Net Way Robbery

Evgeni Nabokov is a veteran goalie with ten years NHL experience, all of them coming with the San Jose Sharks. This season he and the Sharks parted ways and he decided to go play in Russia's KHL. But that didn't work out and so he was granted his release. The Detroit Red Wings, a seemingly perennial Stanly Cup-contender, are thin at goalie right now and looked into signing, which they ended up doing. But NHL rules say he had to pass through waivers before the Wings could actually get him. Not surprisingly, he didn't clear waivers and the New York Islanders claimed him. My question is, 'But why?'

The Islanders are also thin at goalie having traded away Dwayne Roloson and with Mr. 15-Year Deal, Rick DiPietro, always injured. They have actually been going with two rookie goalies in Nathan Lawson and Kevin Poulin, but the former has been battling the flu. So, yes, they technically need a goalie and Nabokov would probably see way more ice time in New York than in Detroit. But he doesn't really care about ice time. Nabokov is 35 years of age and nearing the end of his career, and so he wants that a chance to win the Cup. I thought that was clear when he decided to sign with the Red Wings even though he'd only matter on the team for the 2 months Chris Osgood is out after sustaining a hernia. He won't get the chance at the Cup with the Islanders as they are at the bottom of the standings and have been long out of the playoff race.

The Isles obviously didn't care what Nabokov wanted, only thinking about tending to their own needs, which is completely understandable. Sometimes, though, you have to care about what the player wants because Nabokov has decided not to report to the Islanders, and they have suspended him for his refusal. So now nobody gets what they want. The Wings don't get their veteran goalie to soften Osgood's injury; Nabokov doesn't get his chance at a Stanley cup this year; And the Islanders don't get a goalie they desperately need. You see why I wondered why now?

The New York team from Long Island should have never put a claim in for Nabokov. In fact, the team no team should have put a claim in for Nabokov. Furthermore, I don't even agree with that NH:L rule. What's the point of allowing a team to sign a player mid-season that has played overseas if the player then just has to go through the waiver process? It should either be one or the other. Either the player has to go through the waiver process and then try and work out a deal with his new team or just let the player sign a contract with the team of his choice and don't have a waiver process. Having both does not make any sense, but rules are rules and they have allowed the Islanders to commit net way robbery.

References:

http://sports.espn.go.com/new-york/nhl/news/story?id=6048076
http://sports.espn.go.com/new-york/nhl/news/story?id=6062772

The Underrated Debate

Today ESPN's Jayson Stark produced his underrated starters in Major League Baseball for 2010. Stark has been a baseball writer with ESPN since 2000 and was with the Philadelphia Inquirer prior to joining ESPN. He is personally one of my favorite sport writers and one of the reasons I decided to start this blog. His articles are usually fantastic and very interesting, and this one fit the bill as well, except I didn't agree with most of the players he picked. Except for Michael Cuddyer, Carlos Ruiz, and Mike Adams, I feel like all the players he chose are widely known in the baseball community and respected at their positions. I also feel that Starlin Castro is not underrated since he is only a rookie and has not even played a full MLB season yet. So with all these disagreements with Stark, I decided to make my own "All-Underrated Team."

First Base: Aubrey Huff

Aubrey Huff is a ten year veteran that has had a good year basically every year he's given at least 400 at bats, which he has gotten every year since 2001. In fact, since '01, Huff has these averages for batting average, homers, RBIs, and OPS: .281, 23, 82, .815. He has been somewhat of a journeyman despite these numbers though, playing on five teams, Tampa Bay, Houston, Baltimore, Detroit, and San Francisco. Coming off his second best year in 2008, he had kind of a down year in 2009, but that did not dissuade the San Fran Giants from signing him. They needed a big bat and they knew he could potentially give it to them, and he delivered. Huff batted .290 with 26 bombs, 86 RBIs, and an OPS of .891 as a key component to the Giants winning their first World Series since the move from New York. I don't know about you, but I certainly would not have predicted Aubrey Huff as the first baseman to lead his team to a World Series title last year. Oh and by the way, Huff has never been selected for an All Star team.

