A-Rod: Still lying and cheating

It turns out the liar and cheater is an even bigger liar and cheater, including lying about cheating. Am I surprised? Not even a little bit.

A-Roid Book Bombshell

The significant details are that he's been juicing from high school until he was a Yankee, putting to bed the ridiculous notion that he "only" cheated for a few years with the Rangers. Now, I don't usually wish ill on other athletes, even ones I hate. But A-Roid deserves every bad thing that happens to him forever. He was an incredible athlete who had no need to cheat, and yet he did it anyway*. He blatantly lied about the cheating, even after he was caught dead to rights. I also love the Yankee fans who couldn't forgive him fast enough. "It's okay, because he admitted it!" was an actual Facebook post I read from a Yankee fan. Is it still okay, pinstripers? What more does he have to do to prove that he is a vile, despicable human being? Where's the line? Everyone should be done with this chump. Everyone.

* Or maybe he wasn't actually any good to begin with. This was always my biggest gripe with Barry Bonds roiding up--Bonds was a phenomenal baseball player before he ever touched drugs. If he stayed clean and played out his career, there is no doubt that he would have been regarded as one of the top five players of all time. Sure, maybe he would have ended up with "only" 600 homers if he didn't hit the juice. But he could run, he could field, he could do it all...he was the epitome of a five tool player. And he threw that all away just so he could turn the McGwire-Sosa "chicks dig the long ball" spotlight squarely on himself. I can understand why a guy struggling to make a roster would consider trying to get an edge. That at least makes sense on some level. But Bonds? Why? I don't get it. Which brings us back to A-Roid, whom I thought was in the same situation, which would have made his cheating just as stupid, if not moreso, depending on the time table. But now comes word that he has been doing this since high school, in which case he might never have been good enough to begin with. Maybe Chem-Free Alex is a fringe major leaguer, just a utility infielder. Obviously his massive, bordering-on-mentally-ill mind and ego never could have handled that. But now one thing is clear: we will never know the whole truth about A-Roid. And that's fine, because he is 100% dead to me. He's a mincing, prancing, self-obsessed, cheating phony, and not trading for him is the best transaction the Red Sox have ever been near. Getting him would have been worse than trading away Bagwell.

(P.S. I would be remiss if I didn't mention the fact that his own Yankee teammates apparently nicknamed him "Bitch Tits" because the chemicals caused such an absurd change in his pecs. This is unfortunate, because it is a really horrible moniker and it is one that is absolutely going to be hurled at him from many places and people, including drunken fans at Fenway Park.)

(P.P.S. I think my favorite part of his comments today is the genuine enthusiasm he musters at the current Yankee two game "winning streak." Do I need to mention that their payroll is once again north of $200 million? Ladies and gentlemen, the third place finishers in the AL East in 2008, and on pace to be entrenched there once again...your New York Yankees!)

They sure did

Did Hometown Refs Benefit Bulls?

Yeah. Yeah, they did. It was awful. I actually had to do something else while watching the game, because the way NBA playoff games are officiated is so infuriating. It's small consolation to hear that clearly the game was, in fact, a complete bag job. But very small. There were probably five calls against the Celtics in the late fourth quarter and the overtimes that were outright fabrications--defensive fouls when replays showed no contact, offensive fouls that were beyond ridiculous, you name it. Maybe more. Throw in another 5-10 borderline calls that went against Boston and it made me want to throw a brick through the TV. And the Celtics still almost won. Absurd. I know that we're not winning the title this year. The painful part is that it doesn't matter how well we play. The NBA Finals will feature LeBron James vs. Kobe Bryant. The rest of the league doesn't even need to bother trying, and honestly, as far as the league cares, the rest of the Cavs and Lakers could sit this one out too. They might as well have Bron-Bron and Mamba play seven games of one-on-one. It's despicable.

Boo!

Teixeira Expects To Be Booed At Fenway Tonight

No shit.

The Boston Globe proposes another idea: that fans simply turn their backs and give him the silent treatment. While this sounds different, and is some attempt at taking the moral high road, I'm not interested. Sports is the last place in which booing is thoroughly acceptable, and if I had a ticket tonight, I would boo Teixeira until my throat was raw. He's a fake, overpaid, money-grubbing douchebag who acts like the Red Sox somehow did him wrong during their courtship of him, when apparently he, or at least his wife, had every intent of simply signing with the Yankees all along anyway. Just like A-Rod, this seems to be a case in which I wanted the guy at the time, but was then ecstatic that the Sox didn't end up with him. He enters tonight hitting .222, for the record, despite the fact that balls have been flying out of the new Yankee stadium at a record pace. By the way, there are plenty of really good seats available to see last year's third place finishers in the AL East if you are so inclined. Have I mentioned that Teixeira has never finished in the top 5 for MVP voting, has never been out of the first round of the playoffs, and still got $180 million? Nice.

