McGwire comes clean, Vulture yawns

You may recall that a wrote a screed last week against Major League Baseball and the mouth-breathing writers who vote for the Hall of Fame. In that screed, I pointed out at least twice that Mark McGwire, currently being held out of the Hall in spite of being 8th on the all-time home runs list because of suspicions that he was a steroids user, had never been proven to have purchased or used any illegal substance during his career.

Life being the irony-fest that it is, less than 1 week later, McGwire came clean.

"It's time for me to talk about the past and to confirm what people have suspected. I used steroids during my playing career and I apologize," McGwire said in a statement released through the Cardinals. "I wish I had never touched steroids. It was a mistake. I truly apologize. Looking back, I wish I had never played during the steroids era."

Okay, he used. Does that change my opinion regarding his place in baseball's Hall of Fame. Hell no!

People forget in these wussified times in which we live what life was like in the 60's, 70's, and 80's for athletes. This was the era of the Lombardi legacy. "Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing." An athlete felt obliged and was even actively encouraged by coaches and trainers to do absolutely everything and anything to get an edge on the competition, regardless of the ethics or long-term repercussions. Winning NOW was all that mattered.

Of course athletes who grew up in that era used steroids! They weren't illegal in many cases until the 90's, and...wait for it...they WORK!

Old timers like Bob Feller are now bitching about McGwire being a liar and a cheater. Hey Feller! Go die or something! Nobody born since 1950 gives a rat's ass what you think! Of course the old timers are going to bitch! It's THEIR records being shattered by the modern athlete!

I stand by what I wrote about the mouth-breathers who comprise the Hall of Fame voters. These sanctimonious prigs just LOVED McGwire when he and Sosa saved baseball in '98. It's only been since steroids became an easy story line that they've turned on McGwire and professed shock - SHOCK! - that he could have been using! And, make no mistake, lazy-ass sports writers just LIVE for an easy story line. That it might destroy someone's career or legacy matters not one whit. I wonder, if you followed the Hall voters around, how many would be found to be alcoholics, or marijuana users, or cocaine users? Probably more than you think!

So baseball, and Hall of Fame voters in particular, why don't you join Bob Feller in my previously expressed sentiment? Drop dead!

A pox on baseball

The cartel known as Major League Baseball makes me want to puke. I grew up the hugest of baseball fans from around my 11th birthday right up until the 1994 season (and World Series) was flushed as billionaires and millionaires fought for more loot. That was it for me. Baseball just wasn't fun any more.

And for a couple of years after that, you couldn't pay me to watch a baseball game. Once my youngest son became a baseball fan around 1996, I would watch games with him. But that was it. Baseball was dead to me.

A lot of baseball fans shared these feelings with me. A lot. And then everything changed. Why? Because Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa staged a home run race for the ages in 1998. Suddenly I was reading the box scores again, just like in the old days. I was back. A lot of fans were back. That historic home run race saved baseball's bacon.

McGwire had been one of my favorite players on the A's during their late-80's heyday, and I always liked how he was the anti-Canseco. So naturally I rooted him on. He was my favorite player of the late 90's, and when he retired, so did I. I reverted to my pre-1998 form; baseball was again dead to me.

When McGwire retired, it was obvious that he had played a Hall of Fame-worthy career. 583 career home runs tend to get noticed by Hall voters.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the Hall of Fame. The steroids scandal broke. Players suspected of being "users" were paraded before Congress in yet another of their "try to make tonight's media soundbite" useless hearings.

McGwire came away from the hearings damaged. It was said that he was evasive and didn't answer questions posed to him by the crooks in Congress, making him look guilty. McGwire became the poster child for the steroids era. Mind you, there is no legitimate proof anywhere that McGwire ever purchased or used any illegal or banned product during the course of his career. No matter. The lazy a-holes who write sports columns for a living had their sacrificial lamb, and they flogged him relentlessly in their columns.

These are the same writers, mind you, who RAVED about how McGwire and Sosa saved baseball in '98. Hypocrisy anyone?

You might say, "So? Who gives a rat's posterior what those mouth-breathers think?" The problem is - those mouth-breathers are the voters for the Hall of Fame!

McGwire has been dissed on every vote since he became Hall-eligible about 4 years ago. The most votes he has received has been 128. It takes 405 votes (75%) to enter the Hall. So, out of 539 Hall of Fame voters, less than 25% will vote for a player who ranks 8th on the all-time home runs list, just because of the STILL UNPROVEN taint of steroids associated with him.

Since McGwire became Hall-eligible, these are the players elected to the Hall.

