The Monday Musings

...Unless you were at the Black Spruce, or somehow avoided the tv and internet all weekend, you've no doubt heard that Alex Rodriguez tested positive for steroids back in 2003. No matter how he tries to spin this, we have irrefutable proof ARod used roids. First off, I was not shocked in the least when I read this. Not to say I had Rogriguez pegged as a user, it's just at this point no name could surprise me or shock me anymore. Ken Griffey Jr is my favorite player of all-time, and while he didn't LOOK like a guy who used or needed roids, I hope we've all learned that it's not about how a guy LOOKS. Juan Rincon used steriods. So did slap-hitting fourth outfielder Alex Sanchez. If it came out tomorrow that Junior used during his career, while I would be saddened, I wouldn't be surprised at all. Greg Maddux, Pedro Martinez, Joe Mauer, David Eckstein. ANY of these guys that played in the 90's and early this decade very well could have used, and I hope the gravity of that is starting to hit home for fans.

The entire era is a fraud, and baseball has no one to blame but itself. The owners needed to get people in the seats after the Lockout of 1994 drove fans away, so they looked the other way when players got huge and homeruns starting rocketing out of parks at record rates. Remember that up until a few years ago, STEROIDS WERE NOT ILLEGAL!!! Yes, the players should share the blame, but technically all of the steroid use wasn't even cheating according to baseball rules. The only reason Rodriguez was caught is because the players were asked to take an anonymous test so that the owners could determine if they needed a steroid policy at all! This evidence was supposed to be destroyed, and only because someone out there decided not to, we get to find out about this.

I really hope baseball fans get fed up and stay away from the game. I LOVE the game of baseball itself, but this is a joke and fans deserve better. And I"m not just talking an apology. Currently MLB doesn't have a test for HGH, and they're not keeping samples so they can go back and check when they finally do develop a test. The only way this gets better, we get some answers, and real change happens is if players and owners have no other choice. They need to start with releasing the other 103 names of the players who also tested positive in 2003. The economy, and this kind of news, could be just the thing to finally make that happen.

...This adds more fuel to talk about the Hall-of-Fame and whether ARod, Clemens, McGwire, Bonds, and others deserve to be elected. Since all of the steroid talk started earlier this decade, ESPN.com baseball scribe Buster Olney has had the opinion that you can't pick and choose who you're putting in because while we think we can tell who DID use, there's no way to tell who didn't. There just isn't. So because guys who did use but don't "look" like steroid users (the Rincon and Sanchez examples again) could get elected, you either need just elect everyone who's deserving regardless of steroid use because, after all, it was legal. Or, no one from this era gets in. I don't think I'm alone in the belief that I think this entire generation should be banned.

...I felt the same level of shock when I heard the Twins don't want to pay Joe Crede $7 million a year despite not just needing a third baseman, but also needing a decent free agent signing to prove to fans that they didn't just pay for a new stadium for the Pohlad family so they could pocket the profits and sit on the money. So far...looks like the apple doesn't fall far from the tree in the Pohlad family.

...If the Vikings are serious about making a Super Bowl run next year, it looks like 2 of the 3 missing pieces can be had: we're SOL on a new head coach, but a better QB and a #1 receiver WILL be available. The price could be steep for both, but for a team with cap room that's built to win NOW, this is the offseason to act or they could risk missing their window of opportunity. Assuming Tom Brady is healthy to start the season, Matt Cassell can be had in trade. Reading the stories coming out of Philly the last couple of weeks, it looks like Donovan McNabb could be had too, and for less than it would cost to get Cassell. For a #1 wide receiver, Anquan Boldin wants out in Arizona, and he'd be the PERFECT compliment to Bernard Berrian- or maybe that's the other way around, Berrian would be the perfect compliment to Boldin. If it cost a first rounder to get Boldin, it would be worth it for me.

...one guy I want absolutely, positively no part of is Terrell Owens. Two of the most plugged in people in football, Adam Schefter of the NFL Network and Peter King of SI, believe Owens will definitely be cut before training camp. I don't care that he wouldn't cost the Vikes a draft pick, I don't care if you could somehow GUARANTEE me a Super Bowl if he signed in Minnesota, I do not want Owens in purple. He's been with three different teams, hasn't won a Super Bowl with any of them, and it has ended badly in all three places. Thanks but no thanks.

...For those ready to crown the LA Lakers NBA champs after impressive road wins over Boston and Cleveland last, I ask you this: how short is your memory?!?!? Without Andrew Bynum this is the same LAkers team that dominated the regular season last year, dominated the WEstern Conference in the playoffs...and then got dominated against a much tougher Boston teams in the Finals. Nothing has changed. With Bynum, the Lakers ARE the team to beat because he gives them the toughness and size inside, which is the only thing they're lacking. But without him (and let's be honest, with Bynum's injury history there's no guarantee he's healthy for a long playoff run), they're still not tough enough to beat Boston or Cleveland in the Finals. And that's IF they can get by the Spurs first, who once again are rounding into form at just the right time.

...As a matter of fact, the NBA playoffs are this simple: if Bynum's healthy, the Lakers beat the Cavs in 6. If he's not healthy, the Cavs beat the Spurs in 6.