Mitchell Report

Wow.

Now this one just hurts - I don't really like Bonds or half the other athletes involved in Balco or any other steroid scandal but Roger Clemons has always been a favourite of mine, back from since when I was a kid. I've seen him pitch a dozen times and he's never lost when I was there. I've seen him pitch as a Red Sox in Toronto, and as a Blue Jay on several occasions. I've been to Boston to see him pitch as a Yankee at Fenway and I was at Yankee stadium when Roger got his 300th win and 4000th strike out during an inter-league game against the Cardinals (the first time they had played at Yankee Stadium since the 1964 World Series).

It was supposed to be Roger's training and conditioning - along with gift from God - which propelled him into baseball history and not steroids and/or human growth hormones (HGH).

What does this say to the young kids that looked up to Roger. If you tried your best, and worked your ass off you were supposed to be able to make it. If you trained and practised harder than anyone else then you'd be ready for the big games. If you studied your opponents and built an arsenal of options you would be able to defeat them.

So now you have the best hitter in baseball history, and the best pitcher in baseball history effected by steroids. What about the others then? What about Greg Maddux? The only guys ahead of Clemons and Maddux on the all-time win list weren't even the modern era of baseball. The old guys were starting 45 games in a 128 game season. No five day rest for them. Seasonal numbers for them would be 28 W and 17 L. Not like Rocket going 20-6 in just 33 starts, or Maddux going 19-2 in 28 starts. That's what makes (made) Roger special. He was supposed to be using his 5 days rest to build up his body and getting ready for the next victim - Rocket wasn't supposed to cheat. I'm not ready to throw baseball out the window just yet, but if Greg Maddux gets wrapped up in steroid talk, that's the end of it for me.

Keeping up with the Jones'

The IOC has officially stripped Marion Jones of her medals and has effectively wiped her from the athletic record books. Good for them. The results from the 2000 Sydney Olympics will now read:

Women's 100m Final - (Jones finished in 10.75secs)
1 E Thanou (Gre) 11.12
2 T Lawrence (Jam) 11.18
3 M Ottey (Jam) 11.19

Women's 200m Final - (Jones finished in 21.84secs)
1. P Davis-Thompson (Bah) 22.27
2. S Jayasinghe (Sri) 22.28
3. B McDonald (Jam) 22.35

Jones finished third in the long jump, and event which wasn't her "specialty" and was part of the American sprint team which won the 4X400m relay and placed 3rd in the 4X100m relay. My feelings are such that the entire US team should be diaqualified and metals taken back as an example to everyone.

It was obvious from day one that she was on something. The whole Balco thing wasn't known at the time, but having someone absolutely destroy the rest of a world class field doesn't happen without a little bit of help. In just the two events above Jones won easily by .37secs and .43secs respectively. To give you a sense on how far ahead she was, the current first place holder was only .07secs ahead of the current 3rd place finisher in the 100m and .09secs ahead in the 200m. And there's still the second place finisher between them !! We're talking about world class athletes, the kind who wake up and 4AM and train well into the evening, participating in government funded programs. Maybe not in programs as well funded as the US programs, but still funded enough so that these athletes can focus on their sport and their attempt to bring home a gold medal on the world's largest stage.

Jones' boyfriend, Tim Montgomery - also a disgraced US sprinter who used steroids, won medals but then got caught and had his medals stripped - watched Jones' use steroids and even administered it to her. - birds of a feather...

While I'm sure that everyone agrees that using steroids (especially the products like 'the cream' and 'the clear') is cheating, is taking these products criminal ? In the whacky world which surrounds Barry Bonds does taking steroids, or being tested positively for steroids, really constitute a federal investigation or prison time? We are still talking about sports here. Taking steroids and beating a record is completely different than one professional golfer assaulting an opponent with a three iron. Apparently the only criminality involved is that these products (Tetrahydrogestrinone; a.k.a. THG, the clear) are banned by the FDA. A Federal investigation insues over the issues and Barry Bonds, Jones et al. purger themselves before a grand jury [smart move guys because now that's a problem]. If only MLB would operate like the IOC then the US Government wouldn't have to get involved. At the end of his career - perhaps just a day or two after retirement - MLB announces that Barry Bonds' accomplishments will be stripped from the records of MLB; Hank Aaron will still be home run champ; and erase everything to the point where if someone looked up Bonds' stats on Wiki or Baseball Reference there wouldn't be anything there. No recognition, no hall of fame, and maybe a lawsuit or two from sponsors and teams. Perhaps only baseball card collectors would benefit financially and it could start a resurgence at O-Pee-Chee. Barry Who ?