ESPN sucks, so do thread closers

[bob_barron 0]

it would be highly hypocritical if he did take some kind of PED and then damn Bonds for the same thing.

 

Well duh.

 

But what makes you think he took PED other then you "think"

[Ripper 0]

Aaron admitted in his biography that he tried a greenie once in the middle of a slump, but there's no proof (or even allegations, really) of any prolonged use through his career.

 

Read Ball Four sometime. Guys ate greenies like candy back in those days. Getting on Hank for trying them once (allegedly) is a little silly IMO.

 

I was going to say that as well. While they are dangerous, and highly destructive when taken for prolonged periods and in mass quanities, (not to mention illegal narcotics) there is no similarity between them and steroids.

 

Greenies, speed, whatever you want to call them are a much more potent form of caffeine and something to take to improve your awarness and keep you sharp during the long season. Thats why entertainers took them as well because they were doing over 200 shows a year, and sometimes doubling up certain dates.

 

So there is no equating them with someone trying to improve their skills or gain muscle mass with the use of steriods or HGH.

 

 

Jesus.

 

Greenies would give you increased stamina and physical energy. Steroids give you increased stamina and physical energy with the added benifit of making muscle fibers heal more quickly.

 

You don't take steroids and get strong. You take steroids and it allows you to do some crazy intense workouts for long periods of time (increased stamina and physical energy by the way). When you workout, the muscle fibers have to heal in order to get the best results. Usually this is you waiting until the soreness is gone to work out the same muscle group again, but on steroids, the muscle fibers heal faster allowing you to work out again faster.

 

Greenies would give you similar effects minus you feeling sore in less time. Increased stamina and physical energy towards the middle of the season when your body starts getting fatigued is very much a performance enhancer.

 

And why do people think Aaron took greenies? Because he would have been a minority among baseball players in his time if he didn't. The majority of the players took them (some estimates say 75% of them took the REGULARLY) in that time period.

 

The reason you don't hear accusations about Aaron is that by the time Greenies were seen as a bad thing and banned (some, what, 30+ years later) Aaron was already a beloved national hero. No one was going to go back and point anything like that out. And like I said, if 75% of the league was using them then, who gives a fuck. They weren't doing what Aaron was doing so it wouldn't diminish his greatness in my eyes.

 

Same with Bonds. Unless you truely believe tha the was one of the FEW guys taking something back when it wasn't against the rules to get an edge, then you have to know that yes, drugged up Bonds was playing against drugged up players and was doing what no one else was doing.

 

As for Aaron and the video, back when everyone figured it would be Ken Griffey Jr. to catch his total, he gave an interview where he said he wouldn't be there when it happened because he wouldn't be traveling around waiting for the last home run and that the guy that broke it should have his moment because he already had his.

 

The press pretending that he didn't show up as a slight to Bonds are just being misleading...as always.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

it would be highly hypocritical if he did take some kind of PED and then damn Bonds for the same thing.

 

Well duh.

 

But what makes you think he took PED other then you "think"

 

Like Ripper said, he would have to be in the minority if he didn't, and someone else pointed out that he admitted to taking greenies. Usually when they say "Oh I only experimented with it in a slump", it usually means "Yeah I used it a lot but I don't want to admit to that extent."

[Steve J. Rogers 0]

Dick Vitale. Is there a bigger jock sniffer on ESPN than this guy? Unless something really, really bad happens or the guy is a well known POS to the mainstream he will always remark about what a great guy the athlete is. When in reality the guy might be a world class jerk (Jeter, ARod, Woods, the Mannings, Brady, ect), but media wankers like Dickie V only know what their publicists want them to see and therefore someone like Dick Vitale thinks someone is a good guy as opposed to the "jerks" in the sports world until they are involved in something henious like Kobe's rape trial.

 

More importantly, how is Vitale on Mike & Mike every week doing general sports when he barely knows much beyond the Yankees and college hoops?

[Guest Soriano's Torn Quad]

I never heard anything about Peyton Manning being a world-class jerk.

