mstar1

Well since you are doing dedications--I'll send this one to old VP as well, I know she wrote the song about someone else but it always reminds me of Veepee Eliza Gilkyson ...watch out people we're gonna get fleeced by a wolf masquerading as a man of peace....

Click for Music For those of you who appreciate church music, the next time you are in New York City check out St Thomas Episcopal Church on 53rd and 5th Avenue. I was there yesterday on unrelated business and walked into a Lessons and Carols service that was, even though it is generally not my 'thing', extraordinary and perfect to elevate my sense of the season...They have one of the best music programs in the country--if you are ever in NY dont miss it--- Happy Advent to you all!

"I only had one beer officer" I dont know about you guys but in days past when I imbibed, I said that more than once, regardless of how much I had to drink...and I also never knew how that mysterious roach got under the seat--It mustve been that 'hitchhiker' I picked up.... I can only speak for myself but the more vehemently I argued back then, the more I was most likely lying. I could be projecting and I could also be wrong but Roger reminds me of that. Looking at the arc of his career gives me ( I am not a court of law) enough evidence to believe that it is true. The Arod interview looked a little too scripted to me to be comfortable. It reminded me of the Bill Clinton interview with the loving wife by his side after he had been accused of being with Jennifer Flowers. It looked too played and rehearsed as if ARod was using it as a PR offensive to change his public image. It didnt help that Katie Couric was throwing him softball after softball since it was out her her area of expertise. and.....I just found this vid....I happened to be in NYC yesterday---I think this is the guy I was talking to.. div#main{overflow:visible;}

Having never read "Juiced" I cant say what his percentages were (30%?--50%?--60%?--more?)but I could see the possibility of it being close to accurate whatever it was -- My highschool had a rampant underlying drug culture that nobody thought much of in the early 70's because "everybody did it". It was hidden, more or less accepted and "winked at" until a Life Magazine article surprised and outraged the town. The school system promised a 'crackdown' and investigation but nothing ever really happened. A small handful get some sort of disciplinary action each year for show ...but the underlying drug usage is still happening there 35 years later. Looking back I would estimate about 70% of the students I knew at least dabbled in drugs and experimented, a lesser percentage were more serious committed users. The kids in the old neighborhood tell me its still about the same..ie more than not Within a peer group, whether High School or MLB where certain things are tacitly accepted, and swept under the rug as they have been for a generation or more, its not beyond the pail to think that the percentages and patterns of usage within the groups, and the inner dynamics could be similar. Canseco of course is an attention whore and is trying to make a buck wherever he can. This doesn't change the fact that he's intimately familiar with the PED black market and has been accurate so far in many of the things that he has stated Whatever you may think about him as a person, (and yes, I think he is a scumbag)Jose Canseco has earned himself some credibility on this subject.

It was Canseco who said he did, he took alot of heat when his book came out, But, Im trying to think, has Jose ever called name and been wrong? also (especially for Rock) DBacks acquire Danny Haren For a young team on the cusp like the DBacks that could put them over the top imo Nice deal by Josh Byrnes

Anabolic/Androgenic Steroid Use and Aggression --A Review of the Evidence My guess is that Mitchell also knows how time consuming, expensive, detrimental financially and far reaching this would be for the business of baseball as well and concluded that the best course of action overall for MLB is to fix the problem now and move on. MLB is a 6+Billion/year business and has never been more popular. This has been quite an accomplishment after the PR fiasco of the '94 strike where fans left baseball in droves...but the resurgence in part has been driven by the steroid assault on records and accomplishments that can capture the public eye. IMO many high level executives of the game turned a blind eye and were complicit in allowing the steroid era to continue for far too long because it was extremely profitable to allow it. Where would you draw the line? You cant ban everyone in the game, and for everyone who did get caught or was implicated, tried, and banned there would be several that covered their tracks. Practically The best you probably could have would be scapegoats who take the brunt of the punishment for a more widely pervasive problem, like the Black Sox of 1919. It would put a swift halt to the problem if the penalties were as severe as in 1919 and it would be fine with me to clear up this mess for once and for all. Nobody is bigger than the game