Second Base: Orlando Hudson

Orlando Hudson is an eight year veteran who has also moved around a lot. He played 3 years for Toronto and then Arizona followed by one year stops in Los Angeles and Minnesota. He has also put up good numbers since his first full season in 2004. He has a good bat for a second baseman hitting double digit homers, or close to it, in every season since '04 except this past year when he was hitting in spacious Target Field. He also boasts a career average of .280 and an OPS of .770. He is rock solid on the defensive side as well making only 82 errors in 1121 games, good for a .986 fielding percentage. Having made 2 All Star teams, he is not as underrated as Huff, but still underrated nonetheless. He has been on a playoff team 3 out of the last 4 seasons, each with a different team, and yet he has had to settle for short term contracts the past three offseasons. This past offseason he only received a two-year deal from the Padres, and another new team will make it 5 teams in 9 years. When an All Star second baseman whose good both offensively and defensively goes through 5 teams in less than 10 years, you know he's underrated.

Shortstop: Stephen Drew

Stephen Drew is relatively young having only been in the majors since 2006, but he has made quite the impact at the shortstop position. Unfortunately, there is a logjam at the shortstop position currently and so Drew is largely overlooked. I was browsing through some final fantasy rankings for 2010 on various sites and Drew was always in the Top 10. It's good to see he's getting some fantasy love, but that's about all he's getting. According to ESPN, Drew's seasonal averages have some eye-popping numbers coming out of the shortstop position, including 12 triples (even though he has stolen no more than 10 bags in a season), and 16 homers. Over the last three seasons he has hit no less than 11 triples per year and he has almost as many career triples as he does home runs, 46 to 65. He was one of four players to have double digit triples and homers in 2010, but the other three stole at least 30 bags compared to Drew's 10. That shows that Drew drove the ball well enough to get a triple rather than use his speed to stretch hits into triples. One reason Drew may be overlooked is his low hit and runs scored totals. Drew also showed that he is clutch when it matters in his only Postseason hitting .387 with 2 homers in 7 games in 2007. To cap off how much underrated he is, he has never been selected to an All Star game.

Third Base: Casey Blake

Casey Blake might just be the most underrated baseball player out of all active players. His baseball career started in 1999, but he nobody gave him a chance until Cleveland in 2003. From 1999-2002, Blake was a member of three teams and got a total of 112 at bats. During this span, he literally hit a homer every other year. Since 2003, Blake has not hit anything less than 17 homers a year. Blake's numbers are not eye-popping, but they are decent. I don't think the Dodgers sell him short though. Remember that Indians catcher who made his MLB debut in 2010, he goes by the name Carlos Santana, and his debut was pretty impressive. Well he was not always an Indian, he was traded from the Dodgers to the Indians, along with another player, for Casey Blake in 2008. Blake was 35 years old back then. The Dodgers traded a top notch catching prospect for a 35-year old journeyman third baseman. The Dodgers knew what they were doing though because Blake has put up fairly consistent numbers as a Dodger. Blake has also not been picky about what position he plays as he has played every position besides center field and catcher throughout his career.

Right Fielder: Michael Cuddyer

I have no quarrels with Stark's pick of Cuddyer. I have always liked Cuddyer and thought that nobody really gives him the credit he deserves.

Center Field: Marlon Byrd

Marlon Byrd is the Casey Blake of center field. He got very few shots until the Rangers started him in 2007. In fact, he's only reached 400 bats or greater fives times in his eight year career. But during those five seasons he had batting averages of .303, .307, .298, ..283, and .293. He has also hit double digit homers every year since 2007. He also has only 20 errors in the 5 seasons he's started as well. He is also well traveled, playing in Philadephia, Washington, and now Chicago besides playing in Texas. He has been noticed more recently though as he was an All Star this past season. With only 5 somewhat full seasons under his belt and only being age 33, Byrd still has a lot of baseball left. Hopefully he will get to start a lot more seasons to come.

