Jayson Stark is a joke.

[200tang]

Thanks? For sharing that video :C

I wasn't aware that if A-Rod is the MVP it wouldn't matter to Yankee fans or increase their chance at even making the playoffs.

[Slingshot]

Well, he's confessed but there were no penalties for what he did during that period so there's no point in dragging this out even more. It's time to move on and look towards the future.

[HoustonGM]

Well, he's confessed but there were no penalties for what he did during that period so there's no point in dragging this out even more. It's time to move on and look towards the future.

The video was from 2007. Before any of the steroid nonsense.

[Slingshot]

The video was from 2007. Before any of the steroid nonsense.

Oh, I wasn't talking about that specific video. I just talked about the latest A-Rod confessions. Not that I would think MLB plays their games in the middle of February either.

[Slingshot]

Stark rhymes with shark and bark.

[haveacigar]

While we're on the subject of moronic ESPN baseball people,

did you see on Sunday when Karl Ravech asked if CC Sabathia's ERA could translate to the AL??

[TheNamelessPoet]

While we're on the subject of moronic ESPN baseball people,

did you see on Sunday when Karl Ravech asked if CC Sabathia's ERA could translate to the AL??

rofl... now THAT is funny

[KowboyKoop]

Speaking of a "joke"

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/spring...ory?id=3916048

[HoustonGM]

Speaking of a "joke"

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/spring...ory?id=3916048

ESPN keeps topping itself.

So, this guy's trying to "re-award" MVPs to the clean guys. Just to point out one completely braindead thing this blowhard said, let's take his Adrian Beltre comment:

We're throwing out Beltre since, while he denies ever using PEDs, he fell off the face of the planet once baseball put in stricter steroid suspensions in 2005. If he wasn't cheating, I'm the Queen Mother.

Of course, he didn't "fall off the face of the planet", he continued right where he left off the year before his monster year as a solid bat, great glove third basemen. A fluke season doesn't mean he used steroids. For one, it came during the first year in which there was testing, 2004. But, anyway, Beltre was cheating, or Rick Reilly is the Queen Mother, based on a fluke season, so, he doesn't get the award. But:

And here's yours from 2001, Luis Gonzalez, after you finished behind The Barry Bonds Pharmacy

Luis Gonzalez, you're obviously clean, even though you had a fluke season just as comparable to Beltre's, and your numbers dropped off beginning in 2004, the first year of testing!

He ends this with:

Remember, we know sticky-fingered third-graders.

And I have no idea what that means, but, I can say with certainty that a sticky-fingered third-grader can write better baseball columns than you, Mr. I'm A Human Steroid Use Detector.

Of course, this idiot was heaping the praise on Mark McGwire back in 1998.

Ugh. How does this guy have a job, let alone awards for his writing?


Also, I would like to thank White Sox GM Kenny Williams for providing some level-headedness.

[KowboyKoop]

Yup...ESPN and baseball is just a recipe for comedy. Nothing more outside of the occasional intelligent article that seems to be a case of a blind squirrel finding a nut.

[ragecage]

Rob Neyer and Keith Law are the only ESPN writers truly worth their salt.

I used to think Stark was tolerable, and he still is on most non-A-Rod issues, but he's completely blown a good chunk of his credibility to me thanks to his ridiculous A-Rod nonsense. Olney's a guy who I can't stand EXCEPT for one of his stances, and that being that the powers that be in the MLB (both the league and the Player's Association) need to take partial responsibility for the "Steroid Era."

The reaction to the A-Rod press conference just goes to show just how much of a no-win situation players are in once they're accused/outed as steroid users. The media clamors for some sort of response. A-Rod does it with the Gammons interview and admits to use. That's not enough. The media clamors to know what he used, how he used, why he used, and where he got it from. So, A-Rod gives them that. But that's STILL not enough. No, now they think everything he says is a lie and he still has to tell them more. Jeez, give it the **** up already. It was 6 years ago. Yeah, it sucks, but seriously, move the hell on.

