A conversation about MLB, on the field, off the field.

Wednesday, January 31, 2007

From the Basement January 31 07

Well, what's the chatter today?

Barry Bonds, the man everyone ( except me ) loves to hate.

Random thoughts re Barry today:

He opted out of the PA licensing agreement in 03, to the best of my knowledge he remains not part of it. Will the PA hold this against him? He might well need their lawyers, cheaper than paying for it himself, what with all the sabre rattling from MLB about not ratifying his contract and the Giants stipulation that if he is indicted they can cut him loose. Lots of speculation about how enforcable that would be.

Does MLB honestly believe that there will be a fan backlash as a result of Bonds breaking Ruth's record? Or are they just wacking his pee pee to appease the fans? I think the latter, this will be the biggest story in sports this year. I believe no publicity is bad publicity. I'll be shocked if attendance is down in 07. Bet your ass, finger waggling moralists across America will be flocking to their home parks in droves when Barry comes to town to express their contrived outrage.

Congress made some noise today about stepping in to clean up the game if George Mitchell doesn't get the cooperation from players and management that he wants, the threat of subpoena is powerful. You have to wonder though if this story was orchestrated by Mitchell himself. Somebody, Barry? is going to pay for everyones sins and then we can all move on.

Speaking of steroids, Sammy, one of the incredible shrinking men, signed with the Rangers. I heard somebody say recently that he is the size of a jockey. Will he make the team? I say yes unless he stinks in spring training. I can only conclude that the Rangers think the novelty will put some butts in the seats, and if he gets close to 600 that will generate a lot of interest. Sammy is still a celebrity. Will he be scorned like Barry? No, because the fans soak up all that false humility that Sammy exudes. Baseball been berry.......I love the fans......bs. Barry's the opposite, I'm the greatest and I don't give a shit what you think. I prefer Barry.

Why did the Jason Grimsley HGH scandal die? Because Caucasian ( in the extreme ) American sports legend Roger Clemens had his name linked to it?

This about steroids but not necessarily Barry. Many baseball fans, including me, wonder why our game is ridiculed far and wide over performance enhancing drugs while the NFL receives in comparison very little criticism. Stephen Brunt in the Globe & Mail has an excellent column on this subject today. He quotes one of his readers on this subject "Baseball is the game of American myth. Football is the game of American reality." Wonderfully stated and I think true. Read Mr. Brunt - I haven't figured out yet how to stick the link in to the blog ( sounds sexual).

Baseball stuff I read today NOT about drugs.

Blue Jays sign Victor Zambrano. Why not. When he was healthy he was better than the stats, he played for awful teams in Tampa Bay with awful bullpens.

Baseball America published their Top 10 Pirates prospects today. No surprise, Andrew McCutchen is #1. If he comes to Ottawa this year ( he'll probably start the year in AA) I hope to see him. Good things appear to be happening with the Bucs. Fellow canuck Jason Bay is the best kept secret in Canada, he's a great player.

Maury Brown of Bizofbaseball.com reports that John Kerry is concerned about the MLB Extra Innings out of market package being available solely on DirecTV. Arlen Specter has been making hay with it as well, can you say anti-trust? Kerry is currying favor with Red Sox Nation, and Specter is going to bat for his Pennsylvania home boys at COMCAST on this one. Specter has been threatening the NFL over this same issue, their out of market package is on DirecTV as well. I hate politicians. The bigger picture, there is a showdown looming between pro sports leagues and cable. Cable is pissed, see the NFL Network story as well.

3 comments:

swbkrn said...

Baseball is the game of American myth . . . perhaps, but this simply represent a point in time. The fans need to demand a change . . . lookup www.livetrue61.com

Eric Toms said...

Thanks for the comment I am genuinely flattered that somebody read what I posted.

My reaction to your comment? Dude it's time to retire your bong.

Seriously, I went to the website you mentioned, I applaud the goal but the reality is that MLB is a great big industry, like it or not all decisions that govern it are about the dirty, rotten, filthy, stinking money. But hey it's still a great game.

Did you read my earlier post on steroids?

For additional info go the Sports Economist website, there is a link on my page and read the January 25 posting about steroids in the game.

Please come back to my blog sometime.

page fence said...

Steven Brunt is from Hamilton.
Actually he is from Westdale.
His kids (my kids age) do lots and lots of drugs