The List

In February it was revealed that Alex Rodriguez's name had been on a list of major league baseball players that had tested positive for steroids in 2003. The media had a field day with the information and A-rod was faced with a media circus. The list was supposed to be anonymous but someone had leaked his name to the press allowing everyone to find out what most had assumed.

Today 2 more names from that same list were revealed to the public: David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez.

Now I am of course a Red Sox fan and this revelation means that during the 2004 season in which the Sox won the World Series, led by Ortiz and Manny, key members of the team were on steroids.

Am I upset about this? No. Am I surprised by this? Not really. Does this taint their World Series victory? Not really.

Let's start with whether or not I am upset. The short answer is no. Does it bother me that players on my favorite team took drugs in order to be better? No. Then again I have never really had a problem with steroids. I have a problem with the lack of punishment for using steroids but not with idea of taking steroids.

For instance I have written in the past that I think Manny and A-rod should have gotten greater punishments for their crimes. I still stand by that. If you get caught cheating you should be suspended in a meaningful way. That means you sit out either the last 50 games of the season or the playoffs. You don't sit out the first 50 which often times can be meaningless and in reality only give players needed rest allowing them to return for the stretch run healthy and fresh.

So what I am trying to say is punish Ortiz. Hell for the first 50 games he was a corpse anyways and more of a burden. Now he is hitting again but still he deserves to be punished if he did in fact break the rules.

Now on to whether or not I am surprised. Of course not. The past 10-15 years of baseball have been called the "steroid era" so obviously I am not surprised when two big time home run hitters, in the case of Ortiz a true out of nowhere story, test positive for steroids. I wasn't surprised when A-rod got caught and I am especially not surprised now.

I mean if you look at Ortiz's career it would be a bigger surprise if he was clean. Before he came to Boston his career high in home runs was 20. In his first 4 years with the Red Sox he hit 31, 41, 47, and 54 home runs.

It seems that no one in baseball is clean anymore and everyone is guilty until proven innocent. I include Ortiz in the column and as of right now he is guilty. I still love him though and he is still one of my favorite players.

Lastly do I think this taints the 2004 World Series victory? Once again I am going to say no. On the list that revealed Ortiz and Manny as cheaters there are over 100 other names. Now this more than likely means there is at least 1 player from each team on that list. I can only assume then that every team had some steroid users.

I might also use the defense that Ortiz and Manny didn't win every game on their own. Someone still had to pitch and play the other positions on the field. I know Ortiz had some clutch hits that kept the Sox alive against the Yankees but in the end there are 20 guys on that team that are probably clean that all helped to win that title. It would be wrong to take away the work others did because of the poor decisions of two members of the team.

One thing I did want to touch on was this list. This list of players that is coming back to haunt Bud Selig and MLB. For some reason Selig has decided that instead of releasing every name on the list and dealing with the situation in one sitting he would rather just let names be leaked out gradually bringing negative attention to baseball intermittently.

Maybe Selig doesn't have the list or doesn't know who is on it but I think he does. I mean he must right? The main thing to know is that the testing was supposed to be anonymous. The Players Association is already taking legal action as they are suing those who have broken the confidence of the testing.

The most interesting perspective on the whole situation came from Nomar Garciapara who played with Ortiz and Ramirez and was in Boston today as the Red Sox were playing the A's. Nomar said that he knows of many players who refused to be tested which would result in an automatic admission of guilt. He claims players did this because they wanted testing in baseball and they assumed the tests would remain anonymous. This is interesting because over 5% of players tested positive during this test period and MLB officials said that if over 5% tested positive they would implement mandatory random testing.

So Nomar is claiming that players wanted testing and felt that not subjecting themselves to this test, which would as stated above result in them being deemed guilty, would be the best way to go about getting testing.

Maybe Nomar is saying this because his name was on the list as well or maybe it is the truth. In either case this was not the route Manny or Ortiz took. In a statement he released today Ortiz said, "Based on the way I have lived my life, I am surprised to learn I tested positive." This obviously means that he didn't just refuse testing but allowed himself to be tested and was caught.