Hi excie- I spose the short answer is that you have to do it under a doctors ( a real doctors) care...there were bogus "fill out the prescription having never met the patient" doctors named in the report as well who sold HGH in large quantities illegally over the internet There is a long section in the report regarding HGH which I dont want to try to recount without reading again (Ive been up quite awhile) so I wont go for the Pettite thing right now --maybe I'll give it a shot tomorrow (another blizzard is coming..ugh..which should give me some time....) As far as Clemens goes, he fits the profile, if there is such a thing as a profile, to a "T", athletes just dont have their best years in their forties. He was mediocre at best his last years with the Red Sox (about 10 years ago) and went through an amazing resurgence that fits within the time frame of the investigation. The witness risked severe jail time by federal authorities if he lied in any manner, he had nothing to gain and could only lose by lying... Im no expert on these matters but if I was innocent and had been accused, I would personally--- myself---not a spokesman, not a lawyer--but myself be on every news channel the next day and announce my lawyer would file a libel suit within 48 hours. He was given an opportunity to talk to the commission and refused. So far, as when the Canseco book came out, there is lot of bluster and pretended outrage but not alot of backing it up with what would seem like appropriate and logical action. To me it doesnt look good for him...In one sense those named should all be thankful that one of Senator Mitchell's first recommendations was not to punish players in the report, I dont know if I would be quite so charitable. I would have no problem striking any records from the books and banning them for life if they were found guilty

Id have no problem with a lifetime ban

What got in your tea? A thanks might have been in order, I thought you might like to see them.. Anyway Heres the new main entrance which is one helluvan improvement to me over what they have now Edit: For some reason the pics wont post direct Heres the links http://www.baseball-fever.com/attachment.p...mp;d=1197160931 another of the main entrance; http://www.baseball-fever.com/attachment.p...mp;d=1197160941 Its a lot closer to the original (below) than The weird hotel lobby looking thing that is there now

damn wont let me post mulitiple pics

You know its gotta be a snow day in Massachusetts when you see me perusing these.. Still.. for those who care--here are some recent progress pics on the new "House the Taxpayers Built" Yankee Stadium

There will always be a way around it if someone is desperate enough.The least they can do is make it difficult (no more packages mailed directly to the ballpark is a good start!) and let them know that no one is going to turn a blind eye anymore and that it will no longer be tolerated. If the chances of getting caught increase. threat of expulsion is real, and the difficulty in acquiring them covertly increases, few I would guess would be willing to risk their high paying careers

I just found this which I thought was an interesting insight: http://yankees.lhblogs.com/

That was one of the major points that Mitchell made early on yesterday, introducing the man whose son committed suicide. Whether they like it or not ballplayers are in the public eye and rolemodels . MLB has to take its responsibility to society at large seriously... Interesting, I wondered if the O's dumped him when they did, (the day before the report) knowing there was alikelihood he would be named.. I also wonder if teams can void contracts if a player was named. I sort of doubt it as the players association is too powerful. That wasnt my point Im not excusing the players who werent caught, and I wouldnt call being caught for cheating, while some werent, an injustice. They cheated, they got caught They all deserve to be named, but unless this thing goes on for years and years it would never happen. They still get all the spoils with little or no penalties. Individual players arent even really the point, the point is to clean up the game and work a way to end it. I dont know about that. IMO it would be the worst thing that he could do. The exposure has happened, granted he is in a delicate postion but his job is also to protect the nonsteroid enhanced players from playing under an unfair disadvantage. If he doesnt act for the good of those players who are the future of the MLBPA he will look really bad btw I have Game 5 of the ALCS on, Sox are down 3-1 in the series to Cleveland but up 4-1 in the 7th, Beckett is looking good! My money is that the Sox will come back

Yes there will be chants and maybe there should be, I have hard time feeling sorry for anyone who makes tens of millions of dollars, who doesnt face any type of prosecution, who had an opportunity to answer for themselves and turned it down, and now feels bad because their name has been sullied.. Life is full of injustice, nobody is going to burn anyone in an oven or lock them in prison indefinitely without a trial, the worse that will happen is someone wont get a small bronze plaque in a little building in upstate NY and will have to live on the meager savings that they earned while defiling the game Boo Hoo The response so far reminds me of the Canseco book, when several were "outraged", yet no lawsuits resulted... If someone is innocent, sue Mitchell for libel

14 Red Sox, 17 Yankees. Red Sox in Report: Manny Alexander Mike Spinelli Paxton Crawford Jeremy Giambi Josias Manzanillo Roger Clemens (post-Boston) Mo Vaughan Chris Donnels Mike Lansing Kent Mercker Mike Stanton Eric Gagne Brendon Donnelly Steve Woodard Yankees in report: Giambi Sheffield Clemens Pettitte Knoblauch Rondell White Grimsley David Justice Glenallen Hill Denny Neagle Ron Villone Todd Williams Mike Stanton Kevin Brown Dan Naulty Josias Manzanillo Hal Morris Here is a section on Gagne (Good Luck to the Brewers..) This was in November of 06, Im assuming that his first half performance with the Rangers, as well as the fragility of Okajima brought on the trade at the dealine in 07, although it still sort of surprises me that they would go forward with it, unless the scouting of thje first half of 07 over rode this one email.. It could have been any team that was implicated, as it was, the primary two informants that would talk happened to be associated with NY teams, so its natural they took the brunt of the hit. If I know anything about drug dealers its that for every two that you detect there are a whole pile that you dont...If law enforcemnet had busted someone from St. Louis, or Seattle, or Miami, or Baltimore, or Boston instead the list may have looked completely different.. The list which was looked forward to is a relatively minor part of the whole thing, I think the point Mitchell was making is how pervasive PEDs are , and some were 'unlucky ' enough to get caught as examples to that end.. I would be willing to guess thatthere were hordes more who are breathing a huge sigh of relief this morning that their names were not included because their sources were from somewhere outside the scope of the investigatiion I cant believe that some of these guys signed their names on checks....or like Gagne had it mailed directly to them at Dodger Stadium