Left Field: Josh Willingham

Josh Willingham has seen regular time in left field for 5 seasons now and he done quite well as a regular. During the three seasons of the five in which he got 400 or more at bats, he slugged out 26, 21, and 24 homers. His career average is only .265, but that should go help since he is playing in a larger stadium after he was traded to Oakland in December. His homer numbers will probably decrease in Oakland, but the A's still picked up a good player.With only 16 errors in left field in his career, he also has a good defensive player. While he had a couple All Star-worthy seasons, he has never been selected to an All Star Game.

Catcher: Carlos Ruiz

I also agree with Carlos Ruiz's selection to this list. When I read Stark's reasons why he was chosen I was completely shocked. Ruiz is really good at his position, and no know really knows it.

Starting Pitcher: Jered Weaver

Jered Weaver burst onto the pitching scene in 2006 going 11-2 with a 2.56 ERA. Despite such success in his rookie season, he finished 5th in the 2006 AL Rookie of the Year race. Since then he has only had 1 one season with an ERA over 4, which was 2008 when it was 4.33. This past season he struck out 233 batters, the most of all pitchers this season. He pitched 224 and third innings, good for 8th most in the majors. His ERA was 3.01, 16th highest of all qualifying pitchers. With walk total of 54 was tied for 21st lowest among qualifying pitchers as well. He did make the All Star game in 2010, but that was an imperative since he had such a high strikeout out total. He finished 5th in the

Closer: J.J. Putz

J.J. Putz was one of the premiere closers in 2006 and 2007 for Seattle, saving 76 games and blowing only 9. The Mariners then lost confidence in him in 2008 because he blew 8 saves and saved only 15. He then signed with the Mets as a set up man because he could not get a closer job. That did not work out and he had his worst year so far in his career. But he rebounded last year while pitching for the White Sox. Now he has the closer gig in Arizona, and I personally think he will flourish there. Teams need to be patient with him, even Mariano had a year that wasn't amazing.

Set-Up Man: Mike Adams

I did not even know this guy existed until I read Stark's article. That's how underrated he is.

To conclude, I picked started that are underrated that contribute to a team. Stark I think chose stat stars that continue to fly under-the-radar even though they put up great numbers. My problem with that is that if you are a stats star, then you are at least known by the baseball stats junkies. I chose players that a team needs but are overlooked because they do not put up crazy, eye-popping numbers each year. I feel I chose the truly underrated players of baseball.

References:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=stark_jayson&id=6044419
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jayson_Stark
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/stats?playerId=4479
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/stats?playerId=5029&context=fielding
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/stats?playerId=6298&context=batting
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/stats?playerId=4149
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/stats?playerId=5033&context=batting
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/stats?playerId=6024&context=batting
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/stats?playerId=6479
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/stats?playerId=5640

Gone 4 Good

Legendary quarterback, and pro waffler, Brett Favre filled out retirement papers for the second time in his career today. The first time he did so was when he first "retired" as a Green Bay Packer in 2008. Then he thought he could still play but didn't feel like he wanted to. He obviously had a change of heart which led to an ugly break up with the Packers and a trade to the New York Jets. He had a good first half of the season with the Jets, but a terrible second off half, prompting him to "retire" again. The Jets, unlike the Packers, released him after he retired. This allowed Favre to sign with any team if he decided to come back again. He did come back again, this time with the Minnesota Vikings, who are rivals to the Packers in the NFC North. Favre has a miraculous first year as a Viking and led the team to the NFC Championship. The Vikings basically begged him to come back and play again this year, but it was nothing like last year. Injuries to Favre and key receivers resulted in Favre's worst year in the NFL. He has stated throughout the entire season that this would be his last, and him doing the paperwork is a good start. The question still lingers though; is he really done this time? Yes, he's really done this time.

