James Leroy Wilson's one-man magazine.

Friday, August 05, 2005

Steroids in Baseball

Rafael Palmeiro's ten-day suspension for steroid use, not long after recording his 3000th hit, reminded me of a caller named "Iafrate" on Jim Rome's annual Smackoff a couple of months back.

Iafrate's point is that he has a problem with baseball players who do not take steroids. They know they are one hitting slump from having to say, "Do you want horsey sauce with that?" Ex-baseball players are about the most useless members of society.

To illustrate, Iafrate imagined the Major Leage Baseball Spelling Bee. First contestant: Andruw Jones.

"Andruw, spell Andrew."

"Oh, me know! Me know! A-N-D-R-U-W."

"Ohhhh, sorry. As every freakin' LITERATE English speaker knows, Andrew is spelled A-N-D-R-E-W. Thanks for playing. Next contestant, Shawon Dunston."

So perhaps we shouldn't judge Palmeiro too harshly. What else was he going to do with his life, cure cancer?

1 comment:

  1. i commented on steriods at the zone last week - with a similar view, altho it was before the infamous dirty leak from the league office.
    i think that the sports press and MLB has suddenly fostered a lot of anti-latino black sentiment - probably because of players elite status due to immegration. The SF rant against the Giants was funny, but uncalled for. If Robin Williams or Billy Crystal had made the cream of wheat crack, people would be rolling. But Alou really doesn't need that kind of crap. The Giants are competitive in their division and Jason Schmidt sure looked good beating Pettitte and Houston last night.
    But notice how the press becomes insidiuos when they choose a target to go after. Kenny Rogers couldn't get the press outta his neighborhood. Gary Sheffield has some unique opinions, but he is right - they fear him and matsui alot more that jeter and a-rod. But jeter is the hardest working heads-up know the game player - look where he was on the field in the 2001 series.
    Point is, if the press supports a player, he can get away with anything - Ball Four - but if they wish to hound you - as a public figure your privacy is dead meat. And that's just plain wrong.
    Leaking information in the Palmiero case should bring congressional inquiry - at the same level of the Plame case. Who spilled the confidential beans? Inquiring fans want to know.

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