McGuire used steroids?

Sports quote of the Day. 91 year old pitching legend Bob Feller, " Mark McGuire will not get in the hall of fame in my life time."

Anyone who claims to be a baseball fan should hope not, and not in the life span of anyone else living today. It is bad enough and not surprising, that  McGuire used steroids. In the minds of most he, and his former Oakland A's teammate Jose Canseco, and of course the other Bay area Bomber Barry Bonds were the poster children of what McGuire termed the "era of steroids." 

What is even worse is the way McGuire came clean, with a speech of more excuses than substance.

McGuire insisted in his remarks that he took steroids for his health, not to hit more home runs. He said he would have still hit the same number of home runs without them. 

He is right about one thing, hitting home runs takes a certain amount of natural ability. Most normal men couldn't do it with all the steroids in the world

He is wrong about another, and that has to do with the way he remembers his high school physics lesson. 

Stronger arms make bats move faster. A faster moving bat obviously makes the smaller baseball travel further when hit squarely. To even suggest some of his home runs were not due to abnormal strength is absurd.

McGuire said he wished he had never played baseball during the era of the steroid. Fans of the 1980s would agree. We would also agree Nolan Ryan did OK replacing steroids with workouts and sweat.

 Dale Murphy was known to hit opposite field home runs, a feat that takes strength. He didn't need injections or pills to do it. The list could go on. Dozens of players played at the same time as McGuire, they were just more concerned with the integrity of the game than getting an illegal edge. 

In a statement the day after his admission McGuire said his steroid use was a secret to his wife and his parents. Funny thing, because it wasn't to the rest of the world.

Bowden Shot Pretty Straight
When Florida State football Coach Bobby Bowden retired last week he closed a big door behind him. It is unfortunate he went out the way he did but it may have been the right time. College football will never be the same.
Coach Bowden made the comment that he wished his teams had kicked a few more of them a little straighter along the way. It was his way of lamenting a poor performance this year. His teams kicked them as straight as any in modern history.
He nor anyone else should judge his career based on this last year, or the last five. Coach Bowden’s career is simply best summarized by looking at the numbers.
The most glaring number is the 75 percent of total games coached that were wins. When only including his time at Florida State that number goes up to 77 percent. Bowden won a total of 773 games in his career.
One of the greatest indicators of Bowden’s success may never be officially documented. That is the number of former players who showed up at his last game. They showed they carried the lessons of Florida State with them throughout their lives.
For many the passage of decades has occurred since they wore the burgundy and gold. They still took time to remember their coach. There is no doubt Coach Bowden will go down as one of the greatest coaches, if not the greatest, in the history of the Atlantic Coast Conference. When his team entered the conference they were almost unbeatable. Forecasters spent most of their time predicting who was going to finish in second most years before the latest round of expansions. When Florida State finally lost a conference game it made national sports newscasts.
It became a given that the Seminoles would win the conference until the likes of Virginia Tech, Miami and Boston College found their way into the conference.
Coach Bowden coached one of the best teams I have seen in person, back in the era of Deion Sanders in the 1980s. I actually saw the Seminoles fall behind East Carolina 3-0. For a brief moment there was bedlam in Greenville with the prospect of a momentous upset on the horizon. The 44-3 final score, in favor of Coach Bowden’s squad, took that hope away and kept his reputation in place. I have seen many Florida State games over the years on television and in almost all of those the outcome was never in doubt. When Florida State played under Coach Bowden, fans expected them to win.
Penn State’s Joe Paterno now gets the spotlight of the college football world. Fans now wait to see if and when he is going to hang up his coaches whistle for the last time. He can only hope he is treated better than Bowden was in his final days. Florida State did not give Coach Bowden the respect he deserves. He will always be remembered as one of the greats, regardless of the way he was treated in the school he helped so much.

Stern does it again

I have to give it to NBA Commissioner David Stern. In dealing with the unbelievable situation of players bringing guns into the locker room he is showing why he is the best leader in sports.
It just adds to a legacy of which he should be very proud. It shows why he has hung around so long in a very difficult job.
When athletes were found with guns in the locker room Stern suspended them indefinitely. Anything else would have been unacceptable. Permanent removal from the game should even be considered.
Once again I am reminded why I watch almost no NBA games. More than any other sports, the overpaid athletes of the NBA seem to let celebrity status get to their heads. The league is more known for the thugs that lace up their shoes each night than their playing skills.
Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Kareen Abdul Jabaar, Magic Johnson should be disappointed. The league they put on the map is not what it was when they left the game.
Today's stars, mostly Kobe and Shaq, seem more interested in their personal careers than the teams they play for. Jordan, Bird and Johnson played for only one team in their careers. Shaq is now on at least his third. That alone is a statement about the game.
David Stern has a difficult job managing the thugs that seem to arise in the NBA. When guns showed up in the locker room he once again adjusted. He should be commended for his efforts.

