IS IT OVER, FINALLY?

How can a player who hasn't played an inning of baseball at the major league level this year, end up in the headlines in all phases of the media all year? In case  you've been living in a igloo in the arctic for the last 10 months, we're talking about Alex Rodriquez, of course.
Alex was quoted saying he, "...wants to be a role model."  I think the "role" he's referring to is on "Breaking Bad."

He's been shown to have used PEDs in his time in Texas (denied at first, of course), MLB believes it has proof that he's been using again since 2009 (denied again), and may be guilty of lying to investigators in the BioGenesis investigation and may even have interfered with the investigation.

His punishments for all this range from 50 games to a lifetime ban. I'm in favor of the lifetime ban just because I'm sick of hearing the denials of the use of PEDs, which ultimately turn out to be true. What is wrong with athletes that make them think they must steadfastly deny these allegations and then end up being found guilty? Or they go the Ryan Braun/Jason Giambi route, where you apologize for "something," accept a punishment and walk away shaking your head as though you have no idea why.

Buster Olney brought up a good point. Years ago, Paul Hornung and Alex Karas, major pro-football stars, were caught gambling on the games. Rather than go thru a ridiculous denial phase, they both admitted it immediately, took their punishment (a one-year suspension for both) and moved on. Overall, it proved not to hurt their reputation very much, and, in fact, both made the Hall of Fame. Bonds, Palmeiro, McGwire, et al. should take note.

Back to the actual sport:
Hiroki Koroda pitched another beautiful game in LA last night, going 7 innings with no runs. In his last 5 games, Kuroda has thrown 33 innings and has given up only 2 runs. He's 10-6 for the year and if the Yanks could give him just 4 runs a game, he could be 15-4. He and Sabathia should switch salaries. The Yanks won 3-0 after Tuesday night's hero, Mark Ellis, dropped a two-out pop-up that allowed two runs to score. Everybody looks to heap an extraordinary amount of praise on Yasiel Puig, LA's phenom, but there is evidence that he actually knocked the ball out of Ellis' glove in the ninth. You won't hear anything about that, because that doesn't fit with the image the media has built around him.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have taken four in a row from second place St. Louis Cardinals, and have a 21/2 game lead in the NLCentral. The Bucs have the best record in baseball, 65-42.

***THEY SAID IT***
"A Dallas Cowboys offensive lineman proposed to Brooke Hogan, daughter of Hulk Hogan. He wants to be a part of the Hogan family. Here's another good argument for testing NFL players for concussions"  -- Brad Dickson
"The Milwaukee Brewers are giving away about $3 million in food and drink vouchers to fans at the ballpark for the rest of the season, basically spending the money they would have paid Ryan Braun. Gosh, if/when A-Rod gets suspended the Yankees could afford to  turn their stadium into an all-inclusive resort."  -- Janice Hough
"Kim Kardashian and Kanye West reportedly spent $750,000 on four gold-plated toilets. I recall an ex-friend installed one of those for a party; I found out later it was his tuba."  -- RJ Currie
"Justin Bieber's tour bus was stopped by Canadian border patrol agents. And they found marijuana. The agents said Bieber was a disgrace to Canada and should never come back. Then they found the marijuana."  -- Craig Ferguson
"David Ortiz destroyed a dugout phone with a bat. Coincidentally, the same night a Miami Marlins hitter took three swings at a dugout phone and missed"  -- Brad Dickson
"Must say since the SF Giants don’t appear likely to make the playoffs, it would be fun to see a Rays-Pirates World Series. Especially as it would probably make Fox executives heads’ explode."  -- Janice Hough
"Pope Francis today said he will not judge priests who are gay. In response, gay priests said they will not judge Pope Francis for wearing that robe with those shoes."  -- Conan O'Brien
"Russian President Vladimir Putin was on vacation last week, and apparently he caught a giant 46-pound fish. Putin called it a crowning achievement, while the manager of the aquarium said, “What am I supposed to do? He's president.”  -- Jimmy Fallon

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