Brett Favre has always had a reason for coming back for another season. In 2008, he wanted to come back and stick it to the Packers management that he could still play at a high level and that not taking him back was a big mistake. He wanted to go to the Vikings back then, but with him still under contract with the Packers it was almost impossible for that to happen. So he accepted a trade to the Jets, where he did prove he could still play at a high level. His downfall in the second half was largely due to him playing with a torn tendon in his bicep. He had surgery on the bicep and signed with the Vikings. His reasoning for returning was that he would finally get a chance to play the team he felt betrayed him. He exacted his revenge on the Packers by beating them twice. He also had what most say was the best year of his career statistically, not to mention he lead the Vikes to within one game of the Super Bowl. He came back again this year because without Favre the Vikings would be nothing. The Vikings understood this and literally begged Favre to return by sending the three teammates Favre was closest to Mississippi to coax him back to Minnesota. It worked. Favre came back and officially stated he came back because he felt a duty to play out his contract with the Vikings and that he owed his teammates another year.

Now Favre has no more reasons to return. He could come back saying he wants to try and win another Super Bowl, but after his normally ultra-durable fell apart last season the chances of him guiding a team to a Super Bowl victory are slimmer than usual. He could come back saying he wants to play a full season before leaving the game for good, but at age 43 the chances of that are also very slim. He could come back saying he wants to go out on top, after having a great year, but his age and injury concerns again make the chances of that happening very slim. Brett Favre has given 20 years of his life to the NFL as a star quarterback, and he literally has nothing left. I think he'll quickly realize that when he looks back at this past season if he hasn't already. Favre's playing days are definitely over. No more waffling. No more devoting the summer to questioning whether he will return. No more teary press conferences. No more comebacks. Brett Favre will never suit up for the field again, but don't forget that's not the only thing you can suit up for. Remember, playing isn't the only job you can have in the NFL.

References:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=6030210
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brett_Favre#Green_Bay_Packers_.281992.E2.80.932007.29

Melo Matters Not

Carmelo Anthony of the Denver Nuggets has seemingly been in trade rumors the entire season, making him constantly in NBA news. He's gotten so much attention, that it has prompted me to write an article on how he doesn't deserve any of this extra attention. There are only two teams Melo will end up on, and they are the New York Knicks or New Jersey Nets. There have been almost non-stop updates about what the Knicks and Nets are willing to do to get him, but people need to realize that it really doesn't matter at all if Anthony stays with the Nuggets or departs to Jersey or the City.

Anthony's contract is up at the end of the season. The Nuggets have 3-year extension on the table for Anthony to sign, if he wants to, but he doesn't. Anthony wants to play in New York, and he will one way or another. A trade this season would just speed up the inevitable. That is, of course, if he gets what he wants, and is traded to the New York Knicks. If somehow the Nets land him, then we would have to wait a couple years before seeing Melo play in New York. A trade has little to no impact on this NBA season though.

The Knicks and Nuggets will most likely make the playoffs this year with or without Anthony. The Knicks currently sit comfortably in the 6th seed in the East. The two teams behind them that are set to go to the playoffs as of right now, the Pacers and 76ers, both have losing records, and it would take a catastrophic meltdown for the Knicks to be held out of the playoffs. Acquiring Anthony would only maybe result in a bump to the 4th or 5th seed, but those seeds are currently held by two pretty good teams in the Magic and Hawks. The Nuggets have the 7th seed locked up in the West as of right now in what's turned out to be a pretty bad Western Conference this year. I honestly think that the Nuggets would still make the playoffs even with trading away Anthony.

The Nets have the third worst record in the NBA and it would not make any difference if they acquired Anthony. I am aware that they would also gain two other solid players in Chauncey Billups and Rip Hamilton from the current trade that's being negotiated, but I don't think that trio would be enough to get the Nets into the playoffs this year. The Nets getting Anthony would be a move for the future to coincide with their move to Melo's hometown of Brooklyn.