Should Twitter be banned during sports games

Welcome Tyler Lambert as the first guest writer in The Corner. Tyler is a high school senior, aspiring sports writer, and unashamed Duke Blue Devil fan


Bleep Tweet: Should Twitter Be Banned In Pro Sports During Games?
by Tyler Lambert

The Lakers-Cavs game has two seconds left until halftime: Shaq gets hurt and is escorted off the court while they're down by 20.
Cavalier fans everywhere are upset because their team is down big and Shaq could be out for awhile.
But if you want to know how serious the injury is, don't look to the sideline report or team trainer for an answer; just check out Shaq's latest Tweet:
"Guys, I'm down and out four the rest of this game n maybe longer. Hurt my foot, pain is killing me. Likely sprained my ankle, but could be worse. Oh yeah, you better watch out Bynum, no one messes with the Big Diesel."
As we all know, Twitter is one of the fastest-growing websites on the planet and has become even more popular in the sports world.
Follow your favorite player, check your profile every so often, and see what's going on in that athlete's life. It's too bad, however, that some athletes have abused the privilege of sending feedback out to fans by sending "Tweets" during games.
This selfish action takes away from the game itself, distracting players and giving them less time to prepare for the challenges that lie ahead. Thus, I say that Twitter should be banned during games.
Why?
Because sports are not all about the athletes; they are also about the game itself.
Tell me, would you rather read Kobe Bryant's Twitter feed or watch the final minutes of a Lakers' game?
How about check up on Serena Williams' "Tweets" during a changeover instead of watching the entire match itself?
The answer is simple: "The athletes don't make the sport; the sport makes the athlete."
Would Tiger Woods have ever been successful in golf had he never picked up a golf club? What about Alex Rodriguez—would he be able to hit a home run without ever lifting a baseball bat? Probably not.
What I am trying to say is that each athletes respected sport is sacred—it has history and the athletes have its honor to uphold. If an athlete uses Twitter during a game, do you think that would uphold the standards of that respected sport? I think not.
Could you ever see Michael Jordan "Tweet" during games?
"Haha, I dropped 50 on tha Celtics tonight. Someone needs to teach them boys how two play defense. I'm unstoppable baby, UNSTOPPABLE!"
Don't get me wrong, Twitter is an outstanding site for athletes to interact with fans, express their true feelings, and let their voice be heard outside of the interviews and press conferences.
The time and place, however, are two crucial thoughts to keep in mind when you decide to "tweet."
Twitter is not made for expressing thoughts during games, but after.
Remember that piece of advice and I'm sure you won't be fined by David Stern for using Twitter to criticize the referees during a Mavericks' game (cough-cough—Mark Cuban).

NFL should let coaches coach

Apparently the powers that be in the National Football League don't think they have enough powers. If they did they wouldn't be trying to turn into coaches by influencing decisions made on the field. There is enough for league officials to do without trying to force feed strategy decisions.
League officials want to initiate changes based on the Indianapolis Colts recent decision to bench starters during a regular season that had no impact on their post season. Though perhaps not directly, league officials want to tell head coaches when and how to make decisions about who they put on the playing field and it is just wrong.
The irony is that the Colts were willing to give up their perfect season by putting in their second teamers. The coaching staff realized winning the Super Bowl is a bigger goal than simply taking home one victory.
It was a matter of simple strategy. Peyton Manning and his fellow starters weren't likely to get hurt watching the game from the sidelines. If Manning was dodging 300 pound lineman all day there was a chance he wouldn't be available for the games that really matter. Any of the other players who didn't play are of equal value and would be missed nearly as much if they were injured. A playoff team without its starters will likely not be a playoff team very long.
It is wrong of the league to try to force coaches to play their stars in situations where they might otherwise sit them, trying to save them for when they are really needed.
The cries calling for such league action are likely from those who aren't in the playoff hunt or others who would have benefited from a Colts win. The league needs to let coaches do what is best for their own team, not the rest of the league. It is part of what makes coaching in the NFL so challenging. If more useless regulation is put in place it is only going to make the difficult job of managing professional athletes even harder.

Miracle finish

Did I just see, what I just saw?

I just watched about three seconds of the North Carolina State and Florida basketball game. That was more than enough. A missed foul shot followed by a 70 foot shot sent the Pack faithful home disappointed and shocked. I have watched a lot of basketball in my day but I don't know if I have ever seen anything quite like that.
N.C. State Coach Sidney Lowe looked like he had seen a ghost as the ball stripped through the net. Seeing that ghost is almost as likely as one of those shots going in. It is a worthwhile venture to look up the end of the game on You Tube or somewhere else.
Today is another example that things are not well in Wolfpack land. The football bowl season has come and gone with no appearance of the Pack. Basketball appears to be another year of being sandwiched between better teams in Durham and Chapel Hill. Another tiresome appearance in the NIT may be on the horizon.
So now we have hockey at Fenway, ECU missing three field goals in a matter of minutes to lose the Liberty Bowl and this miraculous finish, and 2010 is only three days old. Makes you want to get up tommorow to see what is next. This is the best place on the web to get the next headline.

Hockey at Fenway?

If the first day of the new year is an indication what is to come, 2010 will be a great show, and a blogger's paradise. If the 364 days left in the year are anything like the first one, watch out. There is going to be plenty to write about.

A public relations genious in Boston held a hockey game at Fenway yesterday.
Thats right, sports fans, center ice was almost exactly where second base usually is. The words Bruins and Flyers were on the classic manual scoreboard on the Green Monster. There was a whole different view from the bleacher seats. Bobby Orr threw out the first pitch, or puck, or something.
It just seems weird. What is next? Are they going to play football at Wrigley? It has likely happened in the past but it is still odd. Are they going to play baseball in the Superdome? One can only imagine the power alleys in that old building.
Kudos from the Corner for creativity in the world of sports public relations. Ice on the outfield grass was a brilliant way to use one of most of the storied venues in all of history during the off season.
Can't wait to see what day number three brings tomorrow