Ozzie Guillen on Comparing Latinos and Asians in MLB is Plain Silly

Ozzie Guillen is like Manny Ramirez but with his words versus Manny's oddball antics. Ozzie's complaints might be somewhat valid about a lack of support for young, Latino players, but comparing their plight to Major League Baseball players from Asia lacks depth (what I really meant is that his comments are dumb). Just plain silly.



First, Latino players make up 27% of MLB vs. 9% Blacks vs. 2.3% Asians. Latinos already have a support structure within baseball, and even Latinos from smaller Central or South American countries have something far greater than Asian players. Players from Japan, Korea and Taiwan have nothing of the such, so I'm baffled at this obvious fact and Ozzie's complaints.

Second, the majority of Asian players are established professionals from Japan. They are coming to the MLB after a decade or so of experience in Japan's equivalent, so it's apples and guavas that are being compared between the vast majority of Asian MLBs and young, Latino MLBs. Also many of the Asian players have interpreters on their personal payrolls.

Third, the culture in Japanese or Korean professional baseball leagues provide interpreters for foreign players. So there is a culture and expectation already established from where they are coming from, but not in Major League Baseball. It's great if Ozzie can convince the MLB to pay for such a service across the league, but with 27% of the players Latino and probably growing I highly doubt it.

Guillen should learn that silence can be golden, especially when talking makes people raise a few eyebrows and scratch their heads.

Major League Baseball 2K10 $1 Million Winner... Already?

I assume the CEO of 2K Sports is not a happy camper. There is already a $1 million winner for their perfect game challenge.  Unless they already experience sky-rocket sales for 'Major League Baseball 2K10', which it seems like they haven't from reading the news wires.

One amusing part of this story is that the winner, Wade McGilberry, took an hour and a half to do it. $1 million for an hour and a half of work. And this was the first time he played this game.

I think the studio head for this game might be in trouble. Or maybe all the employees and game testers at 2K Sports just sucked at their own game, so they couldn't tell if they made it difficult enough to at least

Mark McGuire, Just Stop Talking Please

Did it for health reasons and not to hit home runes? Please. And steroids didn't help him? Please, Mark. Just stop.

The Hole Gets Deeper For Alex Rodriguez

Once you lie and continue to lie, it becomes a bigger problem. Didn't you learn this is grade school, Alex? Especially in today's world of instant access to information and a global network, why would you lie to the public? To baseball fans?

"Primobolan not legally available in DR" ESPN

Greg Maddux to Retire... Simply a Class Act

Not just because he was Cubbie, but I always believed that Greg Maddux was better than Roger Clemens. It's a given that he was much classier than the brash, cheat from Houston. My favorite quote on the best pitcher since Walter Johnson and Cy Young was by Len Dykstra:

"I understand how he knows when I'm going to swing. But how the hell does he know when I'm not swinging?"

More from ESPN, "Maddux to retire with 355 wins"

Of Course Clemens is a Cheat... Why are Republicans Idiots?

If you've been following the Roger Clemens train wreck (USA Today's timeline), it's been disappointing to learn that one of baseball's greats is also one of baseball's biggest crooks and liars.

Also if you're a Republican, like me, it was disappointing watching the Congressional hearings yesterday because the Republicans on the House Committee on Oversight & Government Reform were being idiots. Seriously, Rep. Dan Burton, Rep. Christopher Shays and a couple others were idiots. It's obvious after Chuck Knoblauch and Andy Pettitte confirmed Brian McNamee's story that Roger Clemens lied and cheated in baseball. Heck, it was obvious to me before this. Sure McNamee lied and isn't the most savory person, but don't side with Clemens. Don't stand on the wrong side of the train tracks. Didn't your parents teach you this?

It was embarrassing. As I was watching this Congressional circus, I was wondering why the Republicans decided to be the clowns who grilled McNamee and the Dems the lion tamers. Was it a Jedi mind-trick by Chairman Henry Waxman telling them, "Hey, why don't you guys be the bad cops on McNamee and we'll get the sucker deal and be the bad cops on Clemens..."??

More on this from ESPN:
"Going forward, questions will focus on Clemens more than McNamee"

"Clemens' answer? Blame everyone but himself"

Griffey Passes Robinson... Sosa, Bonds, But What About Lance?

