Concerned about how often he can be a great player for your team? At 41 and 42, he’s averaged 127 games and close to 500 PAs a season while playing in the field regularly. This notion that he’s a part-time player who can’t stay in the lineup is another of the myths propagated by the industrious San Francisco media. Bonds is just shy of an everyday player in the National League, and for an American League team, getting most of his playing time as a DH, there’s no reason to think he couldn’t play more often. Even at 125 games and 500 PAs, Bonds is a force to be reckoned with, and a team signing him would be in good position to add in some playing time for him in October.

The local media have portrayed Bonds like a serial killer, and he’s been nothing short of a consumate professional for 15 seasons. Steroid rumors? As Sheehan says, let me know when the guys who have actually tested positive for using steroids give money back, or their teams void their contracts, or give back wins. Until then, all that’s been proven of Bonds is that he’s the best player alive, and has been for almost 20 years.

2007 FOOTBALL GIANTS - WEEK 2

I don't miss Tiki Barber, I'm glad Coach Coughlin is back, The trade for Eli Manning (Phillip Rivers, Shawn Merriman and more) was a great deal.

I don't miss Tiki Barber, I'm glad Coach Coughlin is back, The trade for Eli Manning (Phillip Rivers, Shawn Merriman and more) was a great deal.

I don't miss Tiki Barber, I'm glad Coach Coughlin is back, The trade for Eli Manning (Phillip Rivers, Shawn Merriman and more) was a great deal.

I don't miss Tiki Barber, I'm glad Coach Coughlin is back, The trade for Eli Manning (Phillip Rivers, Shawn Merriman and more) was a great deal.

I don't miss Tiki Barber, I'm glad Coach Coughlin is back, The trade for Eli Manning (Phillip Rivers, Shawn Merriman and more) was a great deal.

Pass the Big Blue pitcher of Kool-Aid. I guess I should be glad that Strahan is back, why I don't know. I guess I shouldn't wonder why the Giants defense doesn't have a huge endorsement deal with a Swiss Cheese company. Pass rush non-existent, pass defense atrocious, they made Favre look like a Hall of, uh they made him look like a God. And we've already fired a defensive coordinator. Who's next?

And Brandon Jacobs doesn't last two games as Tiki's replacement. WOW, it's a good time to be a Giant fan.

FREE THE JENA 6

http://www.cosellout.com/?p=121

READ IT AND WEEP.
No, no racism here. Not in America, not today. We're too enlightened. BS.

And it boggles my mind that people will try to spin this as a story that can't possibly be about racism, it's about inequity within the justice system. Which relates to race.

Let's see if I'm getting it straight.

There's a tree on PUBLIC PROPERTY that is known as a "white" tree because historically only white people congregated there. ON PUBLIC PROPERTY?

Black kids felt they had to ask for permission to sit under the tree.

And when they did, the next day, there were nooses hung from the tree.

And the kid(s) who put the nooses under the tree said he did it as a joke, a prank? And he was surprised that it was taken so far. Cajuns have a rather unique sense of humor, I could see right away that this would not be taken as a joke by black folks and I suspect the kid and his parents understood as well. They didn't think it would get the attention that it did.

Racism is like that, it doesn't thrive well under the light of day.

This kid SHOULD have been beaten with a shoe. Although maybe not quite to unconsciousness, but beaten enough to knock the stupid out of him. This beating perhaps makes up for some of the proper child-rearing he wasn't getting in the past.

But it's not about racism? This article does a good job of framing the concept of white denial.

TIM WISE: WHAT KIND OF CARD IS RACE?
http://www.counterpunch.org/wise04242006.html

Every generation has said, nope, no problem with racism here. Why can't those people just shut up and get along? And although, yes progress has been made over the years, when you look closely, there are still some pretty ugly incidents that remind us that this is a cancer that is not entirely in remission. And like some cancers, it has the potential to come back.

I would think if some who don't see racism here could walk for a DAY in the black victims shoes, they would take that shoe and beat the tar out of somebody with it. If they had to suffer the same indignity, FOR ONE DAY. Never mind everyday. 24-7-365.

I would say if he beat the correct kid, I have virtually no problem with it. The kid who got beaten in error allegedly went to a party later that night. So aggravated assault? And a shoe as a deadly weapon? C'mon.

A deadly weapon is a gun, a knife a machete. A shoe is footwear, if someone comes at me with a shoe, other than my Mom, I'm probably going to have a hard time not laughing at them.

That's where the unequal justice comes in, but the whole incident stems from a hateful, racist act. If that doesn't happen, none of the other stuff does.

Seems like Jena hasn't progressed very far from the Rosa Parks era. Maybe some there need considerably more than a shoe to smack the backwardness out of them.

HAVE YOU GOT CHEATING ON YOUR MIND??

Rick Ankiel?
Troy Glaus?
Jay Gibbons?
Bill Belichick?

Cheating, in the context of a game or sport, is "violating accepted standards or rules". Period, it should be simple enough to understand.

Interesting how now that the feel-good story of major league baseball this season and now the genius coach of the NFL have fallen into the abyss of cheating, the Court of Public Opinion is issuing some softer rulings on the subject.

The same guys who come down hard on baseball have just gone flaccid now that football is placed under the moral microscope.

It's gamesmanship. Mangini is a snitch. He violated the "code". The same "code" Canseco was lauded for violating. The code being another way of saying "accepted standards or rules" whether they are written or unwritten.

We don't really know if what Ankiel was doing to rehab a pitching injury helped him as a hitter.

The Pats Super Bowls aren't tarnished one bit.

Yeah, because then we have to start rethinking the budding legend that is Tom Brady. Does his star shine as bright with one or two Super Bowls erased from his resume. Or asterisked. Not saying Brady cheated, but he and his team clearly benefited from said cheating. And we don't want to knock down the legend that is Tom Brady, yet now do we?

It's good to see the Court of Public Opinion put away the hanging noose and start thinking a little more liberally. Would the opinions expressed about Belichick be the same if the coach under the gun were Dennis Green or Ray Rhodes?

As far as the baseball side, regarding this recent tendency to explain away HGH use as some sort of recovery from injury, some modern form of therapy--be advised that this is not recommended by any therapeutic modalities I'm aware of, not recommended by any reputable surgeons that I'm aware of, and you certainly would not need a years supply anyway when typical therapy sessions to recover from injury or surgery do not last more than six to eight weeks in most cases. Certainly not in the cases cited above.

How long will it be before baseball does something about both the Cardinals and Orioles organizations? Both seem to have been in the middle of too many of these bad-news stories regarding steroid-HGH-alcohol abuse. Maybe some sort of NCAA-style, lack of institutional control penalty might be in order. Especially for the Cardinals, who seem to be very belligerent in defense of their behavior (see LaRussa and GM Walt Jocketty), which only increases their level of culpability in my mind.

I have to wonder if the Patriots have been doing this as well as some of the other nefarious methods they've been accused of doing to win games lately, one has to wonder if the the number of Super Bowl rings for Tom Brady (3) vs. Peyton Manning (1)
could conceivably be reversed if they were playing on a "level playing field".

And who would be considered more of a coaching "genius" if the results of past Colts-Patriots matchups leading up to a couple of Super Bowls were reversed. Wouldn't Tony Dungy be the "genius", possibly one of the greatest coaches of all-time?