The Voice of Reason

That's a myth. Baseball fans had come back before after strikes and they would have eventually come back again. The steroid era was a black eye for baseball, made a mockery of legitimate records that had stood for years and it will be looked at by historians like the Black Sox scandal is viewed now but no Selig can't do anything about it now (he had his chance) and is just posturing. note Wrigley attendance figures pre-1998 and post-1998 That's only one city. How about the other ML cities? How did baseball survive previous strikes without the Mark and Sammy show?

Still waiting for you to supply any evidence on Aaron that is remotely comparable to the evidence (circumstantial of otherwise) against McGwire and Bonds. Aaron played in a field nicknamed the lauching pad where it was 325 ft down the line and 1,000 feet above sea level (think Coors field before they started putting the balls in a humidor) yet he never even hit 50 homers. http://www.ballparks.com/baseball/national/fulton.htm

That's a myth. Baseball fans had come back before after strikes and they would have eventually come back again. The steroid era was a black eye for baseball, made a mockery of legitimate records that had stood for years and it will be looked at by historians like the Black Sox scandal is viewed now but no Selig can't do anything about it now (he had his chance) and is just posturing.

Good luck with that. Go for Maris while you're at it. Now those would be real "witch hunts." You can nit pick all you want but nothing in baseball history will compare to your tarnished heroes from the steroids era. You sound like someone told you there is no Santa Claus. maris was a good power hitter who suddenly had the best HR season in the history of baseball, but he went bald during that year and then got hurt a lot afterward and retired, never coming close to approaching that homer total. fits the profile Roger actually lost weight that year on his skinny frame with no increase in head size. He was protected in the lineup most of the year by a good Yankee lineup and saw a lot of fastballs down the middle and was the perfect hitter for Yankee Stadium's short porch. How about comparing Aaron's career home run consistency with McGwire, Sosa, Bonds, etc? How about it Meph? FYI, IMB your man Obama just said at his press conference that A-Roid and all the guilty players of the steroid era had "tarnished" baseball. I thought it was a great choice of words. Now who could argue with someone as smart as Obama? hank aaron hit 29 home runs in 160 games as a 34-year old, then hit 44 as a 35-year olda nd hit a career high 47 as a 37-year old. He had his best power years well past his prime. He hit 40 home runs as a 39-year old. his profile fits that of a steroid user. The only reason he was able to break ruth's record was because he played longer than most players were able to, and we all already acknowledge that steroids prolonged bonds' career. looks like aaron is dirty too Not even close to the Bonds increase in home runs. Aaron never even hit 50. Time to move on and admit you are wrong. 50 home runs is the benchmark for a steroid user? because he didn't hit as many as bonds, that means he's innocent? He missed your magical 50-home run mark by 3 whole home runs when he was 37-years old. That's more than Bonds hit at that age and aaron did it in fewer plate appearances. Everyone looks at Sosa and assumes with only circumstantial evidence that he was a user, but there's as much circumstantial evidence that aaron used, too. I don't think Aaron had the one-year weight gains and other physical changes that Bonds, McGwire and Sosa did. Look at the number of 50+ home runs season in the 60's and 70s compared to the steroid era - not even close even if you take out Brady (10 to 50) Anderson. Hasn't home run totals gone down a tad since drug testing began? Do you think all 104 of those positive tests were wrong? The steroid era was a joke. How can you argue with Turk? He played during the steroid era. His 2006 statements looks pretty prophetic. "

