A Few Thoughts

Some interesting observations from the week that was:

Can Iowa please win the Big 10 Tourney? Wins over Michigan State and, probably, Ohio State might just put Steve Alford over the top and ticket him to Bloomington. Please... Please... Please... Please... Please...

Kudos to TJ for predicting Glenbrook North vs. Warren. See you Tuesday at Rosemont!


Dear Brian Handley: Yes. Barry Bonds is a pud. Yes. He should leave baseball and the day he does the world will be a better place. However...

Steroids are NOT illegal. They can only be illegally OBTAINED by a player or illegally SMUGGLED over international borders. When Bonds started taking the Cream, the Clear and the Clomid, HE WAS NOT BREAKING ANY BASEBALL RULES NOR WAS HE BREAKING ANY LAWS. The idea that steroids are "illegal" is a meme that needs to stop.

Nice work by WSCR's Dan Berstein who noted that when Dusty Baker said...

"Everybody knows Todd (Walker) can hit, but I have to keep an eye on him because you don't want him to have anything go wrong with that leg physically after what happened last year."

...Dusty was sabotaging Jim Hendry's ability to trade Walker. Way to go, Dusty. You can't manage very well, and you can't generally manage very well. While you do seem to collect your salary very well, you do a poor job paying your taxes.

But, on the flip side, Bernstein and Mike Murphy tried to start another meme. That Barry Bonds use of drugs were costing other major leaguers money. The idea is that because Barry got $17mm, the Randy Winn's of the world got less.

This is senseless. Randy Winn gets MORE money because of Bonds and Sosa and McGwire. Because those guys were a draw, the attendance and TV ratings went up. That meant more revenue for the teams and more dollars to give Randy Winn a higher salary. The reason players don't complain about juiced teammates is that the non-juiced players also benefit financially.