Guys…the messy schedule continues…just a few tidbits…
MLB Is Striking Back
“Major League Baseball will seek to suspend about 20 players connected to the Miami-area clinic at the heart of an ongoing performance-enhancing drug scandal, including Alex Rodriguez and Ryan Braun, possibly within the next few weeks, ‘Outside the Lines’ has learned. If the suspensions are upheld, the performance-enhancing drug scandal would be the largest in American sports history.
“Tony Bosch, founder of the now-shuttered Biogeneis of America, reached an agreement this week to cooperate with MLB’s investigation, two sources told ‘Outside the Lines,’ giving MLB the ammunition officials believe they need to suspend the players.
“One source familiar with the case said the commissioner’s office might seek 100-game suspensions for Rodriguez, Braun and other players, the penalty for a second doping offense. The argument, the source said, is the players’ connection to Bosch constitutes one offense, and previous statements to MLB officials denying any such connection or the use of PEDs constitute another. Bosch and his attorneys did not return several calls. MLB officials refused to comment when reached Tuesday.
“Bosch is expected to begin meeting with officials – and naming names – within a week. The announcement of suspensions could follow within two weeks.
“Investigators have had records naming about 20 players for more than a month. But without a sworn statement from Bosch that the records are accurate and reflect illicit interactions between the players and the self-described biochemist, the documents were little more than a road map.”
Bosch may supply more than 20 names. But this is just a first step. The players eventually named are likely to appeal, which only means the game could continue to be tarnished for months to come.
Yankee outfielder Vernon Wells conceded MLB’s stringent testing program, including now for HGH, can only accomplish so much.
“Science is always ahead of testing. There’s always someone out there trying to beat the system, from a medical standpoint.”
The Yankees of course still owe A-Rod $114 million on the original 10-year, $275 million deal he signed after the 2007 season. The Yankees could attempt to void the deal, though that outcome remains unlikely.
“(Baseball), in March, took the unusual step of filing a lawsuit against Bosch and five others connected to the clinic, hoping to increase their leverage in the investigation and to put pressure on Bosch to cooperate.
“Those steps have apparently paid off with Bosch agreeing to tell the commissioner’s office what he knows. Whether that will be enough to allow baseball to successfully suspend players who have not tested positive for performance enhancers remains to be seen, but clearly the sport is acting with more determination than it has in the past, when it has often been frustrated in attempts to verify allegations of drug use.”
Schmidt says it could be months before baseball acts. What will Bosch do in the meantime? Will he get cold feet?
Among the others supposedly under the gun are outfielder Melky Cabrera, who already served a 50-game suspension last season when he tested positive for testosterone, missing the San Francisco Giants’ title run.
Cabrera, now on Toronto, said on Tuesday, “I believe I’ve already served my sentence, especially missing the playoffs. That’s what hurt me the most.”
Braun said the threat of suspension was not on his mind. “The truth has not changed,” he said, according to MLB.com. “I’ve already commented on (the story), and I’ll say nothing further about it.”
Earlier this week, before the “Outside the Lines” story hit, Yankee GM Brian Cashman told ESPN that when it came to A-Rod and his contract: “(It’s) complicated. It’s kind of like the Clint Eastwood movie, ‘The Good, The Bad and the Ugly.’…(His contract) is something I think even Alex would tell you, he couldn’t live up to that (contract). It’s an enormous contract and I think that, I would say probably, he couldn’t live up to it. But he’s doing everything he can to try to do so.”
Then Hal Steinbrenner chimed in the next day: “It’s a big contract. We all hope he’s going to act like a Yankee and do the best to live up to it.”
Gee, you think Cashman and Steinbrenner had an inkling of what might be going down in terms of MLB’s investigation?
