Wild Times and Rampant Roids 2/14

As Tom Cruise said in Cocktail, "everything ends badly, otherwise it wouldn't end". So goes Jose Canseco's departure from baseball. He's burning all bridges, naming names, and making accusations all over the place. I love it! Gossip columns and talk radio shows are eating this up and so am I.......

1) Steroids – I had a chance to catch the Canseco interview on 60 minutes Sunday. The main thing I came away with is “what human growth steroid is Mike Wallace taking?” He’s what 105, 106 and he looks like he’s 45……. Seriously though, I thought overall the interview was credible, although I’m sure Canseco is exaggerating to an extent. I’m curious why so many people are quick to discredit him, and say there is no way the allegations can be correct? Yes I know his background, arrests, etc… but still, with all the evidence we’ve seen about steroid usage in MLB coming out lately, why are his comments so far out of reality? Now if this was a court of law, yes his comments wouldn’t hold weight, but it’s not. I’ve heard a couple people (Walt Weiss, Tony La Russa) come out and say McGuire didn’t take steroids, but for the most part, other people that were there have been quiet. Maybe they know what really was going on and don’t want to lie about it. If there is anything you can say about Canseco, it's that he knows what he’s talking about when it comes to steroids. In the last 10 years, we’ve seen certain players explode in size and conversely have seen records fall left and right. It’s a shame MLB has waited so long to take a stronger stance on this issue (only doing the testing now after the government threatened them), but hopefully these stronger testing measures will help clean the illegal drug usage up.

2) Bonds – I heard on Fox news over the weekend that Barry’s mistress has come out and accused him of using steroids….. A Major League player is using illegal drugs? He has a mistress? Next I’ll be hearing that they just play for the money. Come on, tell me something I don’t know!

3) Hockey – Bob in Canada was complaining about hockey being cancelled…… Does anyone else care about this??? For being the so called #4 major sport, there is an awful lot of indifference. I grew up a big hockey fan (Boston Bruins) but since moving to California, I just don’t really care about it anymore. I’m sure hockey’s “better” than it used to be but as a youngster I loved the fights and rough play, and guys like Terry O’Reilly, Tai Domi, Cam Neely, Bobby Clark, Ken Dryden, and Matthew Barnaby. You had good guys, bad guys, teams you absolutely hated (Flyers with their “broad street bullies” era), teams you loved. One thing you didn’t have then were a bunch of European players with names you couldn’t pronounce or identify with. I know the hockey purists will tell you about how Selanne, Samsonov, Tchdivalinsky, Federov, et all, are so talented, but basically I don’t care. And judging by the apathy I see about this lockout, I think most people agree with me. My personal feeling is that I hope the league breaks the union, contracts 4 teams, sets a salary cap, and goes back to playing physical hockey. Until then, I refuse to watch any more NHL hockey. What do you think about that idea, beauty eh?

4) Malone / Miller retire – I was happy to hear both of them announcing their retirements. I’ve been hearing a lot of talk about hall of fame. Malone, obviously 1st ballot. One of the best power forwards of all time. Yes at times he could be annoying, but Malone and Stockton will go down in history as one of the greatest duos of all time. At their peak, running the pick and roll, it was a thing of beauty. Best play in basketball, and no one did it better. Miller will make it in too because of his longevity and consistency. After 18 years in the NBA he’ll end up with some pretty impressive numbers. One of the best spot up shooters of all time, when he got going, he could shoot with anyone. He’ll be best remembered for scoring 8 points in the last 8.9 seconds of the playoff game in 95 against the Knicks along with the battles against Jordan and the Bulls.

5) Football – Heard there was a football game over the weekend… Is the pro bowl the least watched all star game? Why do they even have it? No one cares about it, including the players…. They are there for the all expenses paid trip to Hawaii. Instead of the game, why not have a skills competition type deal? Maybe an NFL Superstars competition, or something like that. I’d be interested in that more than a football game, where no one plays defense, or hits, or cares…….. Heard Manning “won” the MVP of the game.. Way to go Peyton, you’re my favorite accountant, cut that meat!

6) Randy Moss- Speaking of football, I want to make a prediction about where Randy Moss will end up next year. I'm going to say the Baltimore Ravens. I think they have the infrastructure (word of the day) there to handle him. With Billick as coach, along with Ray Lewis and Ed Reed, you've got some strong personalities with the playing (and coaching) ability to back up their comments and keep Randy in line. I also think they are an organization that is willing to risk giving up players and picks to try to get them back to the Super Bowl. The Jets are also being mentioned as suitors, but I don't see them as willing to risk taking on "a head case" like Moss. He is definetly someone that, while obviously as talented as any player in the game, can disrupt your organization and be a bad influence on the younger guys. Herm Edwards, Terry Bradway and the owner Johnson are not big risk takers, and I think in the end, will decide to pass on Moss.

7) Timberwolves- I also wanted to mention the firing of Flip Saunders because right now he is an example of a coach being let go, instead of making personal changes. He's been with Minnesota for something like 10 years, done a great job, got them to the Western Conference finals last year, and now because of some players not trying hard (Cassell and Sprewell), he's being removed as coach. I hope the organization takes a tumble and falls further down in the standings (currently 9th). I just wish one of these times, an owner would standup for the coach and say "it's not his fault we're doing bad, it's the players", and then cut the problem people. Going along with this, expect Sam Mitchell in Toronto to be let go as coach as there are players there that are unhappy with him. The General Manager made a comment this weekend that Mitchell owes an apology to some players... Red Auerbach must be choking on his cigar right now...........

8) Link of the Week – If anyone wants to purchase me a signed autographed copy, here you go:

http://www.josecanseco.com/

Until next week,


Bill