Good luck with that. Go for Maris while you're at it. Now those would be real "witch hunts." You can nit pick all you want but nothing in baseball history will compare to your tarnished heroes from the steroids era. You sound like someone told you there is no Santa Claus. maris was a good power hitter who suddenly had the best HR season in the history of baseball, but he went bald during that year and then got hurt a lot afterward and retired, never coming close to approaching that homer total. fits the profile Roger actually lost weight that year on his skinny frame with no increase in head size. He was protected in the lineup most of the year by a good Yankee lineup and saw a lot of fastballs down the middle and was the perfect hitter for Yankee Stadium's short porch. How about comparing Aaron's career home run consistency with McGwire, Sosa, Bonds, etc? How about it Meph? FYI, IMB your man Obama just said at his press conference that A-Roid and all the guilty players of the steroid era had "tarnished" baseball. I thought it was a great choice of words. Now who could argue with someone as smart as Obama? hank aaron hit 29 home runs in 160 games as a 34-year old, then hit 44 as a 35-year olda nd hit a career high 47 as a 37-year old. He had his best power years well past his prime. He hit 40 home runs as a 39-year old. his profile fits that of a steroid user. The only reason he was able to break ruth's record was because he played longer than most players were able to, and we all already acknowledge that steroids prolonged bonds' career. looks like aaron is dirty too Not even close to the Bonds increase in home runs. Aaron never even hit 50. Time to move on and admit you are wrong.

Does this honor preclude Vance from posting pictures of hot chicks? If it does, I think impeachment proceedings should be stated immediately.

Good luck with that. Go for Maris while you're at it. Now those would be real "witch hunts." You can nit pick all you want but nothing in baseball history will compare to your tarnished heroes from the steroids era. You sound like someone told you there is no Santa Claus. maris was a good power hitter who suddenly had the best HR season in the history of baseball, but he went bald during that year and then got hurt a lot afterward and retired, never coming close to approaching that homer total. fits the profile Roger actually lost weight that year on his skinny frame with no increase in head size. He was protected in the lineup most of the year by a good Yankee lineup and saw a lot of fastballs down the middle and was the perfect hitter for Yankee Stadium's short porch. How about comparing Aaron's career home run consistency with McGwire, Sosa, Bonds, etc? How about it Meph? FYI, IMB your man Obama just said at his press conference that A-Roid and all the guilty players of the steroid era had "tarnished" baseball. I thought it was a great choice of words. Now who could argue with someone as smart as Obama?

Good luck with that. Go for Maris while you're at it. Now those would be real "witch hunts." You can nit pick all you want but nothing in baseball history will compare to your tarnished heroes from the steroids era. You sound like someone told you there is no Santa Claus.

Of all people, who would have thought that Jose Canseco would be the voice of reason? Damn, the cat's out of the bag - I've been exposed.

Excellent post Blizzau - I like how you point is based on experience and knowledge.

Almost all of them. People lie in court all the time. It's just not big enough to go after unless the govt. wants to send a message. You know a lot of people that have lied in front of a Grand Jury? Court and Grand Jury are not the same thing. So someone is going to lie to a grand jury but not in court or vice versa? I don't know anyone personally whose even testified before a grand jury, but it pretty much stands to reason that someone would lie to both. A grand jury is simply a fact finding body in which the prosecution must show that there is enough evidence to go forward to a trial, there is nothing special about it. People can go to jail for lying in court too. When a U.S. attorney is considering charging someone with a federal crime, he or she convenes a grand jury. There's a much greater chance that a U.S. attorney will file perjury charges against someone for lying under oath in a federal proceeding than the local D.A. will file a perjury charge in a local matter. Therefore, there is also a much greater chance that an individual will go to jail for lying to a Grand Jury than a local court. Lying to any court has risks. Lying to a Grand Jury is just plain stupid.

Almost all of them. People lie in court all the time. It's just not big enough to go after unless the govt. wants to send a message. You know a lot of people that have lied in front of a Grand Jury? Court and Grand Jury are not the same thing.