“To suggest that A-Rod or Braun is already suspended, that baseball has already decided how to punish both of them, is to get way ahead of the facts of this story. Just because Bosch is prepared to cooperate doesn’t mean that he has cooperated yet. But if he does cooperate, you know it isn’t because he has decided to become a good citizen, and defender of the grand old game, this late in the game. It is because of the fear of baseball’s litigation against him, and because the U.S. attorney in South Florida is about to jump into this thing, and big, with a guy like Bosch who may have been forging the names of doctors to write scripts to get drugs for baseball players doing what they have been doing since the first guys went to the needle….
“Nobody knows if A-Rod goes down for this. But if he does, think about how it ends for him: Not in Cooperstown, where we were all sure he would end up once, the way we were sure he would break all the home run records, but in a phony anti-aging clinic in Coral Gables, run by a nobody like Anthony Bosch.”
The only good news for the Yankees in this whole matter (catcher Francisco Cervelli also being among the 20, apparently) is the story that superstar second baseman Robinson Cano will not be named, despite his ties to Biogenesis. It would seem the spokeswoman for Cano’s foundation, whose name appears on the list, was not some kind of go-between for him.
Deacon Jones, RIP
The former football great died Monday at the age of 74.
“Beginning with his nickname, ‘Deacon,’ Jones touched many lives inside and outside of football. Jones was not the product of a college football factory – he attended South Carolina State and Mississippi Vocational, now known as Mississippi Valley State. Yet he climbed out of relative obscurity to put an indelible stamp on the National Football League.
“The flood of heartfelt tributes tells the story of a pro football fraternity that has found itself splintered – young players against old, team executives against players.
“Deacon Jones, in death as he was for much of his life, has been a bridge between those sides.
“Jack Youngblood, Jones’ teammate and fellow Hall of Famer, said, ‘Deacon Jones has been the most inspirational person in my football career.’
“Redskins General Manager Bruce Allen said: ‘Deacon Jones was one of the greatest players in NFL history. Off the field, he was a true giant.’
“Allen’s father, George Allen, coached Jones with the Los Angeles Rams and the Redskins….
“Jones was the leader of the Rams’ fierce pass-rushing unit, the Fearsome Foursome [the other three being Rosey Grier, Lamar Lundy and Merlin Olsen]. It spawned an era of defensive fronts in a time in which defense ruled the NFL. There were the Vikings’ Purple People Eaters, the Cowboys’ Doomsday Defense and Pittsburgh’s Steel Curtain.
“Jones was part of an era in football in which everything was legal: Horse-collar tackles, clothesline tackles, below-the-knees crackback blocks. Defenseless receivers were a sight for sore eyes.
“Jones is credited with coining the term ‘sack.’ What I remember Jones for is the head slap, easily the most devastating defensive maneuver in professional football this side of the clothesline….The head slap was eventually outlawed, but it remains a monument to a legacy of violence and brutality that defined an era.
“These are questions for our era, not his. You played to the extent that the rules allowed….This was an era in which defenders were encouraged to launch their bodies; leading with the helmet was an accepted practice, and a concussion was the cost of doing business.
–C’mon…San Antonio! [Talk about an anticlimactic Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals, Miami’s 99-76 rout of the Pacers.]
–At the French Open, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga defeated Roger Federer 7-5, 6-3, 6-3 in the quarterfinals and now has a shot at becoming France’s first men’s singles champion at Roland Garros since Yannick Noah, 30 years ago in 1983.
But seven-time champion Rafael Nadal and top-ranked Novak Djokovic remain on the other side of the draw. Tsonga’s semifinal comes against David Ferrer of Spain.
—Jason Kidd retired after 19 years in the NBA. I’ll discuss his Hall of Fame career next time.
–The Los Angeles Kings won Game 3 of their Western Conference finals against Chicago, 3-1, with the Blackhawks still having a 2-1 series lead.
–Good lord…the Boston Bruins destroyed the Penguins, in Pittsburgh, 6-1 in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals to take a 2-0 series lead. To think they were down three goals in a Game 7 to Toronto just three weeks ago and now look at them.
–Los Angeles Dodger phenom Yasiel Puig, a 22-year-old Cuban defector, hit two home runs in just his second major league game on Tuesday night in L.A.’s 9-7 win over San Diego.
