Notes from Around

Ok, stop your crying. I'm back. I was sick for close to a month, bookending Christmas. And I also had, you know, Christmas and the various obligations involved with that. But now I'm back.


At least I wasn't burned by fireworks. That reinforces my theory that athletes should never have extended down time. They always seem to get into all kinds of trouble and lose their minds. Step away from the all terrain vehicle, the stripper who wants to have your baby and the fireworks and go back to touching balls. Much safer.

Mark McGwire came forward and apparently wants to talk about the past afterall. You know, not when he is in front of congress, sitting next to Rafael Palmeiro's finger and a suddenly unilingual Sammy Sosa who was losing his shit. But now, five years later. He cried and stuff, saying he used steroids"on and off" through out his career. He called Bud Selig, Tony LaRussa and Roger Maris' widow (I bet she loved that call) to break the news before he broke the news. He also wishes he had a time machine "It was a wrong thing what I did. I totally regret it. I just wish I was never in that era." The era injected you?

Roberto Alomar fell a few votes shy of Hall of Fame induction, so I guess there are a few assholes who vote. Why didn't he get in his first year of eligibility? I'm going to say 50% assholes, 10% playing in Toronto, 10% racism and 10% spitting, 10% references to dead sons and 10% unknown variables. Catch that taste.

Stephen Brunt wrote a pretty comprehensive article on the various personas of Alomar, reminding me that superstar, heartthrob athletes existed in Toronto once upon a time. Also, if I have to see Roy Halladay wear a Phillies hat in the Hall of Fame, baseball will be dead to me.

On the subject of superstars, this was in the Globe and Mail the other day:



"It was a Good Week for Derek Jeter -- Derek Jeter He may not round the bases like he used to – on or off the field – but hitting for average helped the Yankee captain earn his fifth ring last year, and seems to have him on course for another this November – specifically for the third finger on his left hand. In truth, while not in the Jessica Biel mould of Hollywood heavyweights, girlfriend Minka Kelly is far from average, but she certainly seems to have punched above her weight in succeeding where others have failed and getting her Pinstriped paramour to pop the question."

So apparently, if you wait long enough (and sleep with a lot of starlets) you'll get to marry a less famous starlett than the ones you dated when you were younger. Good to know.