Either way this whole story is one that will allow the steroids and baseball talk to continue. As for the Red Sox or as Baby J has now dubbed them the "Roid Sox" they will go about business as usual. I'd come up for a clever steroid related nickname for the Blue Jays but they are so irrelevant it wouldn't be worth my time. The Sox will continue to win games and continue to be a threat in the AL. Whether they do it clean or on the juice I really don't care. I don't watch sports to learn about values and morals.

One last thing. If there is a God then Derek Jeter will be the next name revealed on this list.

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The Death of Moneyball?

Lately I have been reading a lot more. In the past month I've read Exile on Main St. by Robert Greenfield, Breaks of the Game by David Halberstam, Dynasty by Tony Massarotti, and my all-time favorite book Moneyball by Michael Lewis.

I actually finished Moneyball tonight only hours before the start of the Red Sox game where they were actually facing the Oakland A's.

As I watched Josh Beckett shut down the A's for 7 innings I of course started to wonder about how far the A's of today have come from the teams described by Lewis in Moneyball. I mean there isn't one good player on the entire A's team. There is no one in their line up that I was worried about hitting a homer, or even getting a hit for that matter, and at no point was I worried about getting into their bullpen.

To put it plainly the A's suck. Their best player was Matt Holiday who they just traded this week for a new load of prospects who will then be traded for better prospects who will eventually win a World Series in 7 years, or so A's GM Billy Beane and avid Moneyball fans would have you believe.

The fact of the matter is that the Oakland A's are not a competitive team and for all of the praise for Beane and his new way of doing things the A's as an organization haven't been very successful during his tenure.

Beane was hired in 1998 after serving the A's as an advanced scout for almost 10 years. Then 36 he was the youngest GM in baseball history. Not only did he bring youth to the job but he also brought about a new way of doing things. Beane and his new staff of "nerds" changed the way people analysed baseball players and introduced the world to sabermetrics. This is merely a fancy way of saying analysis of baseball through objective evidence.

Beane and the Oakland A's front office were determined to have a low pay roll but still be competitive.

Beane found almost instant success as for the first 8 seasons as GM the A's had a winning record and even won 100+ games in 2001 and 2002. The A's made the playoffs 4 years in a row from 2000-2003 and were the talk of baseball. However for all their success their was one problem: they hadn't won a single playoff series. They never made it out of the first round.

Baseball purists were able to look at Moneyball and laugh as no matter how many games the A's won in the regular season they couldn't win in the playoffs.

That changed in 2006 when the A's swept the Minnesota Twins in the 1st round only to be swept themselves in the 2nd round by the Detroit Tigers.

Since that last defeat to the Tigers the A's have gone 192-229 and have failed to make the playoffs.

This season the A's are off to their worst start since Beane took over as they are 41-57 and currently sit 17.5 games back of the division leading LA Angels.

People are no longer referring to Beane as a genius and have simply written off the A's and the Moneyball strategy altogether and it is not hard to see why. Beyond the failings of Beane and the A's there is the evidence supporting the theory that large payrolls lead to World Series titles.

Since 1998, when Beane took over as GM of the A's, only the Florida Marlins and the Arizona Diamondbacks have won the World Series with a payroll ranking in the bottom 10 teams in baseball. This is in sharp contrast to teams like the Yankees, Red Sox, White Sox, Angels, and Cardinals who all have budgets greater than $100 million and have all won the World Series titles.

The facts are plain. Moneyball is proving to be an ineffective strategy over the long term. To prove this one need look no further than Beane and the A's. Since he took over the team in 1998 the A's have gone 976-804, made the playoffs 5 out of 11 years, won a total of 11 playoff games, won 1 playoff series, and have won 0 titles.

Many people will obviously debate this by pointing out the success of the Tampa Bay Rays last season and their minuscule payroll. To them I need only point out that the majority of players on that team were playing under rookie contracts which will inflate greatly over the next few seasons giving Tampa the opportunity to remain a small market team or join the rank of big budget contenders.

Moneyball as a strategy worked for Beane for a time because he was doing something that no one else knew about. His team valued stats like OBP and wanted different kinds of players than any other team. This allowed Beane and the A's to get the players they wanted with little opposition.

