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April 22, 2003
Odds And Ends
Sorry for the light blogging over the last few days, Easter Weekend wasn't the best for me health-wise, and I've been feeling a little bit off my game. Then again, there's plenty happening out there, so lets dive back in. If you carefully track the revival of the fortunes of the New York Yankees in the 1990s, you'd probably find that it roughly coincided with George Steinbrenner's suspension from active ownership of the team. It was all tied to Steinbrenner's decision to hire ex-con Howard Spira to spy on Yankee Dave Winfield. In any case, Steinbrenner's absence from day-to-day operations seemed to give the front office the room it needed to breathe and develop young talent (Bernie Williams, Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera) before Steinbrenner could trade it away (Jay Buhner). But now that it's been two whole seasons since the Yankees won the World Series, it seems as if "The Boss," is getting itchy once more, and can't resist the urge to meddle (and he's also forgotten how he drove the club into a ditch back in the 1980s). This time, he's decided to undermine Manager Joe Torre's authority by sending multi-million dollar acquisition Jose Contreras back to extended Spring Training in Tampa after Torre had decided to option him to the Yankees' Triple A team in Columbus. No doubt, Steinbrenner has done this all before, but never with a manager as popular and successful as Torre. Granted, many in New York openly scoffed when Steinbrenner hired Torre before the 1996 season, and he may just feel as if Torre owes him. Nevertheless, this is bad news for Yankees fans, even as the team is in the midst of the best start to a season in the history of the franchise. The more Steinbrenner puts his hands on things, the worse the situation will get. Over in the New York Times today, Mike Freeman and Buster Olney take a hard look at the use of performance enhancing drugs in baseball, and come back with some disturbing information. In the past, some people have dismissed reports of widespread drug use in baseball because much of the information has come from compromised sources like Jose Canseco and Ken Caminiti. But what can you say when a straight arrow, first ballot Hall of Famer says this: "People might think there is a steroid problem in baseball, but it's nowhere near the other problem; the other, it's a rampant problem," said Tony Gwynn, the former San Diego Padres outfielder who estimated that 50 percent of position players regularly use amphetamines, commonly called greenies. And speaking of drug abuse in sports, just one week after Carl Lewis was exposed for having nearly been banned from the 1988 Summer Olympics, news surfaces that he's been arrested in California on a DUI charge. Over at the Boston Globe, today's Sports section is all about the Boston Marathon (surprise, a Kenyan won!), but the most interesting story concerns a wheelchair participant who accidentally ran over a seven-year old girl. Finally, here are two items from the childhood memory file. Back during the Islanders' glory years, Helene Elliot covered the team for Newsday, but now she's working for the LA Times, where she writes an NHL roundup column as well as anybody in the business. Check it out. Over at the Chicago Tribune, Paul Sullivan has completed his journey to all the ballparks in the Majors and has chosen his favorite. To find out which one is number one, you'll have to click the link yourself. But I couldn't help but notice which park is bringing up the rear: 30. Shea Stadium: Shea is the dump de tutti dumps, and nothing is quite as annoying as hearing a jet fly overheard, drowning out natural ballpark sounds. When they eventually blow this place up, Ron Santo should get to push the button. Funny how even 34 years later you can still taste the sour grapes. As ex-Mets catcher Todd Pratt said after returning from one road trip during the near-glorious 2000 season, this is "our dump," thank you very much. And seeing as how Mayor Bloomberg is fixing to be tight with the money for foreseeable future, it will continue to be "our dump," more or less indefinitely. Hope you enjoy your future visits.
Eric
03:10 PM
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