Our incumbent Democratic Congressman Paul Kanjorski got some face time with one of the greatest baseball pitchers ever, Roger Clemens. I hope he got got his autograph. Click on the image for a better view. Mrs. G suggests that his wife should go clothes shopping with him to prevent him from buying more shirts like that one.
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The Congress has decided that the steroids scandal in baseball is worthy of their attention. I think they may have a few more important things to take care of. MLB is cleaning up their act but for the most part I don't give a shit. The fans like home runs so I say juice 'em up and let 'em fly. Or on the other hand watching a guy strike out 15 or 20 batters is special. Baseball players have a long, proud history of cheating and after they solve this "crises" something else will come along.
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Hazleton Republican Mayor Lou Barletta is having a bad week after he stopped his tease dance and finally threw his hat in the ring. The Democrats socked him with a charge that his 2002 campaign was still carrying a loan that has never had a payment made on it. Now the legal defense fund that the city of Hazleton established to defend that crazy ordinance has been ordered to reveal the names of the donors. I doubt that any big names will be revealed but you never know. This campaign will get down and dirty from both sides in short order. I was listening to Corbett on WILK on the way to work today and he was up in arms because one of Lou's out of town consultants blew him off.
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Another candidate entered the 11th CD race.
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So you are basically saying that cheating is good or that we should just accept it and look the other way. Your statement has made every single commentary you have stated against political corruption throughout the history of your blog to be phony and hypocritical. Congratulations young man.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your input Professor.
ReplyDeleteNo cheating is not good but it's been a part of baseball forever. I just don't get all that excited about steroids because I don't think it's that different from a pitcher scuffing a ball with an emory board or a hitter using a corked bat.
Cheaters should be caught and punished but that punishment should come from MLB not the Congress.
Until 3 years ago taking performance enhancing drugs (PED) wasn't even against the rules but they wised up and have put a system in place to detect them and punish the users. As far as the argument about it being illegal that gets tricky. I may be wrong but I understand that taking a PED is not illegal but trafficking in them is and the justice system is dealing with the people who supply the stuff.
But throughout history ballplayers have been charged with illegal behavior such as DUI, spousal abuse and assault or worse. Ty Cobb stabbed a man and he is in the Hall of Fame.
I don't think I'm being inconsistent because the rules of politics are different from the rules of baseball.
And thanks for calling me a young man. Everytime I check out my grey hair in the mirror I think of it.
I think cheating resides well outside the realm of politics and sports. It's more a measure of the moral and ethical compass of an individual...and maybe our culture. I spent many years in the gyms of northeastern PA. I busted my hump gaining 25 lbs. on my bench press in a year while guys on the sauce gained 70 lbs. in 6 months. I saw what steroids could do. Imagine going up against someone that is 20% stronger than you because they take steroids. How level is that playing field? That's about the average strength gain I witnessed in people I trained with once they decided to experiment. One guy's bench was stuck at 380 for years - poof - he's up to 450 six months later. Wheaties it wasn't. Testing that exists today will be useless in less than a year as somewhere, someone is working on a new drug that will avoid being detected using current methods. In the end, it's all about money, so Congress is truly wasting their time and our tax dollars. P.S. I never, EVER took steroids. ;->
ReplyDeleteI'm going to back gort here...
ReplyDeleteCheating is wrong professor, but baseball has a hall of fame where that isn't necessarily looked at. People that threw spitballs are in the hall. Baseball looked away when things were going well, even though they knew there was a problem, and now are going to wring their hands? kayak dude is right...people who allegedly used will be judged in the court of public opinion. Here's where I differ though...baseball is exempt from all antitrust laws. That's why Congress has a right to get involved.
With everything else that is wrong right now with our country, how in the martha focking hell can our congress, in good conscience, even be involved with this???
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