Now that Moneyball has been written every team in the majors have brought in stat guys and have begun to take from what Beane and the A's created. This does not mean that Moneyball has evolved but rather that sabermetrics have become more predominant in baseball and the teams with more money are able to outbid the A's.

Beane and his staff in Oakland created something ingenious that eventually would prove to be impossible to maintain. Once the winning formula was taken all that remains is yet another small market team that doesn't have the wallet to compete with the big boys.

Unfortunately for Beane because of this his legacy is being tarnished with every game Trevor Cahill pitches and every catch Eric Patterson fails to make. Every time he trades away a star for a group of players that no one has ever heard of he is second guessed.

The lack of new superstars currently playing for the A's have only served to hurt Beane and made people question whether his methods are successful or not. Common sense seems to be winning out over creativity. If you trade away your best players for players who one day may be good your product is going to suffer. If you continue to do this your product will continue to suffer.

Could it be that Beane has gone too far and has ruined the very creature he created? Or is that he is lulling everyone into a false sense of security so that the A's can drop another 100 win season on MLB and produce some more Rookies of the Year and Cy Young winners?

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Building a Winner

Just over a year ago I did an article where I built my own NHL dream team using actual player salaries and the actual NHL salary cap. Since the NHL season is quickly approaching I thought that I would do it again and see how much my team has changed/improved/worsened.

I got the salary info from http://www.nhlnumbers.com/.

After reviewing my team I challenge you to come up with a better one. Also try and justify or explain why you made certain choices instead of just copying and pasting a team.

Keep in mind that the salary cap for the upcoming year is $56.8 million and that you must have a full team. 12 forwards, 6 defense, and 2 goalies. Also for fun choose a coach.

Here is my team: the Las Vegas Hot Dice (in a tribute to the Roller Jam team)

Forwards

1st Line

C Evgeni Malkin – 9

LW Alexander Semin – 5

RW Martin St. Louis - 4

2nd Line

C Jonathan Toews - .850

LW Zach Parise – 3

RW Patrick Kane - .875

3rd Line

C Ryan Kesler – 1.75

LW Alex Burrows – 2

RW Bobby Ryan - .765

4th Line

C Darren Helm - .500

LW Milan Lucic - .685

RW Kyke Okposo - .850

Defense

Brooks Orpik – 3.75

Kris Letang - .685

Shea Webber – 4.5

Nicklas Lidstrom – 7.45 (Captain)

Niklas Kronwall – 3.25

Luke Schenn - .875

Goalies

Cam Ward – 3.5

Ty Conklin - 1.2

Total = $54.43 million

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So there is my team. I personally feel like they would dominate the league and I even left myself a little extra cap space in case I need to sign someone else. Now obviously I picked some guys whose contracts will expire at the end of the season but all in all I think it is a great team.

OK so now on to the justification. When building this team I started with the goalies and then worked my way forward. Cam Ward was an easy choice for goalie seeing that is young (25), experienced (won a Stanley Cup), and can single handedly win games. Ty Conklin was an easy choice at back up as well as all he does is win games (in his NHL career he is 73-43).

Moving on to the defense. I feel like there is a good mix of offense and defense here with the whole unit being anchored by arguably the best defenseman of my generation in Nicklas Lidstrom. Now I know I always bag on the Leafs and give Bryan "Red Rings of Death" Cruse about Luke Schenn but in the end his contract was too good to ignore. Add to the fact that he will be able to learn from quality defensemen and I think he would develop from a pylon into a player.

Do I really need to justify my forwards? NHL point leader (78 of those were assists so he knows how to share the puck) Evgeni Malkin playing alongside play maker Martin St. Louis and notorious tough guy Alexander Semin is a winning combination. The 3rd line is pure shut down and smack talk as you know Burrows and Kesler will cause problems for opposing teams while still lighting the lamp. Throw Bobby Ryan in there, even though he isn't a 3rd line player, and you are rolling 4 lines of talent so good not even the Net Detective could stop them.