As you can see, Anthony being traded this season really has no impact overall on the NBA currently. I think the media is blowing the trade rumors out of proportion because basically everyone in the League expects Anthony to be playing for a New York team in the near future anyways. The media has seemingly used the trade rumors to counteract all the coverage LeBron James gets from saying the stupid things he says or tweets on a weekly basis. Media needs to find something else to focus on though because any Melo trade isn't going to be important. Media should get these three words into their heads: Melo matters not. The sooner they do, the sooner the topics that are actually newsworthy can be reported on.

References:

http://sports.espn.go.com/new-york/nba/news/story?id=6023180

http://espn.go.com/nba/standings?group=2

Yankees Need Francis

The New York Yankees are in dire need of starting pitching. So far their top 3 are: C.C Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, and Phil Hughes. Ivan Nova is penciled in as number 4, but I don't think he'll be holding that very long. Yankees have signed former 18-game winner Mark Prior to a minor league contract, and I think if he shows anything close to his former self he will be placed in the hurting rotation. The Yankees are looking to add another project pitcher also. They have been recently linked to Justin Duchscherer, Jeff Francis, and Jeremy Bonderman. All of them once had bright futures that have been hampered by injuries, but only one of them should be signed by the Bronx Bombers, as a starter anyways.

With Andy Pettite doing his best Brett Favre impersonation waffling over retirement, the Yankees only having one left hander in their rotation, which of course is their ace Sabathia. Of the three pitchers, there is only one left hander. This left hander happens to be the only one of the three to win 15 or more games as well, winning 17 in 2007. This left hander was also the highest pick of the three in his respective draft at 9th overall. This left hander goes by the name of Jeff Francis. The Yankees need another decent lefty in their rotation that could slide in the 3rd or 4th spot.

At age 30, Francis is the second youngest pitcher the Yankees are reportedly looking at. The injury he is coming back from is the least serious of the three. He had arthroscopic surgery on his pitching shoulder to repair in torn labrum in 2009; he tried to pitch through the injury in 2008. In comparison, Duchscherer has had season-ending hip surgery, bicep and shoulder problems, back problems, and battled clinical depression at one point. Bonderman had procedures to remove a blood clot in his axillary vein and was placed on the DL indefinitely in 2009 for reoccurring shoulder pain.

Francis does not have the best career ERA of the three or the most innings logged. Those honors go to Duchscherer and Bonderman, but there are reasons why the other two hold them over Francis. Duchscherer has the best ERA, 3.13, because he came up as a reliever in spacious Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum and has only started 34 games in his career. Bonderman has the most innings logged because he's started the most out of all of them, 193, and started his career at the age of 20. Francis has started 149 games and has a career ERA of 4.77, which is not that bad considering he pitched his entire career so far in home run haven Coors Field.

Reports suggest that the Yankees want Duchscherer the most, but it isn't known whether they want him as a starter or reliever. His best year in the Majors came as a set-up man to Huston Street. The Yankees are well under 200 million dollars in player salaries, a total they usually succeed every year, and could certainly afford all three if they really wanted them all. But I think it would be in their best interest to sign Francis for the middle or back end of the rotation and Duchscherer to compete for the set-up job with Joba Chamberlain and David Robertson. Duchscherer could then be a long reliever, spot starter, or even enter the rotation if he loses the set-up job. Whatever happens, the Yankees need pitching and they need it bad if they want to make the playoffs.

References:

http://sports.espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/news/story?id=6010831
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/stats?playerId=6038
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Francis
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/stats?playerId=4816
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justin_Duchscherer
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/stats?playerId=5436
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Bonderman

Crosby's Concussion

The NHL points leaded, Sidney Crosby, has been missing from hockey for the past 5 days. That equals 2 games on his team's, Pittsburgh Penguins, schedule. Crosby has been out with a concussion that he sustained on New Year's Day after Washington Capitals forward, David Steckel, blindsided him. He originally only felt neck soreness though and wound up playing four days later against Tampa Bay even though he felt worse before the game. During the Tampa Bay game, he took another shot to head and hasn't practiced or played since. Now Crosby is speaking out against blindside hits. But was it the hit that has kept him out..or was it poor decision making by the Penguins medical staff?

