Monday, July 07, 2008

Monday 07/07 A.M. Quickie: All-Star Mania, Nadal, Torres, More

Crap: Couldn't put a post up with a link to today's column before I had to jump on a flight. You know where to find it, hopefully.

Today's biggest arguments:
*Can an entire franchise receive an All-Star snub? (Yes: Rays)
*Is CC Sabathia the next Rick Sutcliffe?
*Nadal-Federer: Best. Tennis Match. Ever.
*Beasley-vs-Rose is the NBA Summer League game of the year.
*Dara Torres is utterly amazing. The haters/doubters are kind of pathetic.

More later. Head to http://www.thesportingblog.com to find today's column. Sorry for the lack of direct link.

- D.S.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

4 comments:

Andy said...

"The over-under on the number of All-Star games that NL rookie starting C Geovany Soto will start in his career should be at least 10. He is now in that "default vote-getter at his position" spot. ..."

Did you forget about Brian McCann? He's younger, hitting better this year(137 OPS+ vs. Soto's 132), and has already played in two All-star games.

R.A. Porter said...

I must be pathetic. Because I think Dara Torres has enough juice just in the blood filling her *ridiculously broad shoulders* to fuel three or four Tour de France teams.

Maybe take a look at an old picture of the previously wiry Torres and compare it with the new, more A-Rod-friendly model.

If you want to argue that all swimmers juice, and that juicing is a-okay, that's fine. I could get on board with that. But let's not delude ourselves into thinking she did this with chicken breasts and egg whites.

Brendan Smith said...

R.A.,
Please don't give into the cynicism. Look, I understand that PEDs are now inescapable part of our sports psyche. I know that every time something off the wall happens our collective, knee-jerk reaction will be "He/She's juicing"

There is something terribly wrong with that. First off, there have always been great stories in Sports, yes even before steriods. Look at Satchell Page for example.

He was a 42 year old rookie and had an ERA of 2.48. He (like Torres) also had a long history of success.

Look, I'm not saying be blissfully unaware of the issue. I'm just saying don't scream it to the rafters everytime something weird happens in sports.

We as a culture have seen this kind of "Knee Jerk" mob mentality over and over again. It's led to nothing but pain and suffering every time.

If you give in to this brand of thinking it just destroys sports for you, doesn't it? How could you enjoy this story with that outlook? what if you are correct about Mrs. Torres? Will you be happy? Somehow I doubt it. However, what if you are wrong and she has never done drugs as she claims? You'll have spent the entire time ignoring this story because of your own fears of what drugs she might be taking.

In the end the only one who really loses is you. If you succumb to the cynicism of the day, you lose the joy of stories like this and of sports overall, which is what made you a fan in the first place, didn't it? Don't let steriods take that joy from you.

R.A. Porter said...

@brendan, I understand what you're saying, but
a) Satchel Paige's shoulders didn't increase drastically in size after the age of 36
b) There are plenty of other great sports stories - the Wimby final, Tiger on wounded knee, Fresno St. - that I don't need to let my wishes blind my eyes
c) My enjoyment of sport isn't in the least diminished by discounting Dara as a cheat. In fact, it allows me to appreciate clean competitors that much more AND not be disappointed when yet another cheater is outed.