Outshined_One

There's an amazing lack of historical context going on here. Anabolic steriods were really first developed in the 30s, and refined in the 40s. They (specifically Dianabol) were approved by the FDA for use in '58. It wasn't until the 60s when they realized the negative side effects of abusing steriods, namely enlarged prostates and shrunken testes, among others. The International Olympic Committee didn't ban steriods until the 76 games. The government's first attempt to regulate steriods came in '79, but that didn't control much, much less ban anything. The first act that actually banned steriods for non-medical purposes was anti-drug abuse act of 1988. The whole era where athlete's "had" to use steriods to be competitive didn't arise until the mid 70s. Considering they weren't legal, and they weren't even addressed by the IOC until 1975, I don't think it's fair to single out the NFL for what was going on in the 70s. Those Steeler's teams overlapped the time when we first started to realize how bad steriods were. That's not to say they get a free pass in the least, quite the contrary. Those guys were still using them after the international governing bodies addressed it. But, considering what we knew then and what was going on, I think the NFL acted much more prudently with regards to the problem than the other sports. Could they have done more, and could they have done more sooner? Yeah. They don't get a free pass. But let's not start crucifying people for doing something that was perfectly legal, within the rules, and accepted at the time. Let's learn from it and do the right thing now instead. You have to separate out the historical context from the current context, though. It may have been more acceptable to do steroids in the 1970s and its legality was not completely addressed until the late 70s/early 80s. That is definitely a fair assertion. However, I was referring more to the current backlash against that use. As I said above, if Hank Aaron came out tomorrow and admitted to steroid use to help him achieve the home run record, he would be strung up. Numerous people in the media and in politics would be shrieking for his records to be stripped. They would advocate him even being banned from the Hall of Fame. However, if Lawrence Taylor came out tomorrow and said the same thing about his records, there would not be anywhere close to the same kind of backlash against him. The same is true today. Look at the reaction A-Rod has gotten for his steroid use and compare it to the reaction Shawne Merriman got for his steroid use. The gulf between the two in terms of media coverage and outrage is astoundingly large. Merriman did not get a free pass for his actions, but the difference in terms of public outrage is huge. That's the whole point of what I was trying to get at. There is a double standard in terms of attitudes towards PED use in football and baseball. The reason for that double standard is a unclear to me, since athletes in both sports have incentive to use them for injury recovery and performance enhancement. The only thing I can really think about is the over-romanticization of baseball compared to football, but even that seems to be on shaky ground, in my mind.

And they promptly blow it in impressive fashion. It was pretty much a given they'd lose this one. I'm glad they put up a valiant effort, but blech, this team really sucks at scoring. Winning two out of their last three should secure a tournament berth.

If Hank Aaron came out tomorrow and admitted he was on steroids in his career, there would be talk of stripping him of his records and possibly expelling him from the Hall of Fame. Meanwhile, Terry Bradshaw and a large number of other guys who played for the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1970s, many of whom are in the Hall of Fame, have admitted to steroid abuse. No one has talked about stripping them of their records. Talk about putting an asterisk next to their Super Bowl wins has been non-existent until recently (and even then, it was one writer who said it). There is an enormous double standard when it comes to steroids in football and steroids in baseball. I think that's the point Beertown was trying to make.

That just is not right.

Let Gregg close; I'd rather have Marmol as the fireman.

Wisconsin's getting hot at the right time. I'm not expecting wins at MSU or at Minnesota, but wins at home against IU and Michigan should secure a tournament berth.

Is it clear whether "worse" means whichever team has the worse record or whichever team is picking further down in the draft? Whichever pick is lower. Likely the Nuggets pick. After doing some digging, OKC doesn't have Phoenix's first round pick this year... I'm confused as to what the Bulls got in this trade.

Is it clear whether "worse" means whichever team has the worse record or whichever team is picking further down in the draft?

I'm happy to get Hughes off the books and out of Chicago.

He probably means, you know, reality. Pretending they are a proven veteran away from contention would be stupid. If you are an Orioles fan that is unsettled by that statement, you are completely clueless about your team's sitiuation. You should hope they do whatever they can to harness whatever value they can out of the players they have, and think about the longterm health of the franchise. I suppose. I'm pretty clueless about the Orioles situation. I assume they have more good prospects to hang their hat on than Hill & Pie. They have a handful of promising young prospects and if they were in any other division, they'd be a chic sleeper pick to win that division. However, in the AL East, they would need all of those promising young prospects to immediately produce up to their ceilings if they want to compete. That is fairly unrealistic.

He just steals tablecloths from picnic tables and has his tailor alter them accordingly.

I can dig it.

Isn't that usually the case?

Well, there's, um...Marquez Smith! Yeah, him! And Josh Lansford!!! And don't forget Kyle Reynolds, either! Holy hell do we have a black hole of suck in the upper levels at 3B.

I think the Badgers go 3-2 to finish. I also think it'll be done in an absolutely stupid way, like the Badgers losing their next two and winning their last three.

George Carlin has a good description of it. It's three activities in one.

Dilbert Principle

There might be something to the juiced ball theory after all.

Apparently the doctors have told him he should be able to pitch in MLB games by the middle of July, possibly earlier. That's still a half of a season. In Sheets's eyes, the amount of money teams are offering him to rehab and pitch in 2009 will still be there in June or July. And while he's unable to create much of a bidding war now, he may be able to then. In June/July, he'll still have to option of signing a deal for 2009 and hitting the market for 2010, or he might leverage it into a long term deal. He's not hurting for money, so what's the difference to him in signing a low ball contract now that will still be there in June. The only difference is he could rehab with a major league team, but right now that isn't all that important to him. The fact that he's a Type A free agent also hurts his ability to sign with teams. Those teams might prefer to wait until they can sign him without having to compensate the Brewers with draft picks.

Mike Hampton was clearly worth the $121m!

http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/2615/erniebanksbattingstancegg2.jpg http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/3053/xy6ogwsufj1.jpg http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/8679/fergiejenkinsbaseball31zk4.jpg

That pretty much sums up my thoughts on this. However, if Z thinks this will somehow help him be more prepared for the season, more power to him.

Frankly, I wouldn't be opposed to picking up Holt and drafting a WR in the first round at this point. The Bears' WR corps is absolutely abominable and needs all the help it can get.

That is a name I've not heard in a long, long time. And I really could care less who the mods are. You shouldn't be so nonchalant about the mods. They can be a vengeful bunch. And it's "couldn't care less" :wink: http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/4347/caringqx7.png

I've decided to replace my banhammer with... THE COMFY CHAIR! http://jschumacher.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/comfy_chair.jpg