Lastly I need to pick a coach. Since Scotty Bowman is out of the game I will have to go with the next best guy and pick Mike Babcock. I was contemplating Ted Nolan but I felt he might try and sleep with all the player's wives which would cause some problems. The guy is a proven winner, 282-139 coaching record, and has won the Stanley Cup. He also knows how to handle big egos which this team is full of.

So there is the Las Vegas Hot Dice and their Head Coach. Now it's your turn. Use the site I used and build your own team and copy and paste it into the comments section. Just know that every team posted will be fighting for 2nd place.

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Athletes and Rape

I am going to start this article out by saying that I despise Ben Roethlisberger. In an older entry in which I covered the 5 athletes I would like to punch in the face Roethlisberger came in at #3. I hate everything about him, from his stupid face to the way he is over rated by the media as being somehow comparable to Tom Brady. The point is I do not like him.

Having said all that I am 100% supporting Big Ben as he tries to defend himself from allegations of rape from a Lake Tahoe woman.

It was reported over the weekend that Roethlisberger had been accused of rape by a 31 year old Hotel hostess. Roethlisberger spoke to the media for the first time today and said that the allegations were "reckless and false."

The woman claims that Roethlisberger lured her to his hotel room by claiming that the TV was broken. Once she entered the room she claims that he forced himself on her and proceeded to rape her.

BS!

I don't care if she gets hooked up to a lie detector test and passes it didn't happen. Did they have sex? More than likely yes. Did he rape her? No way in hell. Big Ben may look like a complete idiot but he is a smart guy. Add the fact that right now he is the biggest NFL star on the planet and you realise that he doesn't need to rape women to get laid.

Yea I said it! So what? You know it is true.

The man is a multi-millionaire who just won his 2nd SuperBowl in less than 4 years and you think he is going to rape some hotel hostess? Not likely. The woman is just in it for the money. The best way to prove I am right is by pointing out the fact that she hasn't filed criminal charges against Roethlisberger. To me this shows she only wants the money. If she had truly been raped don't you think she would want the man that raped her in jail? Think on that.

All that happened in that hotel room was that Roethlisberger stopped thinking logically. Being a world famous athlete he should know that the last thing you ever want to do is be in a room alone with a random woman and have sex. Did he learn nothing from Kobe?

Athletes everywhere should have learned from the mistake Kobe Bryant made. To all of you who think Kobe is guilty simply click this link http://www.collegecharlie.com/katelyn_faber_globe1.jpeg. That is the girl that Kobe apparently raped. You're telling me that one of the biggest athletes on the planet is going to jeopardize his career, marriage, and life to have sex with her? Come on now be smart.

Now I am not saying that every athlete who gets accused of rape is innocent but for the most part the women are usually lying. A prime example is the Duke Lacrosse case in which a young woman claimed she had been raped by 20 members of the team. She later claimed it was only 3 and then even later revealed that if never actually happened.

This is such a critical issue for athletes that is was covered in the show Prime U. Prime U was a show on the NFL Network where Deion Sanders brought in perspective NFL players and got them ready for not only the NFL Combine but also for life in the NFL. In one of the episodes he had a supermodel come in and talk to the young men about the dangers women can provide and how they need to be careful.

Deion went on to tell stories of former teammates who had been accused of rape or of fathering children that weren't actually theirs. He said many of them paid off these women to avoid media attention. Sanders himself was falsely accused of fathering a child and chose to take the legal road to prove his innocence.

Whether Roethlisberger raped this woman or not his name and reputation have now been dragged through the mud. He has been called a rapist which is one, if not the worst, things to be called. Is he a rapist? No. He is just a 26 year old man who wasn't thinking clearly and allowed himself to be put into this position.

Stay strong Ben *raises right fist in the air as a sign of solidarity*

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Being Realistic

I often get accused of having no love for Toronto teams because my favorite team isn't the Toronto Blue Jays and I hate the Maple Leafs. Well there is one Toronto team that I love, the Toronto Raptors.

I have been a Raps fan since the organization was created in 1995 and will continue to be a fan even if they continue to remain mediocre. Yes I love them but they are a mediocre team that will never win a championship until certain things change.