After seeing all the concussions in the NFL, the Penguins staff should have pulled Crosby immediately after the Steckel hit. Why? Crosby complained of neck soreness. Now he claims that neck soreness is a usual soreness in the NHL because you get hit so many times, and he may be right. But after he took a shot to the head and then complained of neck soreness, it then should have been a completely different ballgame. So right off the bat, the Penguins handled the situation wrong. Crosby then played another game after the hit, even though he admitted he  felt worse. Now the player plays until he physically can't, and even then he tries to play sometimes; this is a given. It's the staff's job to step in and say, "No, you can't play tonight." But they did not do this and Crosby suffered another shot to the head in the game after the Steckel hit. The second mistake the Penguins staff with this situation.

One thing Crosby admits to understanding is that you get hit a lot in the NHL. It's something you expect when you enter the League, especially when you are an outstanding player. Now the Steckel hit was most definitely uncalled for, but I'm sure it wasn't purposely done to injure Crosby. Steckel probably just got caught up in the moment and the adrenaline rush you get when you play hockey, not to mention playing in the outdoor, Winter Classic game in front of 60,000 thousand at Heinz Field. Crosby shouldn't have spoke out at all against the hit though because he may be back to playing already if he and and the Penguin's staff handled the situation better. Crosby and the staff hopefully learned their lesson: take shots to the head more seriously, even if the initial result is just neck soreness.

Reference:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=6002525

Players Win Games, Not Coaches

I know that coaches usually end up paying for a team's failures, but that doesn't mean it's their fault. The fact of the matter is players win games, not coaches. Coaches are important for their work before game time--how they prepare, how they run practices, how they communicate with players, etc. But you don't hear coaches getting fired because they weren't the best at those things. Owners don't really care about anything besides the results. A coach could have the reputation as the best in preparation, practice, and player communication, but if he doesn't produce a lot of "W's" then he won't last long. Owners need to realize that winning is centered around the players. Don't believe me? Let's look at the teams of the past few Super Bowls. We'll do football since there seems to be a lot of turnover in the coaching department there.

Last season's Super Bowl was the great showdown between Manning and Brees, not Caldwell and Payton. The Saints and the Colts were by far the two best teams last season, neither of them losing a game until late in the season. The Saints of course had Drew Brees, Pierre Thomas, Marques Colston, Robert Meachem, and about 5 other offensive weapons. On defense they had Darren Sharper, Tracy Porter, Jonathan Vilma, Will Smith, and, again, about 5 other defensive stalwarts. The same goes for the Colts. On offense they had Peyton Manning, Reggie Wayne, Dallas Clark, Austin Collie, etc. Defensively they had Dwight Freeney, Robert Mathis, Gary Brackett, Antoine Bethea, etc. These teams had both the offensive and defensive players to make it to the Super Bowl. Any coach could have lead these teams to the Super Bowl.

Go back two years and it was the Steelers vs. the Cardinals. Now the Cardinals were unlikely to make it to the Super Bowl, but that does not mean the team was not good. Offensively the team was led by Kurt Warner, Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin, Steve Breaston, etc. Defensively they had Adrian Wilson, Darnell Dockett, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, Karlos Dansby, etc. Steelers were one of the best teams in the league that year. They had Ben Roethlisberger, Hines Ward, Santonio Holmes, Willie Parker, etc on the offensive side of the ball. On D they had the likes of Troy Polamalu, James Harrison, James Farrior, Ike Taylor, etc. These teams were also built very well to go to the Super Bowl. Not to mention both head coaches, Ken Whisenhunt and Mike Tomlin, had only been coach of their respective teams for 1 year prior to reaching the Super Bowl.

