Saturday, September 08, 2007

Saturday 09/08 (Very) Quickie

Full CFB Preview here.
Full NFL Week 1 Preview here.

Rutgers, Rice roll: No matter what happens today, Ray Rice (175 yards rushing, 3 TDs) will be in my Top 3 Heisman ranking, along with Brian Brohm.

(Speaking of "no matter what happens today," no matter what happens today, the winner of LSU-Virginia Tech will be be No. 1 in my Top 25 on Sunday.)

I meant to post about this earlier, but ProTrade's college football "rankings" (market valuations, really) has become one of my new go-to sources of authority. Take a look.

MLB Stud: Curtis Granderson, who hit his 20th HR, to go with his 20 triples and 20 doubles, putting him in elite company -- just five other players, none since George Brett in 1979, since 1900. That's a hell of a milestone.

MLB will be allowed to do background checks on minor-league umps. (Wait: They weren't before?)

US Open: Justine beats Venus. (I think Henin has earned first-name treatment.)

Troy Glaus' connection to HGH just doesn't bother me nearly as much as Rick Ankiel's.

More Ankiel: He insists the HGH was legally prescribed by a doctor. I can't speak for everyone else, but my disappointment is not based on legal/illegal or within the rules/against the rules, though those are important nuances to ensure we all remember: As far as we know, he did nothing against MLB rules or against the law. But that's not really the point.

It's just disappointment over the idea that "The Natural" is even a little un-natural. Maybe I was being naive, and maybe that's why this bothered me so much. (Meanwhile, Ankiel should have come clean on this way earlier. I guess he thought -- probably rightly -- that admitting it would derail his MLB comeback.)

After a day to really think about it, here's where I stand on Rick Ankiel, and it's probably the sentiment/phrasing/nostalgia that captures it best: Ankiel is the "Say it ain't so" guy of our era.

That said, let me make a prediction: He'll weather it. Cards fans will be forgiving, predictably (just as Giants fans are forgiving of Barry Bonds), and most MLB fans will be forgiving, too. Put in the context of "The Comeback," it's easy to rationalize a few years after the fact.

-- D.S.

11 comments:

Luke Bell said...

How does Glaus not bother you as much as Ankiel? Glaus was actually playing and his usage helped propel his team to a championship. Isn't that worse than some guy in the minors trying to salvage his career? I mean, I know you are in the bag for Ankiel, but this seems a bid overboard to me. Just making it back to the major leagues is story enough. We don't need another blogger slobbing on Ankiel's bob for something so trivial.

And relating it to fixing the World Series? Oh yeah, that's an apt comparison. Come on, Dan.

The heroin sheik said...

This probably sounds dumb but I was wondering if HGH might have any practical uses concerning the treatment of cancer or at least in slowing the progress of the disease. Someone close to me is out of treatment options for brain cancer and since she is on steroids as a part of her treatment I was thinking maybe HGH would help the rest of her body stay strong enough to give her a few extra months or something.

Getting this bad news late last night has taken all the fun out of watching the Gator game later today.

Twentyofive said...

HGH has legitimate medical uses. Im not a medical doctor, but logic should be followed. In that time frame (2002-2005) Ankiel had 2 major injuries that could very easily lead a doctor to prescribe a growth hormone that was not at the time "Illegal" for player use. Just speaking on the Topic of Ridiculous Unfair Medical Advantages, How about Tommy John Surgery. Pitchers having a surgical procedure done, "voluntarily" at times, where doctors remove a tendon from another part of their body and attach it to their elbow. Competitive Advantage?

Brian in Oxford said...

Henin had the cool "Double-H" nickname before she divorced Hardenne....

How about Cabrera? Balks in a run, then throws at Pedroia on the next pitch. If Chamberlain got 2 games....this could be 5 pretty easily.

Mevs said...

Josh Hamilton of the Cincinnati Reds is 'The Natural' or 'Roy Hobbs'. Not Ankiel, who's had a strong 2 week run.

Eric said...

On the Ankiel bouhaha. If he had a legal prescription for a drug that wasn't banned by baseball at the time and nothing in the way of how he attained the drugs was illegal by local, state or federal laws, then what are we talking about? He admitted he used a number of drugs following his injury. He claims everything he took was prescribed legitimately and he claims he is currently clean. There doesn't appear to be any violation anywhere. I'm no Cardinals/Ankiel fan, but I don't get the reaction to this. I think people are reacting to a sexy headline and not thinking it through. If any evidence of rule or law breaking comes out, then make it a story.

Justin Kadis said...

Quote:
I meant to post about this earlier, but ProTrade's college football "rankings" (market valuations, really) has become one of my new go-to sources of authority. Take a look.


Your go-to source of authority? They have Michigan ranked at 13 and having gained points after the loss to App. St. Dan, you were one of the biggest voices in the "drop Michigan out of the Top 25" discussion...

Unknown said...

Cards fans will be forgiving, predictably (just as Giants fans are forgiving of Barry Bonds), and most MLB fans will be forgiving, too. Put in the context of "The Comeback," it's easy to rationalize a few years after the fact.

and, you know, he's white...

d_helms32 said...

Yesterday on ESPN.com Jayson Stark had a very nice article concerning the double standard set between Rick Ankiel and other people that have been associated with steroids/hgh.

Melbye said...

I really would like to know how many athletes, in all sports, that were using HGH before it became illegal and who is still using it now as there are no tests that detect HGH?

RT said...

Who is Rick Ankiel and why does he stand for anything in this era?

Mark McGuire is the Say it Ain't So of this era. No question. End of discussion.