The eve of destruction...

My head hurts:

• Robbie Alomar allegedly has AIDS.
• Miguel Tejada pleads guilty to lying to Congress.
• Adam Dunn signs a two year/$20 million deal with the Nats.
• Bobby Abreu signs a one year/$5 million deal with the Halos.
• Manny claims he was provoked into shoving Red Sox travelling secretary Jack McCormick to the ground.
• Jose Canseco wants to help MLB to cope with the steroid problem.
• Darryl Strawberry discusses the lurid conduct of his time with the Mets.
• Keith Hernandez says that the era and Alex Rodriguez’s totals are tainted by his steroid use.
• Wayne Huizenga repents of his dismantling of the 1997 Florida Marlins.
• Brian Giles counter sues his girlfriend claiming he was the victim of abuse.

All of this has crossed my desk today--10 items. I may go into more detail on some of these topics in the near future but for right now we’ll go with the whole knee jerk reaction to these revelations (a good choice of words since it feels like the Apocalypse is nigh):

Robbie Alomar allegedly has AIDS

I feel bad for the former Blue Jays All Star second sacker (and hopefully first ballot Hall of Famer) and wish him nothing but the very best. I don’t know what this is all about save that it’s seriously messed up.

Miguel Tejada pleads guilty to lying to Congress

Nobody is going to give a rip about this--he doesn’t make enough money and isn’t a good enough player to become a pariah. Public crucifixions are for those that the media have told us we should despise.

Bobby Abreu signs a one year/$5 million deal with the Halos

A major bargain--the Toronto Blue Jays should be ashamed they wouldn’t beat this--as of right now, they’re the only team in MLB to not have signed a major league free agent. Had the simply non tendered Jose Bautista, Jason Frasor, Brian Tallet, Shawn Camp and ignored the reclamation projects they could’ve topped this easily. This is the sort of thing that destroys a fan’s confidence in the team for which he roots. Why should the customer care when it’s clear that the team is disinterested in improving the product?

Adam Dunn signs a two year/$20 million deal with the Nats

Another bargain--nobody likes baseball there including the front office.

Manny claims he was provoked into shoving Red Sox travelling secretary Jack McCormick to the ground

I’m really sure an employee that disrespects the meal tickets of a major league team would hold onto his job very long. If McCormick was everything Ramirez claims he was, he would’ve been fired long ago. A truly pathetic episode and it gives teams another excuse to just say no to signing him.

Jose Canseco wants to help MLB to cope with the steroid problem

You can’t make this stuff up! It’s a real shame Jeffrey Dahmer is dead--he would’ve been a heck of a counsellor for folks with eating disorders.

Darryl Strawberry discusses the lurid conduct of his time with the Mets

Professional ballplayers partying and skirt chasing? Who knew? I thought they were into Bible study and working with the homeless.

Keith Hernandez says that the era and Alex Rodriguez’s totals are tainted by his steroid use

Hernandez stated: “I was 191 pounds my rookie year, if I had ingested steroids, I would have been close to 230 pounds. Now how much better would that have made me, 230 pounds without any body fat? And how many more home runs would I have hit? I hit 164 home runs . I probably would have hit over 250. I drove in 1,100 runs. I probably would have drove in 1,400. And I think that, along with 11 Gold Gloves, I’d be in the Hall of Fame.”

Had you not snorted so much cocaine you might have made the Hall of Fame as well. At least A-Rod was trying to improve and not destroy his talent and chances of winning ballgames. Bloody hypocrite--somebody should rip him a secondary sphincter for such idiocy.

Wayne Huizenga repents of his dismantling of the 1997 Florida Marlins

Amazingly, he still clings to the lie that he lost $34 million when he simply diverted team revenue to his other businesses--I’ll leave the rest to Doug Pappas (RIP) “...economist Andrew Zimbalist reviewed the Florida Marlins’ claim to have lost $34 million in their World Championship season of 1997. Zimbalist found that Marlins owner Wayne Huizenga, who also owned Pro Player Stadium through a different entity, attributed about $38 million of luxury suite, club seat, parking, concessions, advertising, and naming-rights revenues to the stadium rather than the team. This finagling made a profitable venture appear to be hemorrhaging money, and was used to justify Huizenga’s gutting of the team and subsequent demands for a new taxpayer-funded park.” --Baseball Prospectus

We miss you Doug--Wayne, not so much; don’t worry though, your Marlins are still safe in the hands of like-minded slime balls.

Brian Giles counter sues his girlfriend claiming he was the victim of abuse

But everybody is mad at Barry and Alex with people wanting to see them in jail. One of my favourite comments (for its sheer mindless rabidity) was from a SF Chronicle reader that opined “Bonds should get prison time, at least for that nasty personality. Society needs protected from big headed liars.” Yup, I remember telling my daughters when they were small to never take candy from strangers, never accept rides from somebody that wasn’t a family member, to avoid people selling drugs and big headed liars since they were the most dangerous menaces out there.

Ever see an episode of COPS when they were tracking big headed liars? Ever see a big headed liar on America’s Most Wanted but society needs protection from this scourge like this nitwit needs protection from natural selection.

Finally, I received an e-mail that made my day; either this guy was doing bong hits or doing the best bit of Stengelese that I have ever read. I don’t want to embarrass the guy in case it’s the former but here is it in all its unedited glory…

Reporters love to hate!!!

Baseball has been after Barry Bonds for breaking Babe Ruths record. That's all! If Mark Maguire had broken the record you and the rest of baseball would be ok with it. But when Bonds broke it both home run records and everyone has something to say about it. If Bagwell of the astros broke it you would have nothing to say. Although he quickly retired quietly and noone has anything to say. Now you are all willing to turn in and distroy all your players that you would of accepted, if they broke the record!! But Bonds broke the record and to stop him you are willing to turn in ig. Roger Clements, Mark "juice" Maguire and the rest of white baseball. The south does not seem like it is the same but from baseballs' point of view " Nothing has changed "

Just remember nobody said Maguire was on juice when he set the record!!! But the minute Bonds went after it!!! Their was a problem right!!

He should know his place from the view of white baseball!!!

Get over it

You’re not supposed to understand it--you’re supposed to enjoy it.

I have decided I don‘t get enough hate mail…

He did it for you (SMSN Canada) More on the A-Rod saga--my boss decided to add some fuel to the fire with the title and intro to it (I can’t take credit) and promised I’d pass along the best of the flames to him. He’s a sick man--it’s why he’s so much gosh darned fun to work for.

A slap at liberty (Hardball Times) The real story behind the A-Rod saga--at least the one about which we should really be upset if we have half a brain and a decent sense of self preservation.

Best Regards

John