–Well whaddya know…Gordon Gee, Ohio State’s president, suddenly announced he was retiring after his comments jabbing Roman Catholics, Notre Dame, Louisville and Kentucky came to light.
“I have regrets when I have said things that I shouldn’t have said, but I have no regrets about having a sense of humor and having a thick skin and enjoying life,” Gee said.
–67-year-old Gene Stephenson, a legend in college baseball who built the Wichita State program from the ground up, was fired. In 36 years, he had a 1,837-675-3 record, second-most among major college coaches. The Shockers made seven trips to the College World Series, defeating Texas in 1989 for the national championship.
Along the way, Stephenson produced major leaguers Mike Pelfrey, Joe Carter and Casey Blake. But it was a case of what have you done for me lately when it came to school administrators. Wichita was eliminated in the opening round of the CWS this past weekend.
–Former Auburn guard Varez Ward was indicted in federal court on two counts related to point-shaving accusation. He was arrested on Monday for allegedly trying to fix games and offering money to teammates during the 2011-12 season. Ward is no longer a student at Auburn. He was suspended in February 2012 and hasn’t played college basketball since. The game in question was Jan. 25, 2012, Auburn vs. Arkansas.
It is the second time in two months that college basketball has fallen under a cloud of point-shaving; the other instance involving former Univ. of San Diego player Brandon Johnson, who last month began serving a jail sentence for his involvement in a similar scheme.
–A 1,323.5-pound mako shark was taken from the waters off Huntington Beach, California. It appears to be a record for the largest mako caught by line.
The thing is, the catch was part of a reality show program and many are wondering why such a magnificent beast had to be killed.
The largest fish catch on record was a 2,664-pound great white shark reeled in off the coast of Australia in 1959.
–The Writers Guild of America released its list of 101 best-written TV shows based on a poll of its members….comedies and dramatic series. And, boy, I couldn’t disagree with No. 1.
1. The Sopranos
2. Seinfeld…nor this
3. The Twilight Zone…enlightened selection
4. All in the Family…perfect placement
5. M*A*S*H
6. The Mary Tyler Moore Show
7. Mad Men…no disagreement here
8. Cheers…had to be Top Ten
9. The Wire…one of my regrets in life is that I discovered this one late….absolutely brilliant
10. The West Wing…never saw a single episode….and don’t regret that decision
11. The Simpsons…..love this placement
12. I Love Lucy
13. Breaking Bad
14. The Dick Van Dyke Show…14 is totally appropriate for this all-time great
15. Hill Street Blues…I don’t think I ever missed one episode of this one
19. Taxi
20. The Larry Sanders Show…talk about underrated…
23. Frasier
24. Friends
25. Saturday Night Live
29. The Cosby Show
30. Curb Your Enthusiasm…now this one should be Top Ten…replacing West Wing
31. The Honeymooners…obviously should be Top Fifteen…[Breaking Bad?]
32. Deadwood…very good placement for this favorite of your editor’s
37. The Carol Burnett Show
39. Sex and the City
40. Games of Thrones…would be Top 20 in another two years
41. The Bob Newhart Show…I’d stick it 26
54. The Wonder Years…should be Top 30
73. 24…give me an freak’n break…this is Top 20
78. The Odd Couple…should be Top 40
83. Get Smart….oh, c’mon…shouldn’t be on this list at all
88. Band of Brothers…if this isn’t Top 30, don’t know what is
94. Will and Grace…never watched one episode
95. Family Ties…liked this one…but wasn’t a classic
–So one of the reasons why I post pretty early on Sunday nights these days is because I watch “Game of Thrones” and then “Mad Men,” the only two non-news or sports programs I do all week. Such is my life.
Well, for you “Game of Thrones” fans, yes, I was as shocked as you with Sunday’s episode, the “Wedding to Remember.” I haven’t read George Martin’s books and thus didn’t know this particular debacle was in the cards, but goodness gracious, the violence sure shook me up.
“No other show can rip your guts out quite like this one.”