But I digress. The booing. It's not just for Doucheface. It's for anyone that puts on the pinstripes, period. And I mean that. If my own mother discovered that she has a nasty slider and is death on righties and the Yanks signed her as an 8th inning relief specialist, I would boo the hell out of her if she came in to pitch a tie game at Fenway. I love you, Mom, but I totally would. If any of my friends played for the Yankees? BOOOOOOOOO. The only scenario I can come up with that might even provide the slightest hint of conflict is if my son got drafted by them. And honestly, I don't know what I would do then. Demand a trade, probably.

But anyone else? There is no high road. If you're in the pinstripes at Fenway, you are the enemy. Period. I wish that booing was socially acceptable in lots more situations: poor service in restaurants, when the blackjack dealer keeps pulling five card 21s, and pretty much any trip to the DMV, just for starters. But I feel no need or inclination to make some highbrow attempt at being perceived as a "better" fan. Mark Teixeira led us on with no intention of ever signing with us in order to extract the most cash that he could, and then he signed with our hated rivals. If that's not worthy of our vocal derision at the ballpark, then nothing is.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

Fantasy baseball draft #2

I haven't watched ER in years but I decided to check in for the retrospective and the swan song on Thursday night. Coupled with Survivor, this meant that I'd be spending several consecutive hours sitting around not doing much. Perfect opportunity to participate in another fantasy baseball draft! I jumped onto ESPN and randomly joined a league with their standard settings: ten team mixed 5X5 draft. I got the first pick. Here's how it went.

1. Hanley Ramirez. Positional scarcity, steals, stud. What's not to like?
2. Dustin Pedroia. All of the above, plus now I at least own him in one league.
3. Lance Berkman. Solid, and I needed the most reliable power guy left on the board.
4. Matt Holliday. I think he is an outright steal with the 40th pick in the draft. People are acting like he's just going to die outside of Coors Field, and that is not happening.
5. Brandon Webb. As reliable as starters get.
6. David Ortiz. I thought this was a good spot to roll the dice on a return to form. If he gets hurt I can replace him with anyone since he is only eligible as a utility guy now.
7. Magglio Ordonez.
8. Joakim Soria. The Mexicutioner is probably the best nickname in baseball.
9. Jon Lester. He can absolutely win the Cy Young if the big 2008-09 innings pitched bump doesn't bite him.
10. Chris Young, OF, AZ. Solid 20-20 guy and I can handle his lower batting average.
11. Rich Harden. Rolling the dice for maximum return makes a ton of sense in these 10 team mixed leagues.
12. Victor Martinez. Stud or injury bust. I don't see a lot of middle ground.
13. Chone Figgins. 40 steals at a corner slot is nice.
14. Xavier Nady. He has to produce as a Yankee regular, right?
15. Ricky Nolasco. Breakout year coming up.
16. Kevin Gregg. Has been lights out, but I should handcuff him with Marmol now.
17. Carlos Guillen. Unsexy, solid player.
18. Shin-Soo Choo. I'm going with Matthew Berry on this one.
19. Chad Qualls. Great cheap closer.
20. Rickie Weeks. Always a chance he could put it all together, and if not backup middle infielder is an easy fill.
21. Carlos Marmol. A bit of a reach this early but I have the Cubs closers covered and I like having a high strikeout middle man to run out there every day. Should buzzard some wins and end up with saves as well.
22. Wandy Rodriguez. There were tons of decent fantasy 5th starter types left. I like the upside and I like the K rate.
23. Brad Ziegler. Steal. Joey Devine may be out for the year.
24. Elijah Dukes. More of that breakout upside I was looking for.
25. Johnny Cueto.

Obviously I was really aggressive with some of these picks, but if even half of them work out then my team will be absolutely stacked. It's a "just for fun" league with no prizes and nobody I know playing, but I figure since I had all my draft scouting done...why not?

I may sneak in one more draft before the weekend ends.