Selig muffs it again

For all the "crisis" and "scandal" and "cheapened image" and "tarnished past-time" babble that's clouded baseball during the steroid era, is anyone else stupified by this?

What happened to cleaning up baseball? What happened to the hard-line stance? What happened to having a little backbone? Oh wait -- I said "backbone" and forgot I was talking about Selig. This whole thing screams to me like Giambi was granted clemency for sitting down and chatting with George Mitchell and spilling all the juicy details on the rest of the league (sorry, I don't really believe that all this "good citizen" press from Giambi's camp affected Selig's decision). So what are we to make of that? Is everyone a special, unique snowflake who'll be shown mercy if they just 'fess up? Are we to believe that in earnest? Fans are already jaded enough as it is and now you come out saying that there'll be no repurcussions? How many more questions can I string in a row? My stance is this: if you're not going to punish Jason Giambi, then don't bother trying to hang Barry Bonds or Gary Sheffield or Sammy Sosa or Miguel Tejada or Roger Clemens or anyone else implicated in the steroids hubbub. The point of this investigation, I always assumed (and I'm sure I'm not alone) was to clean up baseball, not give it a mild talking-to. If the commissioner is really this concerned about another brush-up with the players' union, he may as well quit this witch hunt, right now.

I really wonder if Giambi struck some secret deal with the commissioner on the side. An island home in the Carribean away from his teammates' harsh eyes, some sort of MLB witness protection program. There must be! If the Mitchell Investigation doesn't reveal some information as a result of this sit-down, people are going to start wondering (more so) why they should even care about steroids in baseball.

Don't worry about it, Barry Bonds, you just keep doing what you're doing and don't worry about a thing. Apparently, nothing's going to happen to you.

The South sucks

Don't just take it from me, take it from respected college football analyst Pat Forde, who accurately asserts that SEC football rates ahead of the Pac-10 as an imperative. If you live in the South and don't have success in college football, you may as well kill yourself. Now, there's a line of thinking I can get behind! Seriously, bravo, Mr. Forde.

It was Miles who came across dumber than Jeff Spicoli. Impugning UCLA and Cal, for one thing, is simply ignorant. Ignoring the fact that USC has trampled the last four SEC teams it has faced by a combined total of 119 points is worse.

Man, few things in sports would make me happier in the months to come than to see LSU annihilated in the title game by USC. (I'd say Arizona, but c'mon...)

Football and Futbol

It's the NFL's favorite train-wreck, the Oakland Raiders! Yay, my team! Mike Freeman at CBS Sportsline chimes in with a rather uninspired, easy pile-on as to why the Raiders are the laughing stock of the league. I'm not about to deny that that is the case, for now. But let me tell you a couple three things, the longer this JaMarcus Russell eff-up lingers and drags out, the more and more I side with the franchise. Honestly, people like Freeman can slobber and fall all over themselves about how Russell will deliver this team to greatness, but anyone can tell you that it's no lock. Hell, the guy hasn't taken a single snap, WHY IN HEAVEN'S NAME SHOULD HE BE GUARANTEED MORE MONEY THAN GOD HIMSELF? I understand where Russell's camp is coming from, too. If the market is there, you seize upon it. Economics 101. But he hasn't done a damn thing yet. Frankly, I just as soon see him holdout for the whole season, at this point. Culpepper is more than servicable and both McCown and Walter are adequate backups. This team has no illusions of reaching the playoffs this season, so why cave and give the rookie everything he wants? Obviously, the way this has unfolded has been classic Raiders in the worst sense, but, in a strange way, it's also classic Raiders in an historical, defiant sense. "We're not going to be the team bullied around by some punk kid."

Maybe I'm reaching.

Listen, JaMarcus, you'll make more than Brady Quinn, more than Alex Smith, just get your punk-ass into camp. Because the longer the holdout goes, the worse YOU look. Not the team. And it behooves guys like Mike Freeman and other media hacks who take the easy road and pile-on rather than analyze and opine to adopt that mentality at this stage in the game. You want to change the absurd culture surrounding NFL Draft picks? That would be a start.



Meanwhile, in the more appropriately named football, this David Beckham character finally scored his first goal for the Galaxy. I have to say, even with all the ambivalence I've felt since his arrival and the fact that I can't imagine any knowledgable fan placing Beckham among the top 30 players in the world (if not top 50), it did feel pretty good to see him get off the shnide. In classic free kick fashion, to boot. Reminiscent of England-Greece at Old Trafford.

Across the pond. Listen, you really think a fractured toe is going to keep the skipper off the pitch on Sunday versus Chelsea? You must be dreaming. It's actually win-win for Liverpool fans: Gerrard will play on Sunday and skip the meaningless friendly against Germany. Huzzah!

My, the plot thickens for the mystery wrapped in an enigma know as West Ham. They finally brought in Kieron Dyer (realizing my dream -- albeit an insincere one -- of reuniting Dyer with Lee Bowyer) right as they get ready to pull their pants down and take one from behind at the hands of Sheffield United. If there's any justice, the Blades will be adequately compensated for their losses as a result of the whole Tevez-Mascherano swoop West Ham thought they successfully pulled off last season. True, if Sheffield win one more match, they stay in the top flight and none of this is an issue, but it's the principle of the matter. How bizarre, by the way, to think that less than a year ago, everyone was salivating over West Ham's Argentine makeover and look at them, now. Masch is with Liverpool, Tevez with the Mancs, and the Hammers still being haunted by the "third party owner." If the FA had handled this properly in the first place, Sheffield United would still be in the EPL. That's really all of the argument that you need to hear.