2007 - Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken
2008 - Goose Gossage
2009 - Ricky Henderson, Jim Rice
2010 - Andre Dawson

Gwynn, Ripken, Gossage, and Henderson are legitimate Hall of Fame players. But Rice and Dawson? Are you effin kidding me? Neither of those guys could hold McGwire's jock!

To add insult to injury, Bowie Kuhn, the Commissioner who nearly killed baseball in the 70's, was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2008. Bowie Kuhn???? WTF?!?!?!

Those who vote against McGwire say he cheated. Excuse me, but Gaylord Perry admitted in his tell-all book that he threw an illegal vaseline ball for most of his career! That's cheating...but Perry is in the Hall.

They counter that by saying that McGwire set a bad example for our youth by using steroids. You want bad examples? Babe Ruth was a drunken womanizer, as were Mickey Mantle and Whitey Ford. Tris Speaker and Ty Cobb were virulent racists. Each of those individuals is in the Hall.

The latest bit of idiocy put forth as a valid reason for denying McGwire the Hall is priceless. A talking head on some stupid ESPN show (is that redundant?) said that McGwire wasn't Hall-worthy because "he only really had 6 exceptional seasons." Really? Sandy Koufax had 4. He's in the Hall. It could be argued that Jim Rice only had 5. He's in the Hall.

Hall voters, your idiotic and flimsy excuses for excluding McGwire are growing tired. Baseball is tired. Both of you should go away.

Congratulations, Hall voters! You're the recipient of the newly unveiled Wiener Award!

Performance-enhancing drugs

When you see the words "performance-enhancing drugs", what do you think of? Professional athletes, of course. Uh...according to the British journal Nature you might want to rethink that stereotype.

Twenty percent of scientists admit to using performance-enhancing prescription drugs for non-medical reasons, according to a survey released Wednesday by Nature, Britain's top science journal.

The overwhelming majority of these med-taking brainiacs said they indulged in order to "improve concentration," and 60 percent said they did so on a daily or weekly basis.

Scientists. I should have known.

Over 1,400 scientists responded to the survey. Over one third of them said they would administer the drugs to their children "if they knew other kids at school were also taking them." Unbelievable.

The performance-enhancing drugs most commonly utilized by professional athlete consist of substances (steroids, human growth hormone) that assist in "bounce back" -- the time needed to recuperate from heavy weight lifting or other exertion. When "bounce back" time is reduced, the athlete is able to work out more frequently and thus improve their strength, speed, and endurance more rapidly as well. In other words, these athletes are "healing" themselves so that they can perform at peak efficiency.

And what of the scientists?

The survey focused on three drugs widely available by prescription or via the Internet.

Ritalin, a trade name for methylphenidate, is a stimulant normally used to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, especially in children. Modafinil -- marketed at Provigil -- is prescribed to treat sleep disorders, but is also effective against general fatigue and jet lag.
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The third class of drugs included in the survey was beta blockers, prescribed for cardiac arrhythmia and popular among performers due to its anti-anxiety effect.

Uh-huh. Speed and anti-anxiety drugs. And they feel absolutely no remorse about abusing them, either.

In the survey, 80 percent of all the scientists -- even those who did not use these drugs -- defended the right of "healthy humans" to take them as work boosters, and more than half said their use should not be restricted, even for university entrance exams.

The next time you hear some preachy droning head prattling on about how awful it is that professional athletes are using performance-enhancing drugs, remember this: none of us are pure on this count. My coffee and energy drinks, your tea, his speed, her Valium. We're all looking for an edge. And we all take shortcuts.

But doesn't it make you wonder what other shortcuts these scientists are taking?

DW weighs in

I may have created a monster. :)

DW is the first to take advantage of the new "Comments/Suggestions/Thought of the Day" widget. Any input I receive via this mechanism will be posted to the blog, unedited, with minimal commentary by the Vulture. It's your chance to shine.

DW's first post mostly concerns his belief that we should hold our noses in November and vote McCommie.

Wa Holy Crap! This is probably the first time ever one of my humble suggestions have been posted. So, with all this I can now give a shout out to the following: Hi Mark, Mike H, John F.
My condolences to the fine people of my beloved ex state of MD. At least the Dems voted for the better choice. GOP - You tried. I still stand by my original notion that the country is safer with McCain than ANY of the choices offered. It is interesting to read up on all of the canidates and what they stand for. McCain is NOT the best Rep. I know he is for a lot of things I am not. I am however in support of the freedoms we do have.

Next DW opines on the major grandstanding and asshattery that is going down in Washington this week.

Why in the wide wide world of sports is the Congress so consumed with steroid use in Baseball? Too much government. Baseball has always been berry berry good to me. Who the frick is congress to even question Roger Clemens? Lets talk about some of their indiscretions. Ass Licks

Ass licks, indeed. Well said, my friend.