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

Barry Bonds: Best hitter of all time? Yes. Absolute asshole? Who cares?

Larry Abrams: Bonds -- In and Outta This World - Living Now on The Huffington Post

I couldn't agree more with the author. I don't care that Bonds may have taken steroids. He's still the best hitter I've ever seen. Most players, even when they know what's coming, still fail to hit the ball 7 out of 10 times. Not Barry.

No amount of steroids makes you a better hitter. Your hits may go farther, but balls you don't get 'all of' just become longer outs.

Plus, count up the number of pitchers who have been popped for, or admitted to using, steroids, and they outnumber the hitters by a long shot. And there are far few pitchers in the league than batters.

So, even if he did take 'performance-enhancing' drugs, so did his competition. Viola! Instant level playing field.

Finally, who's to say that wearing contacts isn't performance-enhancing? So-called "God-given" talent is often shouted out during the steroid debate. If you weren't born with the talent, then isn't everything you do 'performance-enhancing?'

And isn't that the point of sports? To do what others haven't or couldn't?

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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