Wait, Mariotti Didn't Disable Comments On His Fanhouse Column? Sweet.

I managed to forget Jay Mariotti existed, to the point of completely forgetting to put him on my "People I Hate" list. Unfortunately he is still writing and StevieY directed my attention to his latest post. After clicking the link, I immediately went to see if comments were still enabled. After reading the comments on his first post, I assumed they would be disabled. To my surprise delight, they were not. As a precursor to these great comments, his story was some nonsense about how Obama has to take a harder stance against steroids or else Mariotti will start crying or something. Here's the comments that made me laugh the hardest:

jmy5686@yahoo.com said...
Stop being so self-righteous and acting as though your life is crumbling right before you because A-Rod or Bonds took steroids. You sound like you go to sleep a night, crying on your pillow because some athlete wanted to gain an edge. Honestly, I wish there was a steroid that would enable you to write a good column for a change.

meeus said...
Mariotti, you are SUCH a loser!!! Ronnie "woo woo" Wickers is more qualified to cover baseball than you!!!

chilco said...
OBAMA IS LAUGHING at MARIOTTI AS HE FIRES UP ANOTHER KOOL CIGARETTE. HE STOCKS THEM BY THE CARTON IN THE WHITEHOUSE PANTRY.

koos458 said...
Mariotti is a utterly useless piece of self-promoting crap.

jonathan said...
You couldn't make it as a journalist and your blogging days should be numbered too. All you ever write is nonsense.

Feel free to post your own comments on his story. Be careful though, I think he survives on hair gel and hate mail.

So Who's Really Left?

The not-so-surprising revelation that A-Rod took performance enhancing drugs for a few years, along with the information that upwards of 100 other players tested positive in 2003 brings up many issues and questions, but I just want to focus on one. Are there any pure home-run hitters left out there that are above suspicion of steroid use?

I'm writing this without doing any research and I'm just using memory and common sense, so let me know who I have missed in the comments. I have no idea who is above suspicion anymore. I think for a while, A-Rod got a pass. Then came Canseco's comments and what seemed like a shifting of public perception about baseball players and steroids in general.

So here are some names to think about: Pujols, Ortiz, Thome, Howard, Morneau, Andruw Jones, and Griffey. These are some of the better home run hitters of the last ten years; are any of them really above suspicion? A lot of these guys, most notably the first four, have typically avoided too much scrutiny because they have always been huge. Thome in particular just has that country strong look, while Pujols was a big guy putting up big numbers consistently.

Griffey seems to be the one that would surprise people the most in the group. His body has obviously gone through physical changes, but how much is simply aging? Plus, Griffey has been hurt an awful lot during his career and has had trouble coming back from those, something not typical of PED users.

Then you have another group of guys who don't look the part of a steroid user: Soriano, Utley, Luis Gonzalez, and Torii Hunter. What about these guys though? A-Rod seemed to fool people with a slow progression from slender to roided, could these guys be doing the same?

The ramifications of this era are yet to be seen. What will be the effect on the record books? Public perception? We'll see, but for now I think it's safe to say that after A-Rod and especially if this 2003 list is released in its entirety, no one will be immune from speculation the shadow of doubt will be cast over all players. Even you David Eckstein! Just kidding. But maybe.

If You Hook A-Rod Up With Steroids, He Will Probably Hit On Your Wife (And Other Things Canseco Wasn't Lying About)

It's old news that Canseco claimed when he hung out with A-Rod back in the day, Rodriguez asked him to hook up a steroid supplier. According to Canseco, even after he helped his good buddy Alex get steroids, A-Rod still hit on Jose's wife and called her all the time.

Well it turns out the first part may have been true (maybe the second part too, but that's neither here nor there). Reports have just surfaced that the secret steroid testing done in 2003 to decide if there was a problem with steroids in the MLB that would require testing showed that A-Rod tested positive for 'roids. Not much of a "secret" test I guess, but here's the story:

According to a report by Sports Illustrated, Alex Rodriguez tested positive for anabolic steroids in 2003, when he was with the Texas Rangers and won the AL home run title and MVP award.

According to the report, which was posted Saturday morning on SI.com, sources told the publication that Rodriguez was on a list of 104 players who tested positive that year, when Major League Baseball conducted tests to see if mandatory random drug testing was needed.

In 2003, there were no penalties for a positive result.

Here is the real question: Canseco is mostly branded a liar by every media outlet there is, mainstream or blogosphere. But what has he said that has been proven false compared to what has been proven true? I'm not saying he's Mother Theresa, but maybe he's telling the truth in those annoying tell-all books he writes...

The Real Issue is what you were Doing with his 6-year-old Urine in the First Place

Big news yesterday was that a 2003 urine sample from Barry Bonds has tested positive for steroids. The positive sample will likely play a huge role in his ongoing trial for perjury. I wonder if those guys that said it was negative five years ago are in trouble too.

Seriously though, this urine is six years old. What's it doing be retested now? I don't even want to know what my urine would test positive for after six years. You leave the wrong shit out in your kitchen and it smells awful after a day!

Another thing: I'd like to know who tested this sample. I'd bet money it wasn't the lab's top dog. Think about it, testing a six year old urine sample seems like a job for the new guy, right? Then he passes it off to the janitor.

Apparently the evidence was retested and was sealed, but today the judge is expected to...wait for it...break the seal and hear arguments on the admissibility of the tests. I get the feeling that not many people care that much about this trial anymore, but there is nothing like a good stale pee story to rejuvenate interest in Barry Bonds. Stay tuned for a Pedro Gomez report.