I just finished reading the summary and recommendations intro to the report a second time, a little slower this time and I have to say I am impressed. Mitchell gets it. He realizes that looking back to the past is necessary to influence the future, but doesn't think everyone should be focused on naming names and getting "a list". He debated not including names, but correctly concluded that it would have hurt the credibility of his report for it to be anonymous. The blame is placed proportionally on everyone involved, and he definitely recognizes the own limitations of his own investigation, such as the lack of widespread sources, the lack of cooperation, and even the lack of usefulness of looking to the past. His recommendations are very logical, and fairly easily implemented. I had my doubts about the usefullness of this report (and still do). IF Selig took these suggestions to heart, then it would be well worth the money. At the least, I encourage everyone to read the intro (it's about 35 double spaced pages, and it's a quick read). Judging from his press conference, I still think Selig is an idiot for 2 reasons: 1. He claimed not to read the report thoroughly. He's had 3 days to do so before anyone else. If he hasn't read the biggest MLB story of the year, he's even more inept than I thought. I'm still inclined to think he's a liar. 2. He disregarding the FIRST recommendation of the report: not to discipline players. If the point was truly to "move on" then he should focus on the changes that need to be made, not on punishing people for transgressions 2-9 years old. I just wanted to give credit to Mitchell...

Well you have to wonder what the natural abilities of some of the smaller names on the list would have been without it. There were a lot of names not on the list that i would have expected because that fit my preconceived "profile" (Trot Nixon gained about 30 lbs between 03 and 04 and his slugging went up about .100, he then went on to get injured and declined steadily after testing became regular) Others, like Clemens , who was 40-39 his last four years in Boston, then jumped to 41-13 during his 2 years in Toronto seemed likely and were named. The players that were named bought from the wrong guys and (what the heck were they thinking?) paid by check or did something else that was traceable... I gotta go Bud is about getiing ready to speak....although it was partially veiled he was implicated in this whole mess as well

I missed that I was reading the report AND half listening to him on ESPN- multitasking is not my forte

If you are interested the names start on about page 145 or so. I honestly dont know what will happen to most of those guys many of them were breaking federal laws, whether it could stand up in court i sdoubtful, it doesnt seem to have been Mitchell's intent....I do hope that his recommendations will be adhered to and this period can finally be over.....

Clemens name is in the report no less than 83 times, I cant find Varitek but I havent read the whole thing yet. there were alot of leaks that werent right.... The Mitchell Report

Nice going Michael, I always did like him, calling Jeter was a cool extra touch.. as for me ---Its a snow day,a good old New England whiteout, the fridge is full and the World Series DVD (I should say 8 DVD set) just arrived. Im good!

...when Reagan was President... ha.......I remember a playoff game at Fenway against Oakland in 87 or 88 where the entire park was chanting Ste... Roids... Ste... Roids when Jose Canseco came up to bat.. that was almost 20 years ago......Selig even within the last few years has had the audacity to say he had no knowledge that illegal substances wre being used on his watch.....yea right...... There'll be a lot of sacrificial lambs tomorrow but the ones who should have been watching over and protecting the game I doubt will even be mentioned. This could be a real mess

Neither am I---I thiought it was interesting that the O's just traded Miguel Tejada to the 'stros, right after I posted that story....with his relationship with Palmiero a few years back I have to wonder if the timing of the deal is in part due that they may be expecting him to be named in the report tomorrow.... ?? dunno--timing was odd though

Im a little leery of PECOTA--especially with japanese players, but I have to honestly say I havent really studied it all that much either. If his .401 projected OBP comes true I can see them batting him up in the order somewhere, at least it would make sense, but I have no idea exactly what Sweet Lou and the Cubs organizations plan is for him. I may be wrong but I think Japanese players ( well outside of Ichiro) generally have atendency to be down in their numbers during their first year adjustments. That guy who wrote the article was alittle quick on the draw to start laying out the batting order a few hours after the signing... any bets on who's in the steroids list?? someone is gonna have their christmas ruined....