M-I-Z

Because Mizzou doesn't play until Saturday, and I can enjoy this for a week...



Here's the video replay in case anyone missed the game. You know, in case the lure of Jack Bauer fucking shit up was too much to handle.



Damn, it's nice to hear things like "Mizzou" and "NCAA Tournament" in the same sentence without eliciting laughter.

Missouri Sports Mount Rushmore

ESPN is currently took a poll from the fans about who they thought should be, if it existed, a Mount Rushmore for the sports figures in the state of Missouri. I had some agreements, and some disagreements.

ESPN Results:

1. Lamar Hunt: founded the Chiefs and is considered one of the founding fathers of the NFL.
2. Stan "The Man" Musial: The three-time NL MVP led the Cardinals to three World Series titles before becoming a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame.
3. Jack Buck: The Cardinals announcer for almost 50 years, Buck also called many Super Bowls and World Series.
4. George Brett: Brett played 21 seasons with the Royals and was the 1980 AL MVP. He also won three batting titles and is a member of the Baseball HOF.

My Results:

First and foremost, I am throwing out Jack Buck. I am a huge Jack Buck fan, he is one of the most famous sports broadcasters of all time and is a St. Louis tradition. I am replacing Buck with the best pitcher to ever play for the St. Louis Cardinals, and no not Anthony Reyes.

Im going with Bob Gibson.

2 time Cy Young Winner
2 time World Series Champion
1968 MVP

OK, when a pitcher wins a Cy Young or even multiple Cy Young's, he is considered one of the best pitchers in baseball, but an MVP for a pitcher.....pretty much unheard of in baseball. Career ERA under 3.00, 250+ wins and over 3,000 strikeouts.....not to mention a 1.12 ERA in his MVP season and 2 Rings.

Next, to much ridicule from Chief "fan" out there, I am scratching Lamar Hunt of the list. I'm sorry, I know how big he was in Kansas City, he didn't play and he helped develop the MLS....which is a waste of a lot of our time. Instead, I'm going with a guy who has been the poster boy of Mizzou sports for over 50 years.

Norm Stewart


Stewart, as most of us know was the head basketball coach at Mizzou for 32 seasons.
9 Conference Championships
16 Tournament Appearances
2 Time National Coach of the Year
634 Total Wins (11th All-Time)
And a 1956 All-American
The dude did work!!!

Stan Musial stays!!!! And I dare anybody to argue that point with me, but just in case you needed some reinforcement....

Played 22 Seasons
20 time All-Star
3 time MVP
3 time World Series Champion
Career Batting Avg. of .331
3,630 Hits
475 Home Runs
1,951 RBI's
And if that wasn't enough...

STATUE!!!!!!!!!!

Finally, we get to George Brett. He played 20 seasons with the Kansas City Royals, with a career batting avg. of .305, 3,154 hits and 317 Home Runs. Also, has a World Series and an MVP. But, let's be honest outside of the 4,000 Royals fans still alive, he will be remembered for his infamous pine tar flipout.

Even taking away that incident, he was a very good baseball player. But 240 miles East down I-70, there stands a man.....some might say more than a man, who is on pace to do what only one other hitter has ever done, his name is Tedd Williams.


El Hombre!!!!

2 time MVP(should be 3)
World Series Champion
319 Home Runs(more than Brett)
1,531 Hits
Not to mention one of three players to ever hit over .300, 30+ HR and 100+ RBI's in their first 8 seasons, other players to do that you might have heard of them DiMaggio and Williams. Did I also mentioned he hasn't even played half the seasons Brett did. Taking Albert's averages and if he plays 20 seasons(same as Brett). Albert will end with 3827 hits(about 700 more than Brett), 797 HR(double Brett's but likely Albert won't hit more than 650), and a .334 batting avg.

Not saying the numbers are better NOW!!!! But they will be in 5 years, so let's not delay the inevitable.

Madonna Loves Steroids

What do Alex Rodriguez and Jose Canseco have in common? Well let's see, they both:

1. Play(ed) baseball
2. are sluggers
3. played in the American League
4. bang Madonna

and now 5. took steroids.

I, like most baseball fans (including his own), have never really cared all that much for A-Rod. He has bad tendencies like not showing up in October, talking like a d-bag, tanning in the middle of the busiest fucking city in the world with his shirt off and slapping baseballs out of the glove of Red Sox infielders that all really make you want to just punch him.

Yet at the same time, for as tragically douchey as he is, I've always been able to respect the absolute undeniable talent the guy has, and have looked to him as a bastion of hope to be (along with Albert Pujols) the finite example of clean, unadulterated talent in this generation of baseball.

So much for that.

As was revealed in a forthcoming SI article, A-Rod tested positive for performance enhancing drugs during the preliminary round of survey testing MLB administered during the 2003 season. These tests were intended only to canvas the necessity of performance enhancing drug testing and players who tested positive were not penalized in any way.

In fact, these were never suppossed to be revealed publicly. Technically speaking, it wasn't quite cheating yet. It was illegal, but not cheating - go figure.

This isn't the same kind of smoking gun positive, post-2004 test that exists for Rafael Palmeiro and allegedly for Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds, but a positive test is a positive test whether it was technically cheating or not.

In the court of public opinion, though, it was cheating. Just as it was when McGwire didn't feel like talking about the past.

So now here we are sitting at the dawn of Spring Training 2009, and one of the top 3 hitters of all time (Bonds), one of teh top pitchers of all time (Clemens), two additional members of the 500 home run club (Sosa, McGwire), a member of the 3,000 hit club (Palmeiro) all have serious steroid allegations or hard proof of steroid usage against them.

And now, our generation's hope, the guy we looked to when Bonds passed Hank Aaron and said, "well, yeah, Bonds is a cheater, but at least we have A-Rod to break it someday" about is also a cheater.

We still have plenty examples of guys that have no steroid dirt around them to look to: Manny Ramirez, Pujols, Ryan Howard, Adam Dunn to look to as either hitting legends or potential future home run kings, but the sobering thing is that a week ago A-Rod was on that list, too.

These allegations against A-Rod are the most sickening of the steroid era.

None of us were really all that shocked when it came out McGwire and Sosa were probably on roids, just disappointed. We've known Bonds had been on the cream, the clear and whatever else well before he passed Hank. Clemens' allegations are also sobering, but let's be honest no one feels as connected to or as involved in pitching records as they do hitting.

But A-Rod?

Aside from Jose Canseco claiming he knew A-Rod was using, there was no dirt on him whatsoever. And to be honest, who hasn't Canseco accused of using?

Another baseball mega-star goes down to the plague that is the steroid era. A-Rod will likely hold or come close to holding plenty of career records in a few years including the holiest of all - the career home run record.

Barry Bonds may not be the home run king in a decade, but after hearing this, it's likely the crown will still be soiled by the same stink that Bonds covered it with.