Performance-enhanced picks

The big news of the sports world today is obviously the release of the Mitchell Report, the 400 plus page document that former Senator George Mitchell put together over the past 20 months, which tracked the use of illegal performance-enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball. Because there are plenty of other places to get better coverage of this, I won’t go in-depth reviewing its release. But I would like to share a quick response to the report.

People are calling this release the biggest blow to the sport since the 1919 Black Sox betting scandal. Um, hello? Anybody home? Everybody saw this coming for the past four or so years. Remember the hearing on Capitol Hill two years ago when Sammy Sosa forgot how to speak English? Remember ‘Game of Shadows’ and the Jose Canseco book? Most of the names on listed in the Mitchell Report aren’t surprises. Sure, there are your Mike Lansing’s and Fernando Vina’s, but is anybody really bothered that these guys were on the juice?

For many people, the problems begin when guys like Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, Miguel Tejada and Eric Gagne are listed. Questions pop up about all the awards won and accomplishments received. Should these things be taken away because they were listed in this report? What about the World Series titles won? I believe that nothing should (or will) be taken from the history books, because looking back on the last ten or so years, people will reflect it as the steroid era. It wasn’t an equal playing field compared to the mid-50’s, but it was equal for the time, since it’s assumed that every team had a few guys on ‘roids.

What I find interesting is how history will treat Clemens. We already know that many media members would rather poke their own eyes out than vote Barry Bonds in to the Hall of Fame because of his cheating and lying. But what about the Rocket, who is basically Bonds’ pitching equivalent? It now turns out that what many of us though- that Clemens was using performance enhancers- is true. That means he lied to reporters also; Will the media hold him out of Cooperstown with Bonds now?


All right, on to NFL picks. For some reason I switched from Houston to Denver for the Thursday night game at the last second, which cost me a victory. Eventually I will learn: Never bet against Sage Rosenfels (I think the only active Jewish QB in the NFL right now) on National TV. Here’s the rest of my week 15 picks, even though it’s still hard for me to believe were in week 15.

My picks in bold.

Cincinnati at San Francisco

Atlanta at Tampa Bay

Tennessee at Kansas City

Seattle at Carolina

Green Bay at St. Louis

Baltimore at Miami

New York Jets at New England

Arizona at New Orleans

Jacksonville at Pittsburgh

Buffalo at Cleveland

Indianapolis at Oakland

Detroit at San Diego

Philadelphia at Dallas

Washington at New York Giants

Chicago at Minnesota


Last Week: 11-5 (fourth consecutive week with that record)
Season to Date: 128-80 (62%)