Posted by Jack Daniels on January 26, 2010
Merriman is a proven steroid user. Why is there no public outcry to have him banned from football?
In the NFL, players caught juicing get suspended 4 games and return to action. Football fans continue to embrace the player and seem to forget overnight that he was caught breaking the rules. The NBA doesn’t even test for steroids. I have no doubt that there are past and present players in that league that have used an illegal performance enhancer at one point or another. Especially when they are re-habbing an injury. Basketball fans don’t seem to care much about the juice. So this begs the question……Why do people get so angry about steroids in baseball?
Some people are just plain idiots. However the main reason people get hot about steroids in baseball is the numbers. I understand that. Other sports do have important records. But no other sport perceives numbers to be sacred like baseball. So many people get pissed off when they find out many recent sluggers were possibly artificially enhancing their home run totals. If you’ve read any of my other posts then you would know that I believe most steroid bashers to be illogical hypocrites. But I’m not pro-PED. I wish the era of illegal substance use in baseball never happened. But no matter what we do it will always be there. Erasing history, tainted or not, just isn’t right. Nazis burn books and totalitarian regimes try to hide and manipulate history. I’d like to believe that here in the US we are better than that.
Altering the public's perception of history is what Nazis do.
So let’s keep all the records set by alleged juicers. No asterisks, erasing their totals from the record book or denying them the Hall of Fame. In the future we’ll tell their story and make sure that no one ever forgets that PEDs likely enhanced their numbers. You may be saying “but Barry Bonds doesn’t deserve to be the home-run king”. Yes he was an arrogant piece of trash that used illegal substances but he is the All-Time Home Run king. You can’t blame him for MLB’s lack of effort to eliminate PEDs from the game. You don’t like it tough. Maybe you should try embracing Josh Gibson as the all-time leader. Or better yet, embrace Sadaharu Oh’s 868 HR’s he hit in Japan. Maybe that will hold you over until Albert Pujols breaks the record or you decide to stop acting like a child about the HR list.
Don't want to embrace the US HR champ? No problem embrace Oh!
Moving along, if you’re pissed about the tainted HR totals then it’s time to start embracing other records. Chicks dig the long ball but there’s much more to baseball than HRs. For example look at the list below.
Single Season
Triples: Chief Wilson 36 in 1912
Batting Average: Nap Lajoie .426 in 1901
Wins: Jack Chesbro 41 in 1904
Hitting Streak: 56 Joe Dimaggio 1941
Doubles: Earl Webb 67 1931
Extra Base Hits: Babe Ruth 1921 119
Runs: Babe Ruth 177 1921
Total Bases: 457 Babe Ruth 1921
Career
Triples: Sam Crawford 309
Wins: Cy Young 511
ERA: 1.82 Ed Walsh
Doubles:792 Tris Speaker
AVG: .366 Ty Cobb
Wahoo Sam's Triple record is more impressive than the HR record
These are some absolutely insane numbers. Isn’t batting .426 for a season more impressive than 72 HRs? How about 36 triples in a season? If we as fans held these numbers to the same high regard as HRs then players would strive to break these records.
Posted in MLB, Miscellaneous | Tagged: Albert Pujols, Babe Ruth, Barry Bonds, Cy Young, Joe DiMaggio, Josh Gibson, PEDs, Sadaharu Oh, Sam Crawford, Shawne Merriman, Steroids | 2 Comments »
Posted by Jack Daniels on January 25, 2010
Ernie Banks has decided it’s time for Sammy Sosa to come clean about his PED use. In case you missed the story here’s a link.
I say great idea Mr. Banks. However I think we should start a Game show out of this.
If a player that played from late 60’s-80’s calls out a player from the 90s to come clean about PED use then the player doing the calling out of the alleged steroid user must do one of the following in front of a live audience:
- Come clean about his own use of amphetamines or any other illegal drug
- If he honestly was 100% clean then he must get a known user from his era to come clean
Once one of the above conditions has been met, the player from the “Steroid Era” must then come clean about his own Performance Enhancing Drug Use.
Also, all contestants must take a polygraph to make sure that there is no cheating going on.
Prizes awarded to all contestants include: I’m a Cheater T-Shirts or I’m a Snitch Belt-Buckles and either a free hookup from a speed dealer named Paco or a free hook-up from a guy from my gym that knows a guy who’s cousin has a buddy that can get you the juice.
Two more things the show must have: half-naked girls and lots of beer.
The media coverage of the “Steroid Era” is already a circus so this game-show couldn’t hurt.
Attention TV Networks: That’s you MLBTV, SpikeTV, FoxSports Alaska, Versus, HBO, ComedyCentral, PBS, BBC or whoever (I don’t care what network it is as long as I get paid) the show is available. Contact me if interested. Better make it quick, HTV in Vietnam is showing very strong interest in the show. And if you can’t beat their offer of 3 bags of rice then don’t even waste my time.
