A-Rod, A-Rod, A-Rod
A few months ago or so at one of our extended family get togethers my brother and I were discussing Barry Bonds and his steroid usage. I was pointing out, as I often do, how great his swing was and how perfect it is, or would be, to use a a model for kids. It is so short, so fast, and so powerful, just a simple flick of the wrist and the ball is served into the bay.
He was pointing out that, while Bond’s record still stands, it didn’t matter because Alex Rodriguez was going to crush it over time. If you ran the numbers out, there was legitimate support for that assertion. I was very happy about this, even told a couple others about it as well. If he beats out Bonds in a few years, all will be well in baseball world. Or so I thought.
Turns out the ONLY guy not lying in baseball is Jose Canseco! How pathetic is that? I really and truly am disgusted. It appears pretty much everyone was cheating, just like Canseco says. So what am I to tell my kids now? There is only one option and one lesson that can be learned from this.
CHEATERS NEVER WIN!
In my house you NEVER EVER NEVER EVER cheat! You stretch the rules as far as you can, but you NEVER cheat! My kids know this, they don’t even consider cheating in something as simple as Monopoly. It just doesn’t happen, we won’t allow it. That is a value we need to teach all our children.
How do we accomplish this? At first I didn’t know what to do, but now there is no question in my mind. Everyone was cheating, strip ALL their records. The tests that were supposed to remain anonymous are no more. They have been uncovered by the feds, so let baseball know who they are and strip every at bat from the record books.
Every pitch, every record, removed forever. Take away any pensions and anything else they earned from baseball. Any rings? Return them, any awards? Void them. Everything erased, eliminated. Cheaters cannot win! That is the lesson that must be taught to our kids. If the union screams, eliminate the union. They are one of the driving reasons for this anyway, they actually fought against drug testing!!!??? How can that be seen as responsible behavior?
There is no other choice for baseball at this point in my mind. Anything short of this rings hollow with our youth. Just as a child knows when you are not being sincere, they are well aware of false threats. If you keep telling a kid you are going to take him out, but never do, he won’t believe you. If we keep elevating cheating athletes, why would we be surprised to find our kids cheating?
No asterisks, no sub-texts, no exceptions. Cheating? Eliminated from baseball forever. That is the only option in my mind. What do you think?
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Sports Nut Shop Offers a Wide Variety of MLB Merchandise
From the moment you log on to the Sports Nut Shop it is obvious that they offer a wide range of MLB merchandise. The cool scrolling menu of items features autographed balls, New York Yankee Jackets, Mets’ caps, Indians’ ties and an MLB rubics cube!
They offer MLB apparel, autographed memorabilia and much much more. They have a section for apparel, home accents, autos, collectible, gifts and novelties, travel and outdoors, toys and gamerooms, bar and kitchen, for the office, and a clearance area. Everything you would want for the baseball lover in MLB gifts and browsable by team as well.
A quick click to my favorite team the New York Yankees takes me to a Yankees’ Yahtzee game, license plate, and wind chime. There are little tidbits of history about each club on the page as well and just about every item you could want from salt and pepper shakers to money clips and belt buckles.
Just to make sure they had as much merchandise for a lesser team (and all teams are lesser than the Yankees of course, I clicked on the lowly Philadelphia Phillies. (Oh yeah, they are in the playoffs and the Yankees aren’t!) They had an equal amount of merchandise for them as well.
All told, Sports Nut Shop to be a pretty comprehensive site for MLB merchandise. I know I could spend thousands there if left alone with my credit card.
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Misc. Ramblings
Image via Wikipedia Back to Work
After a long 3 day weekend, we all have to go back to work tomorrow! Yippee!!!! I do love when July 4th falls on the weekend and at least we get the long weekend. When it is in the middle of the week it just makes you have to go in to work the next day tired.
Back to All-Stars
Here in central florida we take off the 4th weekend for the races. I still call it the Firecracker 400, but apparently this year it is the Coke Zero 400, who stole it from the Pepsi 400. Coke Zero is really horrible! It tastes nothing like Coke and leaves a horrible aftertaste. Tomorrow we start the grind again and I will probably be umpiring every night. How about that finish to the race last night? That’s not racin’, that’s smash-up derby at the local track.
Hosting Sectionals
While most league’s all-stars are winding down, we are hosting two sectionals. Major softball and senior baseball. Boy do I wish we were in the major softball, but I blew that one. Oh well, next year!
Movie Night Report
National Treasure: Book of Secrets , a pretty cool movie! It started a tiny bit slow, but improved as it went along. The original kind of bored me, but this one was not as intricate, and much more like Indiana Jones . My 8YO loved it as well, even though he didn’t entirely understand it, the action adventure kept him interested.
Class Coming to an End
My business integration class is coming to an end! WooHoo!!! It took a lot of my time at a time when I didn’t have any time to give! I am very tired and need refocus my life again heading in to fall. Tuesday I move on to consumer behavior, that should be an interesting class. Only eight months to graduation!
Kevin Youkilis is a Sweaty Pig
Did you see Kevin Youkilis sweating tonight on ESPN against the Yankees ? That was disgusting! Dripping off! It wasn’t like he was pitching or anything, even though the pitchers weren’t sweating as much as he was. Yuk. Makes you wonder a bit maybe? Why only him?
First Travel Practice
Speaking of sweating! We had our first 10U travel practice today. It was extremely hot! My 8 year old (9 years old little league age next year) said we "practiced our butts off". That was fairly accurate. Great practice as well! Tons of parents helping, all knowledgeable, lots of stations, lots of coaching going on. It’s no wonder why we consistently compete.
The Yankees Win
Can they still make the playoffs? Never count them out, but they have tough row to hoe. Even if they make it they will probably wear themselves out getting into the playoffs as they have done the last couple of years. But who would want to play them? No team in their right mind.
Can Milwaukee Actually Be Legit?
Can the Brewers actually make the playoffs? Wow, what a trade they pulled off with the Indians eh? Wouldn’t it be cool if they won it all? I love teams like that, the Marlins have done it twice, the Rays this year, the Twins , too many to name. There is always a team that competes with young talent. It’s fun to watch.
Any comments? Come on, let’s debate!
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Ready to Go
Image by jasmined via Flickr
Busy Week
This was a busy week! Here was my schedule:
Tuesday: League Championship Series Loss
Wednesday: Minor Tournament Game
Thursday: League Champions Victory
Friday: Tournament of Champions Practice
Saturday 10AM: Tournament of Champions Practice
Saturday Noon: Minor Tournament Game Umpire
Saturday 6PM: Tournament of Champions Practice
Sunday: Rays vs. White Sox Game
Monday: First Tournament of Champions Game
We are Ready
Our girls could not be more ready. They catch every fly ball , field every grounder, and throw accurately. We have done all we can do. Now, it’s time to execute. You never know who will show up, but I am pretty sure they want it, that means they will be focused. They certainly acted like it today at their third practice in less than 24 hours.
Proud to Have Been Part of Their Life
Either way, I am so proud of how far they have come I can’t stop beaming. This is the culmination of years of working with this group of girls. They are 12 now, and this is our year. This is what we have worked for, they know it, they want it, they have heart. They can do it, win or lose they are a success and I am proud to have been a small part of their life.
Go Flames!
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