Before I continue with the Raptors there is something I want to go over quickly. Basketball is the one sport in which 1 single person can have the most impact. While 1 person can make a difference in baseball, hockey, or football they cannot win a championship by themselves and they cannot carry a team by themselves.

This is because basketball is a 5 on 5 sport where 1 player can play the entire game if needed. This means that the best player on your team can always be involved in the game and having an impact. This is obviously not the case for the other sports mentioned.

The point I am trying to make is that when looking at a basketball team the success the team will achieve can closely be linked to who their best player or players are. In the NBA analysts usually look at the best 3. This philosophy has always been popular but has gained increased usage since the Boston Celtics won the NBA championship in 2008 with the "Big 3."

So any basketball team will be judged based on who their best 3 players are. In the case of the 2009 NBA Champion LA Lakers their best 3 players would be Kobe Bryamt, Pau Gasol, and Lamar Odom with Kobe being the best player.

Now that I have gone over that let us return to my Raptors.

The best 3 players on the Toronto Raptors are Chris Bosh, Jose Calderon, and Hedo Turkoglu with Bosh being the best. Now these 3 players are not good enough to win an NBA championship. They are good enough to be a competitive team that will make the playoffs but they lack the talent to win a title.

This is a fact that cannot be disputed. In order to prove my point I need only compare them to the other teams in the Eastern Conference. So here is a list of their main competition and their best 3 players.

Boston - Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen

Cleveland - LeBron James, Shaq, Mo Williams

Orlando - Dwight Howard, Rashard Lewis, Jameer Nelson

Miami - Dwyane Wade, Michael Beasley, Jermaine O'Neal

Washington - Gilbert Arenas, Caron Butler, Antawn Jamison

All of these teams have a better "Big 3" than the Raptors. Are all of these teams championship contenders? No. The Heat and Wizards do not have the talent to contend for championship titles but I feel they have a better chance than the Raptors.

The main problem that the Raptors face is that they treat Chris Bosh as if he can lead them to a championship. I personally feel like Bosh will only ever win a title as the 2nd best player on a team as I don't think he possesses the skills to lead a team to a championship. Now I may be wrong on this but so far in his career there is no evidence to prove me wrong.

Don't get me wrong he has the stats. He is a fantasy league All-Star but that is because he is the primary scoring option. To further prove my point look at the list of 'best players' that have led their teams to titles since the Raptors became an organization:

Michael Jordan

Tim Duncan

Kobe Bryant

Kevin Garnett

Dwyane Wade

Shaq

Note: the 2004 Pistons are the exception to the rule here as while they did not have 1 amazing player they had a starting 5 of really good players a feat I feel may become impossible as the NBA evolves.

These are all GREAT players. Hall of Fame players. They are the kind of players that can take over a game and put a team on their back and win. They can demoralize a team with their play and can strike fear into their opponents with their mere presence. Chris Bosh is not that type of player.

The Raptors are trying to stay competitive in a tough Eastern Conference but it is getting tougher. They need to make a move that will change the balance of power and make them NBA Championship contenders. They need to stop trying to appease Bosh by signing guys like Turkoglu and instead make a play for a 2010 free agent. Get that 'best player' that will lead the team to the Finals and a title.

Until they do this they will remain a mediocre team with no hope of winning a championship.

I am not saying this because I am a pessimist. I am just being realistic.

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Call Me When Something Interesting Happens

I did not watch 1 minute of the British Open this weekend. Not even 30 seconds. I usually don't start watching a golf tournament until the weekend and once I found out Tiger Woods had missed the cut I decided this was one Major I would skip. Plus who can be bothered to wake up before noon?

I personally don't feel like I missed much but don't tell that to any sports writer in America because they will have you believe it was a British Open for the ages.

Tom Watson, age 59, was attempting to become the oldest man to win a PGA Major but was defeated in a 4 hole playoff by Stewart Cink. Watson had a chance to win the tournament but choked on an 8 foot putt that would have won it.

The tournament is being heralded as one of the greatest in history. To someone who makes this claim I have only one question: why?

Tell me why a 59 year old irrelevant golfer beating a younger irrelevant golfer is so significant.

