Mark McGwire
Couple comments on some of Mark’s statements in his Interview with Bob Costas yesterday.
Mark: : …”I believe I was given this gift. The only reason I took steroids was for my health purposes. I did not take steroids to get any gain for any strength purposes.”
Ok, but you did gain strength from them. It might not have been much, but it might have been the difference between hitting a line drive 395 feet vs hitting it 415 feet. That could be the difference between a ball getting caught on the warning track for an out and sailing into the first row of bleachers.
Mark: “…There is not a pill or an injection that is going to give me the hand-eye – or give any athlete – the hand-eye coordination to hit a baseball. A pill or an injection will not hit a baseball.”
No one is disputing that. What we are saying is that steroids allow you to hit the ball further, turns outs into home runs. It allows you to play more and longer than you normally would have. They are called performance enhancing drugs, not performance creating drugs.
Mark: “It was the era that we played in. I wish I never played in that era. I wish we had drug testing. If we had testing when I was playing, you and I wouldn’t be having this conversation today. I guarantee you that.”
You mean you wish that you that the intestinal fortitude to say no to drugs. If we’d had testing, that conversation wouldn’t have happened because you wouldn’t have hit nearly 600 HRs and broken Maris’ record and no one would know who you were. People would remember you as the guy in Oakland who cheated if we had testing. Locks only keep the honest people honest. Testing only keeps honest players honest. You telling me that you would have been honest had we been testing for steroids? What have you done to prove that to me? Lied with asked about it during the single season HR race and lied about it under oath.
This statement is what bothers me the most, “I wish I’d never played in the steroid era.” That is not “I’m sorry I did it,” that’s “I’m sorry I played when I did.” Big difference. He’s trying to defer the blame to the time when he played, and indicate that it’s not his fault. But it is his fault, he still could have played during this era and not taken steroids.
Mark: “I took very very low dosages because I wanted my body to feel normal. The wear and tear of 162 ballgames and the status of where I was at and the pressures that I had to perform and what I had to go through to get through all these injuries is a very very regrettable thing. I wish it never came into my life. But we’re sitting here talking about it. I wish I didn’t have to.”
That’s still cheating and wear and tear of the game is part of the game. You are still taking something to try and be above the game.
Whats absurd is that Mark thinks that he could have broken the single season record and hit nearly 600 HRs without steroids. Well, Mark might have had a lot of HRs, but he couldn’t have broken those records being injured every season. But even if the drug only gives you 10-15 ft on the end of every line drive distance wise, it kept him healthy. How many extra games, or even seasons, did he get to play that he might not have had he not taken steroids. Injury is part of the game. Think about Ken Griffey. If Griffey takes drugs and stays healthy, he sets the career home run record easily. And he’s a far better defender and steals tons of bases. We might be talking about him as one of the best players ever if there was a drug that could have kept him healthy and he took it.
From baseball-reference.com, his pre-steroids batting average was .249, slugging percentage is .510 and he had 238 HRs at age 30 in 8 years as a pro. After steroids, he was hitting .278, slugging percentage of .677, and 345 HRs in 7 years. So in less years, he hit 107 more HRs and he was older. And he still thinks steroids had nothing to do with that.
I hope he never gets in the Hall of Fame, but Pete Rose does. Pete Rose may have bet on baseball, but he didn’t prolong his career or boost his numbers by taking performance enhancing drugs.
NFL Playoff Picks
Every year I try to go undefeated with my playoff picks (straight up, not against the spread) and the closest I’ve been is within 1 game. Here are my picks for this year:
Wild Card Round
NY Jets at Cincinnati Bengals – Bengals
Baltimore Ravens at New England Patriots – Patriots
GB Packers at Arizona Cardinals – Packers
Philadelphia Eagles at Dallas Cowboys – Cowboys
Divisional Round
Cincinnati Bengals at Indy Colts – Colts
NE Patriots at SD Chargers – Chargers
Cowboys at Vikings - Vikings
Packers at Saints – Packers
Conference Championship
Packers at Vikings – Packers
Chargers at Colts – Colts
Super Bowl
Colts vs Packers – Colts
The Thursday prior to the Super Bowl, I’ll post my lengthy, detailed Super Bowl preview.
Bowl Pick Change
With all the Urban Meyer developments, I would like revise my Sugar Bowl pick. I initially picked Florida to win by 7. I still think that they will win, but 7 wouldn’t cover the spread. With the Urban Meyer drama, I now think they will easily cover the spread and win by more like 21.