Sunday Blogging While Drinking And Watching Baseball

I'm going to try something a little new today on the blog. If it works, great. If not, then I will scrap it. Heres whats going down: I'm going to post on an article (more on that later) while drinking beer and watching the red sox-braves game. Heres where things get interesting, though. I'm not drinking your standard Budwiser, Coors, or Miller. Oh no, I'm getting serious. I'm gonna be throwing back some 7.3% Molson XXX, baby! So pretty much, once I finish my first two, things should start to get interesting. We'll see how this plays out. And with that, here comes beer #1 (popping top off of bottle with lighter even though they are screw off. )

Alright, I'm just saying this now. I like Jeff Pearlman. I thought "The Rocket That Fell To Earth" was an awesome book. In fact, I read it in one sitting, it was that good. I also like that he is open to criticism. But I'm getting really, really sick of the talk that people that used steroids or any kind of PED would just be some scrub struggling in the minors without any kind of juice. I've known kids that played in HS and took steroids, guess what major league team the play for now? They dont, because they sucked and didnt have the talent with or with out PED to play professionally. I will concede that they will enhance performance, but they will not make Manny Alexander a HOF caliber player, no matter how much he uses. With all that said, I just cant let this slide by.

Steroids are still talked about today because of people like you, Jeff Pearlman. The media keeps shoving how evil they are down our throats. Thats why its still news. I like how there are articles to this day still blasting McGwire, Sosa, Bonds, and Palmeiro, but everything involving Tony La Russa seems to be forgiven and forgotten. Where are the articles going after him? It was only 2 years ago. I think what he did is far worse, and more dangerous than anything the aforementioned players did. The fans are ready to move on from steroids, Mr. Pearlman, please stop writing about them. Also, maybe you guys could stop invading other peoples right to privacy. That would be nice. Okay, on to the article.

It is widely known that performance-enhancing drugs help baseball players.

It sure didnt help the majority of these guys out too much. A better term would be "widely speculated" because I dont think there is an actual study out there that proves that they do enhance performance. If anyone knows of any that I dont know about because I'm too lazy to look it up, please let me know.

Alex Rodriguez is a baseball player.

This is true.


Alex Rodriguez used performance-enhancing drugs.

This is true as well. How did we find out about that, by the way? Oh yeah, by violating court orders. Thats great, isnt it? Off topic, but I think my favorite thing about this whole steroid/balco/ any PED thing is when a supreme court judge asked Jeff Novitsky if the fourth amendment had been repealed. I just think thats awesome. I wonder if there was an awkward silence after?

Alex Rodriguez presumably no longer uses performance-enhancing drugs.

As of Friday morning, Alex Rodriguez is batting .223.

Hmm ...

Dear Jeff Pearlman,

Please stop writing like Bill Plaschke, you are way better than that.

Sincerly,
Bottom of the Barrel crew

Okay, I know I'm just a blogger, but you just made a claim that AROD is sucking because he is "presumably" off steroids, yet you fail to mention that he is coming off of a very serious hip injury. Why wouldnt you mention that? I think that is somewhat relevant, dont you? Not to mention he took the less major surgery so he could get back and help his team.

Alright, I'm going off topic again. Does anyone else feel sorry for AROD? I mean, the dude just wanted to be liked. He signed a huge contract because the owner was stupid enough to give him way more than anyone else was offering. Then he tried to restructure his contract so he could go to the red sox, but the union blocked it. After that, he gets traded to the yankees and switches positions--even though he was the far superior player--because the "captain" didnt want his ego hurt. Then the steroids, poor media coverage, choker label, ect....

(Opening 2nd beer)

And yet in the days and weeks since Rodriguez's highly anticipated return to the Yankees' lineup, the media has racked their brains trying to figure out why the All-Star third baseman has morphed into a reenactment of Wayne Krenchicki: The Baltimore Years.

I dont know, maybe the hip injury is nagging him? This is followed by 3 resonable quotes (with one from Steve Phillips. Weird.) Then its followed by this money quote:

Jeff Pearlman, SI.com: "He's not that good."

I cant believe you just said that. You. Are. Not. That. Stupid. Jeff. Right?

Again, I know. I know. Blasphemy!

Its not blasphemy, its just a stupid statement.

Why is it that, when PED-implicated ballplayers return from lengthy absences, we never ask whether their non-drugged selves will live up to past greatness?

You name me one ball player--PED user or not-- that has come back from a major injury, lengthy suspension, or any kind of long time away from the game, that has come back and picked up where they left off. Off the top of my head I can only think of Ted Williams.

In Los Angeles, the Dodgers anxiously await the July 3 return of Manny Ramirez, who was suspended 50 games for failing a drug test. After initially protesting his guilt, Ramirez slunk off into the abyss -- a guilty man hoping that, with time, all things pass.

I think they have. Judging by the reaction he got from the fans at the Isotopes game, where he was cheered.

At 37, Dale Murphy was batting .143 with no home runs in 26 games with the Rockies. Duke Snider was batting .210 with four homers and 17 RBIs for the San Francisco Giants. Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio and Roger Maris were retired.


At age 37, Ted Williams was batting .345/.479/.605, with 24 HR. What a fucking juicer, that Ted Williams. No man at that age could put up those numbers without using something.

At age 37, Willie Mays was batting .279/.372/.488 with 23 HR, in a shitty hitters homepark. Juicer? Or maybe he was on amphetimines, which he has admitted to using, and are banned by MLB.

Hank Aarons 37 season he batted .327/.410/.669 with 47 HR.

There are just as many examples of players playing well at age 37 as there are ones that are shitty. Those are just the first 3 I looked up. I'm just trying to prove that is possible to play well when you are older without steroids. Hence, all the older HOF players.

Nobody wants to touch this issue, because it's Kryptonite," said Howard Bryant, author of Juicing the Game, the brilliant steroid-era book

Sure they do. Look at this article that you are being quoted for. Look at what happens when you type steroids into google news.

But how do we know players like Manny Ramirez aren't steroid-fueled creations? We don't know anything about why he used or how long he used. But we do know he used. So if he's actually not using, what's really there?"

Yes, because steroids helped to shape mannys picture perfect swing. He had no talent when he was drafted out of HS, he just took some steroids and learned to hit a baseball like no other RH hitter in the game outside of Pujols. What a stupid statement. I'm going to now take some steroids and see if I can make the local independant league baseball team. If that happens, I will buy into the steroids make shitty players good.

When someone like Jason Giambi apologizes for his drug usage, then never recaptures his past greatness, we seek out excuses.

You know who else used PED's? HIS FUCKING BROTHER!!!! Yeah, that was a pretty sweet HOF caliber career he had, wasnt it? He didnt even have any past greatness to get back to.


Thats basically the end of the article, there are a few more sentances, but none I felt needed to be commented on.

Sorry guys. I only made it through 1 1/2 XXX's. I just wasnt feeling it. Maybe next weekend when I dont have to work the next day, I'll try to get reckless and make a blog post. On that note, I'm done with the post. Hope everyone enjoys their Sundays before going back to work tomorrow.