Devany Questions Mitchell Report

One thing Mitchell mentioned (from what I remember of the press conference) is the example being displayed to young athletes. Sure this is a valid concern but that would be all the more reason to give hard evidence of what specific dangers are involved with any substances being used. And really, how many of us would like our children to grow up and adopt the life styles and attitudes of prominent professional athletes?

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Rick Ankiel Took HGH

I frequently hear HGH lumped in with steroids when discussed in the media. I am wondering if this is a fair comparison? What are the side effects of HGH? I have read that it causes a persons head, feet and jaw to enlarge. I don't know at what dosage levels this happens. The article mentions that HGH helps recovery which seems logical to me.

The news of Ankiel using HGH just raises more questions for me. If HGH helps aid recovery from injury and physical fatigue, it might also help prevent career threatening injury and this is a good thing isn't it? If administration of HGH is supervised by a knowledgeable physician who is aware of side effects and how to manage them, this is not a problem is it? Steroids are dangerous because they effect kidneys and perhaps other vital organs, does HGH do the same? If so, then I agree with banning the use of it.

What about the Tommy Johns surgery which so many baseball pitchers undergo, is this good? What are the side effects of this surgery? Is it fair that a pitcher can have it and come out with a stronger arm than he had before? Isn't this an unfair advantage?

Responses

Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post responds.

An official response from Ankiel and his agent, Scott Boras was made yesterday. Ankiel does not want to get into specifics but does not deny use of HGH.

For us who are fans of professional cycling, this is 180 degrees different from the way drugs are handled in that sport. If Ankiel were a pro cyclist he would very likely be out of a job right now. But major league baseball has already made Barry Bonds (and others before him) legitimate by refusing to do anything about the evidence of drug use. And you notice that the Cardinals Walt Jockety is right there supporting Ankiel. The bottom line is that major league baseball and the teams refuse to do anything that might effect the bottom line. In pro cycling, sponsorship is drying up and teams are folding. As I suggested in the first part of this entry, the line between legal performance enhancements and non-legal seems somewhat arbitrary. But if we consider the actions of the league and team management, one begins to wonder how serious they are about fixing any problem, regardless of the evidence.

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A Band of Misfits?

I've been thinking about past championships. I remember a lot about the '82 team of course. I was attending night school at a technical school learning electronics and TV's were in the study rooms during the games. During our breaks, all the talk was about the Cardinals. I remember being in my apartment the night they clinched and I could hear the fireworks downtown. It was a really special time.

I remember the '85 series a little more than the '87 one. My aunt and uncle were still living in KC and I was there during one of the games. I remember watching it on TV with them. That series was pretty sad actually. More so than 2004 because there were such strong emotions over the game 6 botched call.

The '67 and '68 series I also remember. I think I remember seeing Carl Yaztrimski make one of the last outs in '67 and the Cardinals won. In '68, I distinctly remember the first game when Gibson set the strike out record. That was all over the news. The '64 series I was still pretty small. But I do remember watching a film about that series in my Cub Scout troop meeting. It must have been a couple of years later.

There is just not much like being in St. Louis when the Cardinals are winning. It is probably one of the most unique things about this city. I was fortunate to go to the very first game in Busch Memorial Stadium back in 1966. This year I didn't go to the first game in the new Busch stadium but I was able to see one of the last regular season games when they managed to win. That was a real treat. Good job Cardinals, you guys are an inspiration.

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Cardinals Win!!!

Update This excellent article says it all.

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Big Mac on the Hot Seat

One of the things I have been thinking about as I have read and listened to discussions about this recently is the whole issue of right and wrong with regard to performance supplementation in athletes. I tend to feel that taking some kind of supplement, whether it be vitamins or whatever, is a part of modern athletic endeavor. To say that people are cheating when they do this is making it sound more black and white than it really is. Part of training for whatever your sport of choice is involves nutrition and optimizing your body so that it can progress in the most efficient manner possible. That's part of training. Using supplemental substances which enhance your training (under the supervision of whatever expert is available) is not cheating but rather the smart use of technology. But having said that, using a substance that has been banned or is dangerous should be punished very harshly. This is where the various governing bodies must exert their influence. If a substance is not banned but is clearly dangerous, it should be banned promptly and appropriate punishment (preferably harsh) determined for it's use.

Steroids are dangerous, there's no doubt about that. For one thing (if I understand it) they can dramatically enhance muscle development but do nothing to the connecting tendons. So athletes are very susceptible to injury when they use steroids. The other more ominous issue is damage to kidneys and liver (again, if I understand this correctly) which can shorten the athletes life. So clearly, steroids should be banned and made illegal if they are not currently.