Three years ago was when the Giants took on the undefeated Patriots. Now this game had two veteran coaches in Tom Coughlin and Bill Belichick, but they too also each had good teams. Pats led by Tom Brady, Randy Moss, Wes Welker, and a host of defensive greats, like Tedy Bruschi, Rodney Harrison, and Vince Wilfork. Giants had Eli Manning, Amani Toomer, Plaxico Burress, and also a had a great defense led by Michael Strahan, Antonio Pierce, and Justin Tuck. Two more great teams that made it to the Super Bowl.

As you can see, a team needs a good squad of players to reach the Super Bowl, which is every owner desires. Yes, I'm sure if you look hard enough you will find a team that was mediocre and won because of a great coach, but those are called exceptions to the rule. Owners and upper management need to give their coaches a good team before judging their coaches. If you keep hiring coaches to lousy teams, then those coaches are doomed to fail. Owners need to wake up and smell the roses. The key to a successful team is players. Players win games, not coaches.

References:

http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/2010020700/2009/POST22/saints@colts/recap/analyze#tab:analyze
http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/2009020100/2008/POST21/steelers@cardinals/analyze/box-score
http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/2008020300/2007/POST21/giants@patriots/analyze/box-score
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Whisenhunt
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Tomlin

The Curious Case of Baseball's Past

The best baseball players go to a well known place called the Hall of Fame, just like in every other sport. Baseball's Hall is also known as Cooperstown, the town in which the Hall is located. Every year prominent baseball writers get a ballad of former players to vote on to be in the Hall. Players need 75% of the vote to be inducted into the Hall. Only the best of the best get inducted. Well most of the best of the best get inducted.

Baseball is the sport that took the hardest hit from the steroid crackdown that's been going since the middle of the last decade. Steroids are now for the most part gone from baseball, but they will never be gone from baseball's past. Of course by baseball I mean Major League Baseball. Commissioner Selig may have finally got baseball cleaned up, but the sport is several years too late. Now the Hall of Fame has to suffer..or does it?

The Hall voters have insisted that they refuse to induct steroid users into the Hall, but I don't see why. Congress made a big deal about steroids in the late 80s, early 90s with their Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 and it's replacement the 1990 Anabolic Steroids Control Act. But did baseball do anything to stop it? No. Then commissioner Fay Vincent just sent out a memo to teams saying that steroids were now added to the banned substance list, but there was no testing. Without testing it's pretty hard to tell if someone is on steroids, and so players continued use and use and use until they could be stopped. This means that there's a possibility that every player in played in the 90s could have taken steroids at one point. Leaving a whole decade out of the Hall seems a bit ridiculous, especially since the heads of baseball did not do much to stop the use of steroids.

Congress finally stepped in and basically ordered commissioner Selig to institute testing in 2002, more than a decade after it started its crackdown on steroids. Why Congress didn't do this when it first started its quest against steroids no one knows. Real testing in baseball, as in by the World Anti-Doping Agency, did not start until 2004. I think it's hardly the players fault that both Congress and the MLB muffed what to do to stop the use of steroids. I mean steroids were part of the culture of baseball up until the initial testing in 2003. It's hard enough to be a good baseball player, imagine competing with other good baseball players..on steroids.

I think the Hall of Fame should be based on stats and accomplishments only, not whether you took steroids or not and then look at stats and accomplishments. Players like Raphael Palmeiro, Barry Bonds, and Roger Clemens had great careers before their names got thrown into the fire due to steroids. The Hall of Fame never punished other players who had drug or alcohol problems in the past, and there are some very prominent Hall of Famers who had drug or alcohol problems including Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle. Refusing to induct known or alleged steroid users into the Hall will not make the Steroid Era go away, so why don't we just accept and embrace it?. When people question why, we can just say, "Yes he had his faults, but it takes more than drugs to be a good baseball player."

References

http://thesteroidera.blogspot.com/2006/08/baseballs-steroid-era-timeline.html