[Steve J. Rogers 0]

I never heard anything about Peyton Manning being a world-class jerk.

 

Me neither, but I'm lumping the Mannings in with the same type of athletes who get all the "Gee, they have a good head on their shoulders" pub from the national media based on their being accessible to the media. This despite the fact that they give out canned "modern athlete PC speak" (see Jordan, Michael for the start of this kind of handling of the media) and really don't show much of a personality (aside from apperances on Saturday Night Live) and only give reporters only what they (the athlete) want to say, not what the reporter is really looking for.

 

So is it the guy is a good, cooperative guy, or is he doing what his (or her) publicist/agent/personal manager want him/her to say? (see Rodriguez, Alex)

 

You'd think after so many years in the business, and so many years of putting out an image of his own that Vitale would know all about that and not just accept an athlete based on public apperances.

[Steve J. Rogers 0]

And I said "might be" because even though a Vitale is probably closer to them than the average fan, there is no way Vitale really knows the real Woods, Jeter, ARod, Manning, Brady, ect. Chances are they may really be as good as their public image, but you never know unless you are a real friend of theirs.

[bob_barron 0]

They didn't show Martin Prado's RBI double because they were showing Hank Aaron's speech for the 1,000th time. That really pissed me off

[Guest Smues]

They didn't show Martin Prado's RBI double because they were showing Hank Aaron's speech for the 1,000th time. That really pissed me off

 

That's what I thought, but I wasn't sure because my attention span is terrible. I saw the score had jumped from 4-3 and was pretty sure it happened while the Hank video was playing, but I wasn't sure if it was just me missing it. Thanks ESPN.

[Ripper 0]

Manning struck me as an asshole in that sexual harrasment case he had against him. Of course, it could have been not true.

 

Edit: the case was against the school. My fault.

[Steve J. Rogers 0]

Manning struck me as an asshole in that sexual harrasment case he had against him. Of course, it could have been not true.

When was this? In his TN days?

 

But see, that goes to my greater point about Vitale, he only sees what is reported on the mainstream press, he doesn't pay attention to scuttlebutt and issues that appear in the news for like one cycle and then vanish (I.e. Manning's harrasment case, or ARod's escapades (not just this year's) or Wood's forays into ahole dom (caddy throwing people off the course, his refusal to go back to Harmon, ect) so in his eyes they are still perfect human beings and not flawed humans who just happen to have a good machine of PR professionals working for them.

 

Thats when things get dangerous in the whole "role model" argument, especially when media jock sniffers like Vitale harp on how much these guys should be the ones kids should "look up to." So when something really does happen you are setting up people who worship these guys, because they are told that these are the "anti-(insert athlete behaving badly)" so when it turns out that, oh say, Mariano Rivera (yeah I know I've been down that road, just the first one that came to mind, probably Kobe Bryant is a better example) just might be guilty of negligent homicide because he wanted to fry dogs that wandered onto his property, then you are left with those fans that you said "Look up to this guy, he does things the right way" and you now have to explain that they are flawed humans like the rest of us

[Slayer 0]

I never heard anything about Peyton Manning being a world-class jerk.

 

Me neither, but I'm lumping the Mannings in with the same type of athletes who get all the "Gee, they have a good head on their shoulders" pub from the national media based on their being accessible to the media. This despite the fact that they give out canned "modern athlete PC speak" (see Jordan, Michael for the start of this kind of handling of the media) and really don't show much of a personality (aside from apperances on Saturday Night Live) and only give reporters only what they (the athlete) want to say, not what the reporter is really looking for.

I know that over the last few years I've gotten tired of the Smilin' Joe America humility mom and apple pie blah athletes like Manning and RoboTiger... TO almost seems like a welcome relief at this point

[Smartly Pretty 0]

So is it the guy is a good, cooperative guy, or is he doing what his (or her) publicist/agent/personal manager want him/her to say? (see Rodriguez, Alex)

 

Didn't he save a little kid from getting hit by a car or something?

