Right Here, Right Now

BASEBALL
McGwire testifying in front of Congress
• Ever since the Baseball Hall of Fame ballots were mailed out to sportswriters on Monday, the main topic of discussion is whether or not Mark McGwire will make it in. The reason most sportswriters are against his entry into the hall is because they believe, as I do, that he used steroids. But I disagree with their assertion that he doesn’t belong in the HOF. The reasons I think McGwire deserves to be in the Hall of Fame are sevenfold:
1. We have no hard evidence that he used steroids
2. We have no idea how many pitchers were using steroids at the time and, as a recent evidence suggests, pitchers were either using ‘roids as much or more than hitters
3. Steroids do not make you a better hitter, they only make recovery time better so that you can rehab and workout more often. If you were a crappy hitter before using steroids, then you would be crappy hitter afterwards. Because of that I think we should only subtract 30-50 home runs from his impressive 583 that probably would’ve been warning track fly outs.
4. We have no idea who was using performance enhancers, so, besides Rafael Palmiero, who do we keep out of the Hall? I hear sportswriters saying Barry Bonds should get in because he had the numbers to get in before he (probably) started juicing and that’s contrary to the argument against McGwire. If Big Mac cheated than so did Barry.
5. Players have always, and forever will, look for an edge above the rest. Before steroids they were using uppers and now they’ve moved on to the likes of HGH and God knows what else.
6. Steroids and other performance enhancers were not against the rules when McGwire was in the League! They should’ve been, but they weren’t.
7. If McGwire had apoligzed to some degree or denied it in front of Congress, we probably wouldn't be having this discussion (at least there wouldn't be as many people wanting to block his entrance to the Hall).

Also, why are sportswriters so uppity these days? The sports talk and news people seem to be obsessed with keeping sports pure and righteous. Should we remind them that all of sports are entertainment businesses? Now I’m not saying players should put such dangerous things into their bodies and the different sports should try their best to test for performance enhancers, but sportswriters need to realize that cheating is prevalent in all sports and there’s nothing we can do about it. Cheaters will always be ahead of the drug testers.


Kip Wells and Adam Kennedy

• I got some good and puzzling news yesterday in regards to the St. Louis Cardinals. They went out and signed a three-year deal with second baseman Adam Kennedy and a one-year deal with starting pitcher Kip Wells. I know the Cards are the World Champs but we all have to remember that they got very lucky in the playoffs. They got to play the San Diego Padres in the first round and the Padres are not able to hit at home and had a bad game plan in the first two games for Albert Pujols. Then they played the Mets in the NLCS but don’t forget that the Mets had a pretty bad rotation because they lost Pedro and El Duque. The Mets bats also went nearly silent. As we all remember, the Detroit Tigers literally threw the World Series.

The Cards only won 83 games last year and they think that a light hitting second baseman and a starter who led the NL in losses in 2005 is the answer? Yes their pitching coach Dave Duncan has fixed people in the past but this is going to be another Sidney Ponson. They better be sure that Scott Rolen is going to return to his 2004 self because besides Pujols, they have no feared hitters and will have at best the third best offense in the division. We all know that Tony LaRussa is a genius but I honestly believe that if they don’t get either Ted Lilly or Gil Meche, I can’t see them finishing higher than second place in the division.

TV
Note: I know that not everyone is able to watch shows the night they air but I will not hold back on discussing big plot events.


Kristen Bell is Veronica Mars

• Now I love Veronica Mars and Rob Thomas but I’m having a mixed reaction to last night’s Arc One finale. Unlike the past finales, this one moved as a normal episode of Veronica would until about two-thirds of the way through. Right after we learned that Mercer was the Hearst rapist and Moe was helping him out, the show moved so quickly that it was kind of hard to follow. Because the show decided to become less dense this season, they were forced to cram that all into this episode instead what should’ve been a two-episode finale. I also didn’t like that Veronica didn’t solve the Rapist case and instead her just catching Mercer in the girl’s dorm room. I’m not saying it was bad episode because a normal episode of Veronica is far better than most TV but it kept in line with this disappointing season. Since The CW only ordered 20 episodes, I wonder how Rob Thomas is going to resolve the murder of Dean O’Dell and whatever the third arc mystery will be in those remaining 11 episodes. Does anyone know who did that song that they used when Veronica was being chased? It keeps going “Right here, right now.”

• I was disappointed by Prison Break’s “fall finale”. While this season is nowhere near as good as last season, I have enjoyed myself but this episode seemed to be mostly waiting around until the big cliffhanger. Now I assume that Kellerman killed Mahone but I think that is a huge mistake. Bill Fichtner is a great actor and I really liked Mahone, by far the best thing about the new season, and losing him makes the manhunt far less interesting. Knowing the show, he could survive after events like Sara’s OD and I really hope he does.

Last Night’s TV Grades:
Friday Night Lights: A-
Veronica Mars: A
House: A
Boston Legal: A-
Nip/Tuck: B-
The Daily Show: C+ (Too much Tom Waits)
The Colbert Report: B

RANDOM THOUGHTS
• Now I know why I barely saw any press for Incubus’ new album Light Grenades. It’s by far their worst album. Unlike A Crow to the Left of the Murder, there is no great single and there are even really bad songs that just make noise for no apparent reason. There are a few okay to good songs but it’s like one really bad song followed by one or two good songs and then that pattern repeats itself. It’s sad because the best song on the album is the bonus track I got from iTunes.

• Who likes the Trans-Siberian Orchestra? They look and sound pretty bad.

• ESPNEWS forgot to bleep Michael Strahan’s numerous “bullshit”s and “damn”s when he was blasting Plaxico Burress and the press in the locker room. It seems scarier and less funny when they don’t bleep people. I wonder if Strahan was using his Speed Stick. That squirrel better look out.

QUOTE OF THE POST
“Will they let me in? I think all the glitter has come off my Porn Star tube top.”
-Mac (Tina Majorino) in response to Veronica (Kristen Bell) asking her to come to the Pi Sig party on Veronica Mars