Even the Cubs and Sox didn't sell out all six of their games at Wrigley Field and U.S. Cellular, respectively (just two, in fact). There was a time you would've had to kill to get a ticket to one of those games at either park.
And I'm telling ya', those series between Minnesota and Cincinnati, San Diego and Seattle, Toronto and Miami and, of course, Cleveland and Houston - not to be missed. Compelling doesn't begin to describe them.
No, really, it doesn't.
And the White Sox would likely not want to see the National League again after getting kicked around the way they did all through inter-league action. Even the Cubs beat the crap out of them.
It's time to re-examine the value of inter-league play, declare it the promotional ploy that it always was to get fans back after the '94 strike [http://reds.enquirer.com/2004/08/12/STRIKEBOX12-LOPRESTI.html]. And stop giving us Padres-Mariners.
Please, stop! Please. Padres-Mariners? Please!
***
Quick, how many people believe Roger Clemens when he says he didn't lie about using steroids?
Raise your arms, please. Without a steroid-injection assist, that is. Or without being blinded by his celebrity.
I believe him - that he lied, that is. They all lied. All the users. Regardless of what a court of law said. Regardless of what any commission came up with. Regardless of what anyone says or doesn't say. Regardless of what any lawyer says.
Baseball does, indeed, keep what happens in the clubhouse in the clubhouse. These guys don't rat each other out. So, whatever it says in the Mitchell Report, it doesn't matter.
Andy Pettitte used [http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3156305]. He confessed. And apologized. Jason Giambi used [http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/11/sports/baseball/11giambi.html]. And apologized. Alex Rodriguez used [http://gothamist.com/2009/02/17/alex_rodiguez_talks_to_the_media.php#photo-1]. And finally confessed. And Apologized. Mark McGwire too [http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=stark_jayson&id=4817817]. Even Barry Bonds did [http://pugetsoundblogs.com/peabody/2011/03/22/bonds-admits-steroid-use-in-opening-statement/]. Up to a point. Don't recall his apology though.
Sammy Sosa? No speak English...
Roger Clemens? No speak truth.
That 21-3 year did help me win my fantasy league that season though. Thanks, Roger.
Raise your arms, please. Without a steroid-injection assist, that is. Or without being blinded by his celebrity.
I believe him - that he lied, that is. They all lied. All the users. Regardless of what a court of law said. Regardless of what any commission came up with. Regardless of what anyone says or doesn't say. Regardless of what any lawyer says.
Baseball does, indeed, keep what happens in the clubhouse in the clubhouse. These guys don't rat each other out. So, whatever it says in the Mitchell Report, it doesn't matter.
Andy Pettitte used [http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3156305]. He confessed. And apologized. Jason Giambi used [http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/11/sports/baseball/11giambi.html]. And apologized. Alex Rodriguez used [http://gothamist.com/2009/02/17/alex_rodiguez_talks_to_the_media.php#photo-1]. And finally confessed. And Apologized. Mark McGwire too [http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=stark_jayson&id=4817817]. Even Barry Bonds did [http://pugetsoundblogs.com/peabody/2011/03/22/bonds-admits-steroid-use-in-opening-statement/]. Up to a point. Don't recall his apology though.
Sammy Sosa? No speak English...
Roger Clemens? No speak truth.
That 21-3 year did help me win my fantasy league that season though. Thanks, Roger.
***
The Jerry Sandusky story is disgusting, disheartening and dispels all the notions you have of the goodwill coaches have for players and kids as their role models and teachers. It will linger for as long as all the lawsuits and appeals linger.
And well it should...
***
I keep watching MLB pitchers miss starts and appearances or go on the Disabled List with what teams describe as "soreness."
Football players play through anything. They strap up, saddle up and get out there. Hockey players too. Basketball players try, at least.
Even amputees compete in para-Olympic-like events.
But pitchers? "Aww, my awm huwts. I can't thwo too day. Gwive me a wollypop and lwet me go home."
Soreness is part of life. Deal with it. I'm sore when I come home from the gym. After I vigorously wash my car. Have sex.
Your muscles get sore.
Get used to it, wusses.
***
Do you think The Wisconsin-Green Bay "Fighting Phoenix" get upset every time they see a University of Phoenix commercial in which the grad in focus says, "I'm a Phoenix," in regard to his or her success in life and career?
I think they should sue and then, after they win, we'll have a "University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Fighting Phoenix" Stadium in Glendale, Ariz.
Wouldn't that be too cool?
***
This is usually the part where I say I'm going on vacation soon for the summer and my blog will be disappearing so I can spend more time with my family.
Yeah, right.
I'm not going. And my blog's not disappearing.
###
Howard Schlossberg is editor of the Journal of Sports Media [http://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/product/Journal-of-Sports-Media,673232.aspx]. He's an associate professor of journalism at Columbia College Chicago [https://www.facebook.com/pages/CCC-Journalism-Columbia-College-Chicago/115604591875424], where creativity and learning are embraced hand-in-hand. And he still writes sports for the Daily Herald [http://www.dailyherald.com/] in Chicago's northwest suburbs.
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