Today Ken Griffey, Jr. passed Frank Robinson on the all-time home run list. Sixth place after Sammy Sosa. Griffey, Jr. has always been one of my favorite ballplayers. Loves the game, plays with a smile, always gives 110%, and seems to be a nice guy. I'm from Chicago and a Cubs fan, but I never liked Sosa. He always seemed insincere to me, especially during that "magical" home run race with McGwire. Whenever he would say, "You da man, Mark!", I would cringe. Please, Sammy, stop it. We all know you wanted to be 'da man'. Actually, McGwire and Sosa both make me cringe.

When I look at Griffey, Jr.'s back-to-back 50 home run seasons and his run during those years, I am far more impressed than "Shady" Sosa's back-to-back 60 home run seasons. It's the same for much of America. When Sosa past Frank Robinson's mark last year, sports writers yawned. Why did they yawn? Most of them didn't see it as legitimate. It's a tainted record.

For Barry Bonds, it's a slightly different story. Many baseball fans don't like his arrogant and surly personality while people might have been deceived by Sosa's effervescent personality. So outside of the Bay Area, not many are cheering him on as he approaches Hank Aaron's home run record while during Sosa's glory year they were. What's also different is that people had no clue or little reason to doubt that Sosa wasn't juiced back then. It was our first experience with home run numbers off the charts while now we know that drug use is widespread.

Barry just as much admitted to using performance-cheating drugs on a grand jury, but stated that it was ignorance. Whatever. The lack of support and cheers for Bonds is not an issue of race as some corners of America want or believe it to be. It's an issue of fairness and character. The gut reaction in most of us when a cheater gets away with something. Sometimes this feeling fades away with time, but it's still there hoping for the right thing to happen. For justice to prevail.

What I find stupider than people arguing that it is racism as to why the public is against Bonds breaking Aaron's record, is questioning whether steroids and hormones help baseball players. The typical argument is that they still have to hit the ball, which is "the hardest thing to do in sports." Hello? Excuse. These are already professional baseball players. And have you ever watched a game? How balls are caught 10-20 feet away from the fence? Imagine how ball routine ground ball outs with a bit of juice become blistering singles or doubles? Then what about those routine fly balls now? Now imagine how a .233 and 15 home run hitter becomes a .261 and 33 home run hitter or a .308 and 66 home run hitter after a steady diet of hormones and corked bats? These are Sosa's actual stats from his first full season and his juiced up years.

I really hope someone develops an accurate test to detect human growth hormone (hGH) and other performance-cheating drugs. Major League baseball should fund it since they created this mess in our nation's beloved sport.

Moving beyond baseball, one question that always bothered me is "what about Lance Armstrong?" Talk to people in cycling and you'll learn about the wide use of performance-cheating drugs in that sport. Did you ever watch that special report on Lance Armstrong by ESPN's Jeremy Schaap last year? Probably not since it was on-air for a shorten period of time. I assume Lance's attorneys threatened ESPN, so they pulled the plug on an excellent piece. Schapp's report convinced me that Armstrong is a cheater too.

Schapp interviews Greg LeMond stating how he told Armstrong to stop using and not to taint the sport. Next communication LeMond hears is from Armstrong attorney and a threat that he will shutdown LeMond's business. Another interview by a former employee of Armstrong's cycling team seals the deal for me. The year I saw this great piece of journalism was the year that Armstrong was the host of ESPN's ESPY Awards. Probably another reason the piece was short-lived.

Cold and ruthless. For being beloved by much of America, Armstrong gives me vibes worse than Barry Bonds.

Greg LeMond was recently called by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency to testify on the Floyd Landis' case. Landis was the 2006 winner of the Tour de France who was stripped of his title after he tested positive for a banned substance. Amazing twist in this story was that Landis' business manager threatened LeMond and tried to blackmail him so that he wouldn't testify. I assume Landis will deny knowing about this too.

Landis, Armstrong, Bonds, Sosa, McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro, Jason Grimsley, and others who use performance-cheating drugs are not athletes to be idolized or followed. They will serve as examples to my children of how not the play sports and compete. It will help me explain how ego or money shouldn't drive their desires of success in business, politics, or whatever they want do it in life. I will tell them to do it because they love it and to do it with fairness, honor and dignity.

For me, people such as Ken Griffey, Jr. and Greg Lemond are refreshing lights in the recent shadow of sports. Where have you gone Don Mattingly? Muhammad Ali? Joe DiMaggio?


OTHER ARTICLES:
"The Dignified Slugger From Mobile" by George Will

"Baseball's biggest bully is Bonds" by Skip Bayless

"For Bonds, great wasn't good enough" by Jeff Pearlman