And also, it would seem that athletes should proceed with caution when experimenting with any substance. If there is not much data on the use of something, then don't use it. A pro of course will have access to more data and more experts to determine this however. As in many other areas of life, the choice of taking supplements requires character and wisdom. Some will make good choices here and some, seeking glory and feeding their vainity, will make bad choices.

Ok, end of commentary. Anyone care to add to my thoughts?

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Baseball's Smoking Gun?

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Redbirds in a Tailspin

The intangible factors are always interesting for me to think about. All of these guys are elite athletes and very capable of giving great performances on demand, regardless of how tired they are physically. But what about the mental aspects? How do the batters think and feel against a particular pitcher? And then there's the audience. Lot's of talk this morning about how loud and raucous the Boston crowd was compared to the St. Louis crowd which was described as being old folks home like. It has appeared to me that the Boston hitters are more patient and at ease when batting. They are just not swinging at any pitch which is outside the strike zone, even when they are down in the count. It's hard to explain how the Cardinals could be doing so poor offensively. But those intangible factors are difficult to decipher. The mental mistakes on the bases are another indicator that something is not right inside. Let's hope they can salvage something from this world series before it's all over.

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That's a Winner!

I was able to watch some of the press conference afterwords. Albert Pujols is a humble Christian man. I don't know about the gesturing that he always does, it almost seems like a good luck charm, but in the conference, he was great. Just came out to do his job and give honor and glory to his God (that's what he said). Says he will keep the MVP trophy in the club house because everybody on the club deserves it. Man, I wish my boy was old enough to understand. What a great roll model for kids Mr. Pujols. Please, keep it up.

A few thoughts and remembrances:

• Julian Tavarez is perhaps the Orlando Cepeda of the team. He gave the spark which ignited the team in game 6 and got them going. Or, as one of the radio guys said the other day, he's the Joaquin Andujar of the team. Andujar was the star pitcher on those 1980's teams. Another emotional Dominican player, he was affectionately called "Walking Underwear" by his detractors.
• This series is a bit of a payback for the 1987 world series when the Cardinals lost to the Minnesota Twins. The home team won every game of that series too but, unfortunately, the Cards came up short that time.
• I remember watching and listening to some of the 1967 world series when the Cardinals played the Red Sox. I vaguely remember seeing the great Carl Yastrzemski on our old black and white TV (yes, there were color tv's back then but they were a bit more expensive). That was a great series. Let's hope the BoSox's don't get revenge!
• In 1982, I was working in a bank and going to a technical school at night learning electronics. TV's were put in the study rooms and many students were watching the games. The Cardinals had those light blue out of town uniforms that look so strange now when you see them. I was living in an apartment near highway 40 at the time. It was on a hill and you could go outside and look east and see the Arch downtown without any trouble. When the cards won the final game of the series, you could see the fireworks downtown and everyone mad noise all over.
• I don't remember watching any of the 1964 series which the Cardinals also won (against the Yankees) but I do remember watching a film of the series at a Cub Scout meeting. By the way, Cardinal announcer Mike Shannon played on all three of the world series teams from the '60's (at least I'm pretty sure he did).

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Baseball in the DR

I have been to the Dominican Republic on a couple of occasions and I have several friends from there. It is a wonderful country to visit and still a very good value if you are looking for a place to go in the Caribbean. Now what is the percentage of Dominican baseball players in the Major Leagues? Close to 5%? Whatever it is, it is quite amazing for a small country to have this many high caliber players. Why is that? It's because they love baseball. Kids start playing at a very young age. They use wadded up paper and broom sticks to play. And even more amazing is that most of the Dominican players come from a small town located east of the capital (Santo Domingo) named San Pedro de Macoris (pronounced mah-coe-rees, accent on the first syllable). And everyone in the country knows the MLB in the US. They can tell you the names of all the Dominican players and what teams they are on. The first time I visited (back in '91), I was looking at a news paper and there was an article on Stan Musial and the St. Louis Cardinals.

Pujols actually speaks pretty good English. If you remember when Tony Pena was a Cardinal, his interviews where terrible and he was not very understandable at all. Pujols I think spent high school and grade school in the US so he can speak a bit better. Actually, Dominican Spanish is not very good either if you are just learning. They (along with most Caribbean countries) speak very fast and drop off syllables and consonants in words. But when it comes to baseball, we can understand these guys pretty well. They just love to play the game!

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Cardinal Nation

And yes, even though I talk a lot about cycling, I like baseball also. I'm from the Lou so how could I not? I played baseball starting in first grade up to Junior High school. Almost everybody in this town does play baseball or softball when they get out of school. I also went to the very first game played in Bush Memorial Stadium back in 1966 (I think).

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