Cink has only 6 PGA wins in his 14 year professional career and before Sunday he had never won a major. His last tour win occurred just over a year ago at the Travelers Championship.

Watson has 39 PGA wins in his 38 year career and has won 8 Majors with the latest being in 1983 when he won the Open Championship. He hasn't won on the PGA tour since 1998 and has been out of the spotlight for quite some time.

So these are the two men who apparently made the British Open worth watching. A former great and a mediocre player.

Watson was the star of the story as people kept trying to make it seem as though being the oldest man to win a Major was impressive. To them I have only one comment. It's golf.

Being old and winning at golf isn't impressive to me. It is not a physically demanding sport and is the only major sport in which people compete well into their 60s and sometimes 70s. I mean they have a Seniors Tour!

Show me Watson leading a football team to the SuperBowl at age 59 and I will be in awe. A man age 59 doing well at golf, who cares? This is merely the media trying to make a PGA event without Tiger interesting.

The only impressive thing that Watson did was play 18 holes without having to run to the bathroom every 5 minutes.

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Dealing With Defeat

I was listening to the BS Report today with Bill Simmons as he was interviewing Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Love and heard something very interesting. The two were discussing various Timberwolves related issues which of course led to Simmons asking Love about the loss of Al Jefferson, or "Big Al" according to Love, last season. Love began answering the question by bringing up the instant losing streak that occurred after that happened and how hard it was for him to deal with personally.

Simmons of course seemed taken aback by this a little but then quickly pointed out that Love had been a winner throughout his entire playing career. Love went on to explain that from the time he was 13 years old he had always been on winning basketball teams and thus did not know how to deal with losing very well.

That statement by Love interested me greatly as I never really thought about losing from the perspective of a perpetual winner. I was determined to see if Love was actually as successful as he had claimed. Turns out he is.

In the 2 years that he started for the Lake Oswego High School varsity basketball team the team went a combined 47-10 winning the state championship in 2006 and coming 2nd in 2005. Love also played in summer leagues as a high schooler and in 2006 he led the Southern California All-Stars to a record of 45-0. That is a combined record of 92-10 as a high school player.

The winning would not stop there however as Love went on to play at UCLA where more victories came his way. During the 2007-2008 season Love led the Bruins to a record of 35-4 and an appearance in the Final Four where they were eventually defeated by the Memphis Tigers.

Adding all of victories up that gives him a record of 127-14. Unreal.

At this point Love and defeat are not on a first name basis as the two have hardly met. Unfortunately for Kevin Love he will be drafted by the Memphis Grizzlies and traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves where his long run of success would finally end.

At the end of the 2008-2009 season the Minnesota Timberwolves will have lost 58 games. That means that in one season Kevin love will have lost 4 times as many games as he had lost in his entire organized basketball career. That is something that I don't think anyone can be prepared to deal with.

I used the example of Kevin Love only because he was on the BS Report. There are countless cases of players having success throughout their entire playing career and then going to a garbage team.

Kevin Durant won multiple High School national championships and had a 31-7 record as a college player but lost 62 games with the Seattle SuperSonics in his first season in the NBA.

Matthew Stafford was 28-2 as a starter in high school and 30-9 as a starter in college but was drafted by a team that in one NFL season lost more games than Stafford ever has.

Now both Love and Durant have found personal success at the professional level and Stafford may as well but as almost any athlete will tell you it's not the personal achievements that matter. The only thing that matters is winning.

In his interview with Simmons Love spoke of how during the Timberwolves longest losing streak, 12 games, everyone gets angry and depressed and after the games "everyone has their heads down and the locker room is just really quiet." These are some of the ways in which athletes dealing with losing. It is something that most people, I assume, are just not prepared for.

I would imagine that going into the NBA one of the last things Kevin Love thought about was trying to deal with being on a bad team and losing lots of games. He may have understood that the team wouldn't be a championship contender but in no way can you mentally prepare yourself for losing 12 games in a row. Not when you have never lost more than 3 games in a row in your entire life.

Just one of those little things about sports that an observer would never really stop and think about.

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