“Each of the 30 clubs has had players who have been involved.”

It’s been a long morning (which was preceded by a long night – if you were, like me, stuck in commuter hell last night/mine was for four hours, you have my sympathies!) and I’m just now hunkering in and relaxing a bit before I eventually try to make my way back to Boston for work.  I feel crappy, but who doesn’t right now?  A cold + waiting hours in blizzard conditions = I’m still shivering almost 24 hours later.   And it isn’t even winter yet. 

It’s Saturday now…Friday was a long miserable day (which is why this post never made it up) and today will be a much better day!  But this is what I wrote yesterday: 

Yesterday’s news didn’t help.  And the fact that I’m watching Mike and Mike is only making it worse.

If you aren’t watching Mike and Mike on ESPN2 right now, I’ll sum it up for you.  Mike Greenberg, Buster Olney and Sean Salisbury have summed up the Mitchell Report thusly:  Let’s ignore it because most players cheat anyway and they aren’t listed in the report. 

Horse manure.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure there are players who use who aren’t on that report, but that doesn’t mean all players cheat.  All players don’t cheat, and that’s the point for me.  How many players aren’t on that list BECAUSE THEY DON’T CHEAT?  How many non-cheating players lost jobs or money or just fame because the cheating players overshadowed them?  How fair is it that there are players out there who have never cheated who get looked a as sub-par players compared to a player on that list?

But because a good lot of players cheat, all players should be considered cheaters – and we should accept that?

Sorry.  Won’t be happening here.

For me, yesterday wasn’t a day for gloating, it was a day of sadness in the sport I love.   Suspecting something is much different than  knowing it.  I got no joy from coming home last night and reading that list. 

There’s no quick fix and there’s no real solution until the Player’s Union agrees to let testing include drawing blood.  And unless there is someone with each player every minute of the day, HGH use is going to continue to thrive in MLB.  

I’m sad that this report came out and I’m mad at the people (Greenie, Olney and Salisbury, I’m looking at  you) who feel the need to defend these players with the "everyone does it" excuse.  So, no, nothing pleasant came out of the Mitchell Report – yet I think it was the right thing to do.  A little late on Bud’s part, but better late than never.

If I hear Sean Salisbury say one more time that steroids didn’t help Roger Clemens pitch, I’m going to track him down and beat him with his own stupid arm.

Two days later, I still don’t know what to feel.  No guys from the 2004 team on the list.  That makes me happy – but doesn’t convince me that players on that team absolutely didn’t juice.  We all know this ‘list’ isn’t comprehensive.  Hell, Senator Mitchell knows it.  So the short version of my thinking on all this is, it’s great that MLB wants to finally try and do something, but naming names when that list isn’t all-inclusive…I’m not completely comfortable with that.

It feels odd to write this, but good for Jason Giambi.  I don’t like what he did and the fact that he was a big factor in that 2003 ALCS will always stick with me, but at least when it was all coming down, he was the only one with the balls to talk to Senator Mitchell.  Some can say (and I did, initially) that he had no choice since his Grand Jury testimony had already been leaked, but he hadn’t been punished.  He could have shut up and ignored all of this.  But he didn’t.  He’s the only active player named in the report who knew he could lose a lot (and still might) and spoke up anyway.  Doesn’t make him a hero.  Doesn’t make him a good guy, necessarily, but it certainly makes me look at him a little differently.  I’ll still curse every home run he hits, especially against the Red Sox, and I still think his MVP award is undeserved, but I don’t see him as the weasel I once did.  It’s easier for me to look at him now as someone who made bad decisions and finally decided to own up to it.  Too bad more players couldn’t be like that.

I truly hope this report is good for something in the long run.  But I fear it won’t be.