·
My
overall summary of what I think is this; What was
really learned by this report? Sure, there were a couple of new names, but
not really any major stars were a surprise. Most of the names had been mentioned at
some point over the last couple of years. Bonds. Giambi.
Sheffield. Clemens. Dykstra. Gagne. Tejada.
Glaus. Those were already known.
·
And
yes, the fact that Roger Clemens name was on there was not at all surprising.
My only hope is that his legacy and career are bashed and scrutinized to the
full extent that Barry Bonds has been over the past three or four years.
·
With
that said, I also believe that those two should not be more heavily scrutinized
than the players on the list that were not All-Stars. I think it is fair to say
that there are more borderline big league players on this list that likely took
something just to give themselves an extra boost to
give themselves a better shot at a big league roster spot.
·
There
were no current Twins on the list. Rondell White,
Chuck Knoblauch, Dan Naulty, Denny Neagle, Chad Allen and Juan Rincon were the only former
Twins mentioned by name in this list.
Check out
Josh’s Thoughts for more specifics on them. However, only Rincon was an
actual Twins player when they were allegedly using PEHs.
·
Back
to Clemens, I can’t believe the excuses that I am hearing some in the media
making for him. Maybe there was an agenda. I am very curious what the public
will think of Clemens. He has been given a free pass to this point.
·
There
are still a few players addressed as “Player A” or “Player B” that the report
says they can’t name for legal reasons. Who are those names? That just adds to
the point that this is anything but a complete list.
·
The
report does present a very interesting history of drug abuse in the big leagues
back 20-25 years. It was neat reading the names of the players suspended for
cocaine abuse in the mid-80s. Names like Willie Wilson and Pascual
Perez bring back great memories.
·
Where
are all those Jack Cust backers now?
·
I was
unaware that Ferguson Jenkins had been arrested going into Canada with
marijuana, hashish and cocaine. Sometime when you have a chance, compare the
numbers of Fergie Jenkins to those of Bert Blyleven
and then again remind me why Blyleven is not in the Hall of Fame and Jenkins
is.
·
Jose
Canseco thinks this report is a joke. When asked why Alex Rodriguez wasn’t
named, he only said that the list of players in the report was incomplete.
Again, this is something that we knew going in.
·
Hopefully
what will happen though is that this report will just be the starting point.
Maybe a couple more people will talk and name names. I mean, isn’t that the
goal?
·
I am
glad that the report did give the Commissioner several recommendations, and
hopefully Bud Selig will do that.
·
And,
for the record, I also agree with the Players Association stance that it goes
against personal rights to submit to random drug testing when there is no real
proof.
·
And
finally, hopefully the players will take it upon themselves to do things the
right way. We can blame the owners and General Managers for not knowing and
being ok with what was going on in terms of home runs and strikeouts because
people were coming to games. We can blame the managers, and coaches, for not
knowing or shielding their players. We can blame the clubhouse attendants or
those that supplied the PEHs. But the suppliers don’t supply players that don’t
ask for drugs. It comes down to pride really. Like we’ve seen, many of those
named Thursday or in the past are guys that were in that AAA/AAAA category of
player. They used the excuse of doing what it takes to make the big leagues.
Well, if you can’t make it on your own, was it worth it?
·
And,
having said that, I don’t know what I would do in that situation. Yes, I would
love to say that I didn’t need performance enhancers to get to the big leagues.
But if I could see that I couldn’t make it on my own, would I try to make it
regardless of how it was accomplished? In reality, if it meant a 15 game or a
50 game suspension to be able to say that I played in the big leagues, I truly
don’t know what I would do. No one could take that away. No one can take away
those memories. That is a much more difficult question than we all wish it
would be. We all like to think that we would ‘do the right thing’ and ‘just say
no’ but in the end, are we sure?