Judgment Day

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I’ve been pretty vocal about my feelings on steroid use so I feel no need to rehash that right now.  What surprises me about this whole debacle is that I had a difficult time sleeping last night, thinking about what might happen today in baseball.

My head tells me I should be happy that they’re finally going to name names and Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi won’t be standing alone for much longer.  But I’m not happy.  I’m reflecting back on the day I found out about Rafael Palmeiro.  I wasn’t happy; I was quite upset.  I have no desire to watch the careers, or at least reputations,  of "60-80" players go down the tubes, regardless of which team they play for.

And, let’s be honest, I’m not looking forward to being faced with players I follow and respect ending up on this list.  And there will have to be a few, right?  Even if they aren’t on the Red Sox (and I’m not certain that’s a realistic scenario) there are plenty of players who DON’T play in Boston that I follow and in terms of baseball they mean as much to me as Red Sox players.  So, no, I get no joy out of what’s going on today.

According to ESPN, the report will be released on MLB.com at 2pm today, the same time Senator Mitchell begins his press conference.    That’s a little bit of odd timing.  Guess it’s set up to catch the reporters off their timing as well.

On the other hand, I do suppose that, as consumers of MLB, we are all entitled to ‘the truth’.  But to what end?  If these guys all get some form of punishment, I guess it will, eventually, have been for the greater good of the game.  But if we get this report and drop these names and then MLB and the Players Union both say "Well, that was then and there’s  nothing you can do now", what will the point have been?  I’m not a big fan of scarlet letters.  Either use this report to punish those who did something wrong and educate those who are considering doing the same thing, or explain to me what the point of it all is.

Weatherfolks in Boston are suggesting to bosses today that they let their employees go home around lunch time to beat the traffic and horrible mess that is coming in the form of our first big snow storm.  This means, I’m home right now deciding the proper clothes to wear for a commute home in the midst of snow (or in the beginning of the storm at any rate).  I’m a person who doesn’t usually dress for the weather.  I just wear what I wear.  So today it’ll take a little longer to get ready for work.  Which is tough to do when I can’t stop watching ESPN, waiting to hear what’s happening in baseball.   (Yes, I’m a hypocrite.  While I’m upset by what’s going on, it’s like a car wreck.  I can’t help keeping an eye on it.  It’s going to be a long morning!)

In Red Sox news, the Sox tendered contracts to all of their unsigned players with less than six years of service time, except Brendan Donnelly.  Which means, our boy Kyle Snyder is still with the team and didn’t become a free agent!  The list of the rest of the players this affected is here.  Yay, Kyle!  (And the rest of you guys!)

Finally, if I see the Curt Schilling John McCain commercial one more time, I’m probably going to find him and chuck a World Series dvd at his head.  Please shut up, Curt.  Please.  I’m begging you.  BEGGING.  What you write on your blog is certainly your business (and folks will notice I took his blog off my links list) but putting your face in my face on tv and shilling for McCain is annoying.  You’re ruining your legacy with the Red Sox by using the World Series win to spread your political views – again.   To me, that’s stomping on the team and the fans.  Have some respect, Curt.  I’d like to think you aren’t the publicity whore others make you out to be, but sadly I know I’m mistaken.  You’ve now become as annoying to me as Oprah Winfrey and many other Hollywood types.  And that makes me almost as sad as this whole Mitchell Report business.

(On a totally happy note – congratulations to Theo Epstein and his wife Marie on their new baby boy Jack!) 

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