They don't care about the baseball records. They care that he lied to in an attempt help Victor Conte get off the hook on the case they really cared about. Sets a bad precedent if they let people lie to a federal grand jury to save their friends in a high profile case like this and then don't punish them for it. If Barry Bonds was Marvin Benard, the feds wouldn't give a Veterans Committee. They're nailing him to the wall cause he dared to break the HR record. If that was their real motive, why didn't they going after McGwire? He broke the single season home run record. Did McGwire perjure himself? No, that's why the Feds didn't go after him. They go after law breakers like Bonds, not because someone breaks a home run record. Did they go after Babe Ruth or Hank Aaron or Roger Maris when they broke the home run records? Of course not. Your argument is silly. You're missing the point entirely. Is Palmeiro being prosecuted? Nice try. Palmeiro alledgeldy perjured himself at a Congressional House Committee investigation into steroid use in baseball. Bonds did it to a Federal Grand Jury investigating BALCO and Victor Conte for illegal steroid distribution and money laundering. Big difference in the seriousness of those two types of proceedings. But, for what it's worth, the Congress did look into indicting Palmeiro but determined that they did not have any proof of steroid usage by Palmeiro that took place PRIOR to the testimony. The Federal prosecutors on the other hand did have enough evidence on Bonds. Bonds lied despite knowing the risks and having a pretty good indication that the Feds could prove he was lying. It was worth it to him to attempt to save his career and now he is paying the price since his gamble that they either did not have the evidence or would not pursue him did not pay off. Exactly.

They don't care about the baseball records. They care that he lied to in an attempt help Victor Conte get off the hook on the case they really cared about. Sets a bad precedent if they let people lie to a federal grand jury to save their friends in a high profile case like this and then don't punish them for it. If Barry Bonds was Marvin Benard, the feds wouldn't give a Veterans Committee. They're nailing him to the wall cause he dared to break the HR record. If that was their real motive, why didn't they going after McGwire? He broke the single season home run record. Did McGwire perjure himself? No, that's why the Feds didn't go after him. They go after law breakers like Bonds, not because someone breaks a home run record. Did they go after Babe Ruth or Hank Aaron or Roger Maris when they broke the home run records? Of course not. Your argument is silly.

They don't care about the baseball records. They care that he lied to in an attempt help Victor Conte get off the hook on the case they really cared about. Sets a bad precedent if they let people lie to a federal grand jury to save their friends in a high profile case like this and then don't punish them for it. If Barry Bonds was Marvin Benard, the feds wouldn't give a Veterans Committee. They're nailing him to the wall cause he dared to break the HR record. If that was their real motive, why didn't they going after McGwire? He broke the single season home run record. People get arrested everyday for a lot less serious offenses than perjury. Maybe Barry shoudn't have used steroids and then lied about. Not that anyone should be held accountable for their own actions.

Maybe this year you won't get swept out of the first round. At least the Brew Crew mustered a win against the eventual champs. Shouldn't you be out trying to knock down a bowling pin, dressed in orange and shooting a deer or trying to pick up one of those slender Wisconsin women?

They need to find something to keep themselves busy when there are no Hee Haw marathons on TV Land.

How long was the Brian Roberts thread?

So what play is he trying out for?

LOL at Tony LaRussa

McGwire's 25% total was before his brother spilled the beans. Next year he'll be in single digits.

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/baseball/cubs/1395086,cst-spt-cub24.article

Innocent until proven guilty. Just ask Rogers Clemens and Rod Blagojevich. Except no one has ever made a legitimate case against Sosa except "He had muscles and hit a lot of homers and spoke Spanish in front of Congressmen!" I don't think it's the fact that Sammy had muscles but that he put on a tremendous amount of muscle, during an era when many players were using steroids, that makes people suspicous. Bonds and McGwire defenders used the muscles doesn't equal steroids defense too. They aren't as vocal about it anymore.

Ricketts is a Cubs fan, lived by Wrigley Field and met his wife in the Bleachers. He is an astute businessman who should realize the Cubs would be even more valuable with a World Series title. He grew up in the Discount Brokerage business (of his dad) where keeping costs low maximizes profits but he moved into the more glamorous investment banking business where getting the deal done is what matters. I am optimistic.

If you ask the locals, they would probably say when Bear Bryant's last all lilly white team made the mistake of scheduling an integrated team from USC. maybe, but i don't think bear bryant was racist. He wasn't. He scheduled the game with USC knowing that they would get trounced but also knowing that it was the only way to get the University, it's fans and alumni to let him recruit blacks. It was a very smart move on his part. His "strategy" was featured and documented on an HBO special.