[Guest Soriano's Torn Quad]

Joe Morgan really liked that Hank Aaron video. I guess old men reading teleprompters is good stuff. Also, I liked how Joe noted that he was in his hot tub when 756 was hit, and he stood up to applaud Barry. Picture that.

[MFer 0]

Is it just me, or do the people at ESPN take pleasure in calling the Pacman/TNA stuff "fake"?

[Broward83 0]

Yeah, they take pride in it... just how Dana this morning on First Take was making a point to remind people that its "TnA".. going on like:

 

"Lest we forget, this is TNA...I mean, all I'm saying is.. T..N...A... take it for what you will"

[cabbageboy 0]

You know, for reasons like that TNA really needs to change their name to something else. Something with a W for Wrestling would be nice. This is why I wish they were still the NWA, but then I guess the Two Live Stews would make comparisons to the rap group.

[TheDevilAndGodAreRagingInsideMe 0]

So who won the stupid WHOS NOW thing

[MFer 0]

So who won the stupid WHOS NOW thing

Tiger

 

It wasn't even all that close...he beat LeBron with 63 percent of the vote I believe.

 

[treble 0]

Haha.

 

Fuck ESPN, this "Who's Now" thing is the stupidest shit ever, I hate it I hate it I hate it!

 

...

 

Who won it?

[JustJoe2k5 0]

You know, for reasons like that TNA really needs to change their name to something else. Something with a W for Wrestling would be nice. This is why I wish they were still the NWA, but then I guess the Two Live Stews would make comparisons to the rap group.

 

Everytime I hear it mentioned on ESPN, they call it "T.N.A. Wrestling". Don't know how ESPN treated it on television, but the people on ESPN Radio weren't that tough on it. The main concern they had was how T.N.A. would handle any type of feud when Jones couldn't be attacked on screen. All I can think about when I hear it mentioned is the saying, "any publicity is good publicity". Every moment that the words "T.N.A." are mentioned on ESPN are moments that more people are possibly exposed to the product.

[AboveAverage484 0]

You know, for reasons like that TNA really needs to change their name to something else. Something with a W for Wrestling would be nice. This is why I wish they were still the NWA, but then I guess the Two Live Stews would make comparisons to the rap group.

Every moment that the words "T.N.A." are mentioned on ESPN are moments that more people are possibly exposed to the product.

 

Is that a good thing or a bad thing considering the current product?

[CanadianChris 0]

More importantly, how is Vitale on Mike & Mike every week doing general sports when he barely knows much beyond the Yankees and Duke basketball?

Edited for accuracy.

 

He still has a job for the same reason Screaming A. Smith has a job -- they're very loud and very opinionated. Never mind whether their opinions are worth anything or not.

[TheDevilAndGodAreRagingInsideMe 0]

Haha.

 

Fuck ESPN, this "Who's Now" thing is the stupidest shit ever, I hate it I hate it I hate it!

 

...

 

Who won it?

 

It's like a car crash, you can't help it. I haven't seen a second of the "tournament" but I certainly am not surprized it came down to those two.

[Slayer 0]

"The golf course. looks. good. My golf swing. feels. good. I. like. my. chances."

[TheDevilAndGodAreRagingInsideMe 0]

I still don't know, nor do I think ESPN even knows, what NOW is supposed to mean.

[Star Ocean 3 0]

I believe Adam Carolla will guest host for Jim Rome today, which is one reason why ESPN is awesome.

[Guest Soriano's Torn Quad]

I don't get the whole Adam Carolla thing. He doesn't seem like much more than a sidekick.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

I don't get the whole Adam Carolla thing. He doesn't seem like much more than a sidekick.

 

He replaced Howard Stern in our market. He's not great, but he's come into his own as a radio personality. I like him well enough.

[Star Ocean 3 0]

He's far from a sidekick. It's not easy to fully grasp how great he is unless you've been familiar with him for a while. Hyperbole probably won't help, but he's easily the best radio personality around, on a different level than most. Just listen to old Lovelines, and you'll hear how he could riff on the stupidest caller, tell a ridiculous story from his childhood, and then go on some tangent about society that's actually funny, and insightful. Brilliance.