I agree, I seen this coming a mile away though. I dont think its right how Giambi can apologize without stating what hes apologizing for and get a free pass, and Pettite can come out and admit it and might not be telling the truth when he said he did it one time to get healthy and get a free pass. Now A-Rod comes out and is the most blatantly honest about using steroids and look at the media harp on him.

What a bunch of douches and hypocrites.

[HoustonGM]

I agree, I seen this coming a mile away though. I dont think its right how Giambi can apologize without stating what hes apologizing for and get a free pass, and Pettite can come out and admit it and might not be telling the truth when he said he did it one time to get healthy and get a free pass. Now A-Rod comes out and is the most blatantly honest about using steroids and look at the media harp on him.

What a bunch of douches and hypocrites.

Pettitte actually revised his story a couple times, too.

This selection from Joe Sheehan's article today repeats what you're saying:

Yesterday afternoon, Alex Rodriguez sat down and answered as many questions about his use of performance-enhancing substances as any team-sports athlete ever has. No one has ever gone into the level of detail that Rodriguez did in his statement and in the 40 minutes of questioning that followed. No one has copped to as extensive a usage history. Whether you think he would have been there absent Selena Roberts' reporting, the fact is that he provided more information about his personal use than any player caught up in this mess.

Yet it's still not enough for many. The reaction to Rodriguez's press conference has been at best apathetic, and at worst, critical. His demeanor, his word choice, his expressions, his inflections have all been picked apart, and he's been given no credit for the details he provided. There's an assumption that he's being deceptive, duplicitous, and insincere. Whether this stems from the dislike so many people have for this very insecure man, the dislike of his agent, or the general disdain for the successful and wealthy—let's face it, sports coverage has devolved into thinly disguised class warfare—this most open moment has been dismissed, and Rodriguez has been given no credit for providing it.

I don't know if A-Rod's being "blatantly honest", but he's surely telling a lot more than anybody this side of Jose Canseco has.

Oh, I forgot to quote my favorite Rick Reilly quote ever from a 1998 Sports Illustrated:

That was such an odd time in this country. Washington seemed to be filled with liars, cheats and scumbags, yet our games were as pure and shiny as I'd ever seen them. I still think that year in sports, 1998, was the best of my lifetime....

Ha. And now he's haphazardly "reawarding" awards based on his insane gut feelings of whether or not players weren't "pure." This is the second time I'm using this phrase today....what a ****ing tool.

[HoustonGM]

Ah, honesty.

In fact, when [Mike] Schmidt was asked directly if he thought he'd have gotten caught up in trying performance-enhancing drugs had they been part of his era, he answered: "Most likely. Why not?"

It might help if more players came out and said, "If we had access to this stuff when I played, I'd have been tempted to/would have tried it." But, maybe not, because people don't care for logic on the steroid issue, they'd rather just sling mud.

Schmidt, by the way, has admitted to using amphetamines.

[ragecage]

You understand my point though, I appreciate honesty when it doesnt have to be given. But I find it really upsetting that most writers are still throwing A-Rod under the train. Its just not right to do that to him. It would make my life next time he gets a condescending question if he would tell the person to "**** off,".

I still say A-Rod kind of is a notch over Canseco in the honesty department because Canseco was honest to try to get rich, A-Rod isnt being paid for his honesty.

I cant fathom why the media wont forgive A-Rod when they will forgive everyone else if they are somewhat forthcoming. And another thing, **** Selig for getting onto A-Rod too.

[HoustonGM]

I cant fathom why the media wont forgive A-Rod when they will forgive everyone else if they are somewhat forthcoming. And another thing, **** Selig for getting onto A-Rod too.

That article I linked to (Joe Sheehan's) goes into Selig and how MLB's leaders are responsible for keeping the steroid issue the huge deal it is, but I don't want to quote too much of it because it's subscriber-only (an excellent read for anybody with a BP subscription though).