Holy Shniiikee I made it!

So I sit down to compose my initial blurb into the world of blogs. Funny, it is so easy to voice an opinion when speaking informally, but try to put things down for the world (or even one person who stumbles on this blog) to see and it becomes a whole different ball of wax. Oh well here it goes.

So the debate on "roid-gate" continues - questions abound like:
Should records be abolished?
Should so and so get into the Hall of Fame if he admits to be juiced up?
How widespread is the problem? (followed closely by "our guys isn't juiced up")
What should be done?

The most vocal fans have been those in New England (where Hazel currently calls home) - they have been quick to organize and make excuses for what can only be termed as Curt Schilling's greatest shame. When it was first announced that Schilling was to be called to testify, they all talked about how he was being called because he was such an outspoken opponent of drugs in baseball - "Schill" was gonna blow the lid off of things. Two words - yeah right. He took the easy route and backed down on what he had be so vocal about in the past - suddenly, he was mistaken and overstated how many guys were juiced. Isn't that convenient, after spending a couple of years painting a picture where at least half of the guys he was facing were juiced - what a superhuman effort it took on his part to compete against these guys being clean - now, he says he knows of maybe 5 or 10 guys on all the teams he has played for. Thanks for coming out Curt, you should have stayed in Ft. Myers - you may think you were clever, but you weren't. You, McGwire and Sosa embarrassed yourself, I don't have much to say about Palmeiro - he's been a class act his whole career, even when he got screwed over by the Cubs. As for Canseco? he may be the village idiot, but even the village idiot is right once in a while - and in this case, I think he was telling the truth in a lot of areas. The events of last week have once again damaged baseball.

Baseball fans (and I count myself as one of them) are a funny bunch - especially the hardcore fans who romanticize everything about the sport - the purity of a by-gone era, how guys did it clean, how guys didn't need to cheat, who guys were this and that. I think we sometimes forget that cheating, be it through performance enhancing drugs, spit balls, corking bats, pine tar (George Brett - haha) or anything else has always been part of the game.

I'm not condoning what these dumbasses do to their bodies in taking these drugs (and no, I don't think they should be held accountable for kids who take roids - that's up to their parents, coaches and friends) but these guys are facing competition today like never before. Major League Baseball is at a level never seen before, talk all you want about the good ol days - but a lot of guys who played 20, 30, 40 years ago wouldn't stand a chance - not with today's talent pool with players from all over the world. I guess these guys have to try to get any competitive advantage they can get - who knows?

Today's game is completely different, pitchers throw harder, relief pitchers are specialized, starters pitch every five days an often on a pitch count to ensure they are fresh, managers use match ups - should records count...even if a guy is on roids? why not...according to Curt Schilling there are a bunch of guys on roids...and those that haven't tested positive are probably using masking agents (he said on espn that there is no point in testing...guys can use masking agents).

Why do baseball fans not want records to be broken? Do we actually think that none of Babe Ruth's homeruns were hit against guys with dead arms in August? September? or that some of those guys weren't so hung over they couldn't see straight? What about Maris? if Mantle was out drinking every night...what makes us think that Maris' opposition wasn't either? I'm rambling now...but it's to make a point...do we not see the absurdity of trying to preserve "the purity" of a game that has never been all that pure?

As for the debate on steroids...it's the new millennium peeps...it's now performance enhancing drugs - and you are nuts if you think the only way to tell his how buff these guys are. Take a look at soccer players over in Europe - they aren't that buff...but they are using too. Believe it or not...I think Schilling was telling the truth before...that 50%+ are juiced up (I think he should look in his own clubhouse before he starts talking).

Wow, I've rambled a whole lot about baseball..and not a whole lot about Hazel. You can count on one thing, that will change with coming blog entries. *smile* All the same thought, I would like to ask, "what would Hazel think about roid gate?"

In ending this entry for the night (the initial), I am left to think about who else in the world of sports needs a good slap...can anyone say NHL? if you happen on this (as if anyone will) and you wonder about other rants...go to yahoo groups - look up "hazelspeeps" - entries started there a week ago.

On hazelspeeps I like to nominate a song of the day - given the topic of tonight..roid-gate...is there a more fitting song (actually title)

I want to break free - queen.

Goodnight Ms. Hazel Mae - fondest regards and best wishes sent from your peeps north of the 49th parallel - we hope all is well.