Posted in MLB, Miscellaneous | Tagged: Chicago, Cubs, Ernie Banks, PEDs, Samy Sosa, Steroids | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Jack Daniels on January 22, 2010
Eastern Illinois is most commonly called “that one school Tony Romo played for”. Maybe after this weekend it will be known as “the school that Romo and those NFL coaches went to”.
If you are like me then you probably know very little about Eastern Illinois University. So here’s the quick facts about EIU:
Don't let the castle fool you. This school is a NFL Head Coach Factory
Quick Facts
- Location: Charleston, IL (pop. 21,039)
- Established: 1895
- Enrollment: 11,651
- Conference Affiliation: Ohio Valley
- Colors: Blue & Grey
- Interesting Fact: Only NCAA Division I Women’s Rugby team in the nation. (I had no idea that Rugby even existed in this country)
- Notable Alumni: Jim Edgar, John Malkovich, Larry Smith, Jimmy John, Kevin Duckworth, Dan Steele, Matt Hughes, Matt Painter, Jeff Gossett, Tony Romo, Mike Shanahan, Brad Childress, Sean Payton.
I just couldn't resist posting a picture of women's rugby
Note the last 3 on that alumni list. Mike Shanahan(technically I think he only coached there), Brad Childress and Sean Payton. 3 not only relevant but good NFL coaches. Shanahan has already won a Superbowl and this weekend another EIU alumn will be one step closer to get a ring of their own. It just seems crazy to me that a FCS football program could produce this kind of NFL talent.
Being a basketball fanatic, I also find it very interesting that Purdue Basketball Head Coach, Matt Painter graduated and coached at EIU.
It’s a Friday night so I don’t feel like doing any major research tonight. So I’ll just end this post by saying:
Eastern Illinois University: The Pub salutes you.
(Perhaps I’ll touch this post up tomorrow)
Posted in Miscellaneous, NFL | Tagged: Brad Childress, Eastern Illinois, Matt Hughes, Matt Painter, Mike Shanahan, Ohio Valley, Purdue, Saints, Sean Payton, Tony Romo, Vikings, Women's Rugby | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Jack Daniels on January 19, 2010
The Pub has been unmanned for a few months now. And that’s just not cool.
Time for me to bring it back! I won’t be posting daily but hopefully I can achieve 1-3 quality posts per week. There are plenty of topics out there for me to talk about so I really won’t have any excuse for not making a post every now and then.
Posted in Miscellaneous | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Jack Daniels on September 14, 2009
So I made a rare trip over to espn.com today and what do I see? ESPN has launched espnboston.com. What a joke! ESPN is already espn-Boston/New York why the hell do they need even more Boston coverage? I could rant and rave all day but I’ve got better things to do.
ESPN is a tabloid and everyone outside of the northeast knows it. I really wish someone with loads of money would launch an unbiased sports network that would blow that joke of a network off the airwaves.
Posted in Miscellaneous | Tagged: Boston, ESPN | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Jack Daniels on July 28, 2009
I’ve been fairly busy lately so I haven’t had time to post much here. However today I was browsing through a few sports forums around the net and one thing really stuck out. Why the hell does everyone still use some variation of the phrase “stay classy“?
Will Ferrell just may be the most influential man in online sports lingo
I understood people using it 5 years ago when Anchorman 1st came out but why won’t it die? You are guaranteed to see it multiple times if you ever happen to brows the in game conversations on espn.com or pretty much any other sports forum. C’mon online sports community, use some originality and stop using this phrase as your number 1 way to insult fans you view as disrespectful.
Posted in Miscellaneous | Tagged: Anchorman, Stay Classy, Will Ferrell | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Jack Daniels on June 25, 2009
We'll do our best to keep your thirst for sports queched
6/25-6/26: NBA Draft Coverage: I’ll be on twitter giving my thoughts on the draft and will post a recap tomorrow
6/26: National League All Star Race: My take on the voting and who should be representing the NL in St. Louis this year.
6/27-6/28: Nothing: Out of town for the weekend
Next week: TBA
Posted in Miscellaneous | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Jack Daniels on June 25, 2009
JD here. It’s been a while but I’m back once again. I’m working on getting some new content on the blog so come back soon.
Posted in Miscellaneous | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Jack Daniels on May 12, 2009
I can’t believe it’s been nearly a month since my last post! Well its time for the vacation to end. For the Pub’s millions of daily readers I promise regular posts from here on out.
Also, I’m still looking for another bartender or 2 here at the pub. So if you or anyone you know is an opinionated sports fan that has an interest in blogging let me know.
Posted in Miscellaneous | Leave a Comment »
