New board game: Where the hell is Mark McGwire?

There are some big names in the so-called Mitchell report on baseball and steroids: Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, and Jason Giambi, current players and retired players.

But where is Mark McGwire's name? I admit I haven't read the report, just a story on it from Yahoo (see link below), but his name hasn't been mentioned as having been fingered as a steroid or banned substances user.

Sure, his name is all over the report, in at least the first 100 or so pages. McGwire, and his success, might have been the spark plug, the smoking gun, the leading indicator of a cheating problem in baseball. But he didn't use any banned substances. In fact, he admitted to using two supplements, both over the counter at the time, but neither was illegal or banned from baseball.

Not that I'd care even if he did. He hit a lot of home runs. He and Sosa revived baseball from a near-death experience. Owners turned their heads, the players' union went on defense, and the fans said "Gimmer more of those HRs!!! I like 14-13 games. How thrilling."

Nobody gave a shit. Now they do?

Give me a break. Cheating has been a part of every sport since day one.

By the way, Roger Clemens, almost inarguably the best pitcher of his era, is hit hard in this report. It's funny how the cheating has focused on the rise in home runs and talks about the ball being juiced, but it seems like more pitchers have been implicated in the use of banned substances than hitters. Strange to me. How crappy would pitching stats be if pitchers didn't use 'roids?

Instead of the steroid era, it might be called the era of junkie pitchers.

Clemens, Bonds named in MLB drug report - Yahoo! News

Curt Schilling pledges $1 million to charity if it can be proved that his sock wasn't bloody

Here's the short story:

• Curt Schilling had an injury during a game in 2004. He had emergency surgery and pitched in a game where it was apparent that he was bleeding.
• Red Sox (get the symbolism?) go on to win series against Yankees, and thanks to God almighty, win World Series
• Curt Schilling becomes hero to all small children, ends world hunger, professes his allegiance to God, and becomes kookier than your Aunt Selma

A sports reporter the other night proclaimed that the whole thing was a hoax. The blood was paint and it "painted" a good story.

Curt got his breeches in a bunch and has challenged everybody to prove that it wasn't blood on his sock.

Here's the rub:

1. Curt doesn't know where the sock is and
2. The challenge is whether there's blood on the sock. A careful reader will note that Curt never says it's his blood.

So, there could very well be blood on a sock of which nobody knows the location. And it could be pig blood.

The guy's a kook.

If you haven't figured it out by now, working in the media is a pretty nice gig. Barring outright plagiarism or committing a crime, you don't have to be accountable if you don't want to.

Can't the same, or worse, be said of professional athletes?

Schilling criticizes media, offers $1 million blood bet on his blog - MLB - Yahoo! Sports

Court rules MLB players can be identified for steroid use

This could be barry, barry bad.

Court rules MLB players can be ID'd for 'roids - Baseball - MSNBC.com

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