October 2007 - Posts
Mike Cameron tested positive for a banned stimulant, and the first thing he wanted the fans to know was that it wasn’t steroids.
“The one thing I wanted to make sure was explained is, no steroids,” the free-agent centerfielder, who played last season for the Padres, told a local radio station.
And why would he not want to take steroids? Because they’re illegal? Because they give the game a black eye? Because they brand him as a cheater?
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I’d ask how anyone can think about signing someone so egotistical and disruptive as Alex Rodriguez, who interrupted the World Series to announce that he is a free agent. But ever since Terrell Owens started pulling in millions of dollars by making everything all about his wonderful self, I’ve given up such inquiries.
A-Rod will get his bazillions. So we might as well get over it.
But the timing of his announcement was as low and tacky as it gets. He didn’t do it just during the World Series, but in the middle of Game 4, because, after all, he’s more important than baseball’s biggest showcase.
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In nothing else, Hank Steinbrenner, who’s just taken over the baseball side of the New York Yankees, has already shown himself to be superior to his infamous father in one thing – vocabulary.
On his way to an interview with managerial candidate Tony Pena, Hank used two words that George was never heard to utter in relation to his team during his 35 years as owner. One was “patience.” The other was “transition,” which is a euphemism for another word the elder Steinbrenner never used – “rebuilding.”
And then Hank made a suggestion that would have sent his pops into an apoplectic fit. He hinted that the Yankees not only might not win it all next year, but might not even make the playoffs.
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Southern California is burning. The federal government has declared a state of emergency, Governor Ah-nold has called out the National Guard, hundreds of thousands of residents have been forced to flee their homes, more than a thousand homes and businesses have been consumed by the flames.
What am I missing? What did I forget?
Oh, yes. Now I remember. There’s also a football game Sunday in Qualcomm Stadium, which at the moment is occupied by refugees from the fires.
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Tiger Woods drives Buicks to golf tournaments, not because a Buick is the best car on earth, but because he’s paid millions of dollars to do so. He hits a Nike driver and wears Nike clothes – again, not because they’re the best on the planet, but because he gets tens of millions of dollars to do so. It’s the same with his watch and various other products.
And now, for at least the next five years, Tiger is going to be drinking Gatorade on the course. He had been thinking of drinking Vitamin Water, but he ultimately decided on Gatorade because he found that the $100 million that the company offered him is more refreshing than the $75 million that Golfweek magazine says Vitamin Water offered him.
What Gatorade also offered was his own brand – Gatorade Tiger. And the company is making quite a fuss about the fact that it analyzed Tiger’s sweat in concocting the drink and the great man himself then helped pick out the flavors – cherry blend, citrus blend and grape.
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On Saturday, Oct. 6, George Steinbrenner answered his own office phone and told columnist Ian O’Connor of The Record of Hackensack, N.J., that if the Yankees lost to Cleveland in the ALDS, Joe Torre had as much chance of returning as manager as Britney Spears has of being named Mother of the Year.
It seems the statement was The Boss’ last public act as the Yankees’ owner. One week after he spoke to a reporter at length and on the record for the first time in a year or more, word came down from the Yankee bunker in Tampa that Steinbrenner was no longer running the team. His sons, Hank and Hal, would take over; George would become “like the chairman of a major corporation,’ The Post reported, quoting team President Randy Levine.
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Before George Steinbrenner goes crazy with the checkbook again come November, he might want to look at who’s still standing in October and who’s won titles in the six seasons since he last won the World Series. Rarely is it a big spender.
Of the four teams left in Major League Baseball’s playoffs, only one spent a great deal of money to get there. That’s Boston, whose $143-million payroll was second this year only to the Yankees’ $190 million.
None of the other three teams -- Cleveland, Colorado and Arizona -- spent more than $62 million. That was Cleveland, which stood 23rd of 30 teams in team payroll, according to annual figures compiled by USA Today. The Rockies were 25th at $54 million, and the D-Backs were one slot behind them at $52 million.
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It is a silly game that Scott Boras is playing on behalf of his client, Alex Rodriguez. Boras is “hinting” that A-Rod will opt to become a free agent, as his contract allows him to.
The only way he won’t declare free agency is if the Yankees extend his contract for another 10 years after this one expires for $350 million or more. If the Yankees agree to a new contract starting now, Boras may take pity on them and let them have 10 years for a mere $300 million.
But Boras isn’t fooling anyone with his “hints.” He’s going for the money, because that’s what he’s paid to do.
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The last pitch Roger Clemens threw – probably the last one he’ll ever throw – was a fastball strike that Victor Martinez swung mightily at and missed. It was Clemens’ only strikeout in a gutsy but disappointing start against the Indians.
As Yankee fans cheered, Clemens limped off the mound and into the history books. He probably should never have started the game, and he had to know the tender left hamstring that had kept him out of the rotation for the last weeks of the season wasn’t entirely healed and wasn’t going to stand up to the demands he would put on it.
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Do me and everyone a favor the next time somebody suggests your sports hero may be a drug cheat: don’t blame the messenger.
You know who you are. You’re the people who wrote me nearly 20 years ago, outraged when I suggested that Florence Griffith-Joyner’s world records and Olympic golds in the 100- and 200-meter dashes were set with the help of her friendly neighborhood chemist. You’re the ones who screamed bloody murder when people first started to say that maybe Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa and a lot of other baseball heroes were juiced. You’re the ones who threatened bodily harm – and still do – to people who persist in saying Lance Armstrong didn’t win those seven straight Tours de France without artificial assistance.
You’re enablers, every one of you. I confess I’ve been among you from time to time, but as I’ve gotten older and seen more, I’m not as likely to believe anyone who pushes physical accomplishment beyond physical limits.
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Is there any reason why Isiah Thomas still has a job? Is there any excuse for Knicks’ owner James Dolan to continue to support a man who in four years has not won a single playoff series, has failed to reduce a bloated payroll, and has brought shame – not to mention another $11.6 million in expenses – to the franchise in the scandalous sexual-harassment lawsuit he just lost?
On Tuesday, Thomas walked out of a Manhattan courthouse where a jury had just awarded Anucha Browne Sanders that big hunk of money because of his inexcusable behavior. He stood behind a bank of microphones and declared, “I am innocent. I am very innocent.” I don’t know about you, but when I watched the tape, I thought I was looking at Michael Vick saying the same thing about the dog-fighting charges.
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