Armed 2 the Teeth

Eliza Dushku

This lucky dog is doing what I’ve wanted to do to Eliza Dushku for years.

What happens to Alex Rodriguez now?

He’s been names as having failed a steroid test and admitted, as of today, to using them in the three years he played in Texas.

Has anyone else admitted like this?

Roger Clemens is still fighting allegations, even though there are needles with his DNA and steroids on them.

Jason Giambi apologized for “what he did” but never actually said what he did.

This has become and absolute joke. The “steroid era” of baseball, should be more aptly titled the “witch hunt era”. I don’t care who used steroids. I really don’t.

The people that complain that their children looked up to these players and would be influenced by them are obviously not being good parents and informing their children of the harms of doing drugs or even performance enhancing drugs.

If you’re doing your job as a parent, then you children won’t be doing drugs no matter what, because they know that drugs are bad, mmmmkay.

The other side of the “steroid era” had the baseball writers eliminating worthy members from the Hall of Fame, because they feel they’re “not worthy”.

These are obviously, old men that are pissed that records of long ago are being broken by players today.

What do you think Alex Rodriguez would have done to the same pitchers that Babe Ruth faced? There was no video, no scouting reports, no middle relief, specialty relief, closers, etc. There was a pitcher and maybe a closer. I’m sure that 99% of the players from that era wouldn’t be able to crack a major league lineup these days.

But, we hold these people up like they were gods. No one makes mention of the drugs that players were doing up until the 1990’s that gave them a bit of energy or a little more “pep in their step” as the writers like to call it.

Alex Rodriguez has admitted to using in the three years he was with Texas and he will obviously have his whole career scrutinized, but who cares really?

The guy has been one of the best of all time no matter where or when he plays.

Give it a break and forget about the fact that these guys have done it. Put the whole list of 104 players who failed out into the public eye and be done with it. Give them testing, and not random testing, but everyone.

Let them be tested 100 times a year if you want. It won’t change a thing. The players are still bigger, faster, stronger, and more skilled then they were 50 years ago. The only issue now is that folks don’t want to admit it.

Why do we, as society, try to bring down all the people that we build up to be heroes?

It’s amazing to me that we spend so much time and effort in printing every positive story about people, only to turn on them and attack every little thing they do?

It has to be the media. The people that are assigned to cover every little move a celebrity, athlete, political figure, or socialite makes.

Are they that miserable in their own lives that they only thrive by making others lives miserable too? Or, is it the people in charge who demand controversy in order to sell newspapers or magazines?

Since the newspapers and magazines are a dying medium, it’s only going to get worse until they completely die out.

The lastest is that Alex Rodriguez failed a drug test 6 years ago. Apparently, he’s tested positive for steroids. Now, it could be explained and there might be a reason. It’s also true that everyone was doing it and the most naturally gifted player to come along and play the game in the past 50 years just wanted to make sure he didnt’ get passed by.

We all know that Rodriguez has to be considered the best of his generation and possibly one of the greatest of all-time. He’s hit for average and power and defended two difficult positions. He hasn’t bulked up and moved to 1st base or DH. He hasn’t hindered his team with injuries.

Controversy follows him for only one reason. He makes $250 Million and the media make his every move public.

It can only be attributed to jealousy. When he was younger, everyone marveled at the talent he had and the lever he played at. When the Texas Rangers gave hime a 10 year deal worth a quarter of a billion dollars, the tide turned.

Alex Rodriguez, the slick fielding, base stealing, home-run hitting, baseball player was now A-Rod, the face of greed and selfishness. He was supposed to be the man that turned down all that money for a lesser offer from his Seattle Mariners. Since he didn’t, he obviously only made the move for the money and therefore didn’t care about the game of baseball.

Then, in a move that would further cement his status as a complete egomaniac and jerk, he got traded to the New York Yankees.

Even worse, when that contract was up, he got another one for even more money. At the end of his current deal, he’ll have made over $500 Million dollars in his career. Bill Gates would have a stroke if he woke up with that kind of money tomorrow morning, but to the rest of us, it’s a hard to even fathom that kind of cash.

So, where does that leave A-Rod? Up a creek without a paddle in the eyes of the people that would like to destroy him.

You won’t hear a word about the time or money he gives to charity, what you’ll hear about is his time spent with Madonna. Where he had dinner, what he tipped, what color his shoes are, why he did steroids, how he’s disgraced the game, etc.

All in the name of free press? I don’t think so.

If any of the writers who’ve ever written a word about Rodriguez were to be offered $250 million to go write for a paper in Texas for ten years, not one of them would turn it down. They would take the money and do their job, but no one cares whether a writer turns out a good 500 words every day for his local rag. If the guy didn’t write “War & Peace” would he be a failure? No. But, if his colleagues followed his every move, reported on his eating habits, told about his dates, and let everyone in the free world know that he wasn’t writing the next great literary masterpiece, he would be a failure because they’ve deemed him so.

We saw it a few years back when baseball came out of a public relations nightmare known, in politically correct terms, as a work stoppage.

Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa had the whole country on their side while smacking home runs from coast to coast. They did it for two straight years and everyone loved them.

Shortly after that, they were both being crucified, by the press, for using steroids and “cheating”. Baseball turned it’s back on them and never defended the men who brought it back into the public eye after it had been beaten down. McGwire still has no shot at getting into the Hall of Fame although for his whole career he hit monster home runs and should be in there with no problem.

Barry Bonds is arguably one of the greatest baseball players of all time. He’s won 7 MVP’s and has been an all star, won gold gloves, hit for power and average, yet he’s a cheat. He’s done steroids. He’s sullied the good name of baseball. (As if there is such a thing.)

Michael Phelps? 8 Gold Medals in one Olympic games. Amazing. Now? Pothead. Everyone has something bad to say about him. Does marijuana make you a better swimmer? I really don’t think so. but, the media has to look for this stuff. If it didn’t and it didn’t pay well to get pictures of it, then no one would do it.

It’s more than just sports stars. It’s Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, Tommy Lee, Mel Gibson, Nick Nolte, and anyone else that’s ever appeared on tv or a movie, sang a song, wrote a book, or just lived in Paris Hilton’s case.

It has to be jealousy, because there’s no other reason for people to want to destroy the lives of other people. Unless it’s Michael Jackson who’s just weird.

It’s amazing that two drives are going to define two different players in the eyes of the fans and media.

Donovan McNabb’s failure to lead the Eagles over the Cardinals on the final drive of the NFC Championship and Ben Roethlisberger leading the Steelers down field and winning the Super Bowl over those same Cardinals just two weeks later.

The Steelers, no one seems to realize are a much better put together team than our beloved Eagles. While our defense was tops in the NFC, Pittsburghs was #1 in the whole league.

On offense, the Steelers have play makers. DeSean Jackson may become one of those guys, he surely looked the part this year. But we have no one else. Kevin Curtis was #3 on the depth chart in St. Louis for a reason. He’s a great player in that role, but he’s not a threat to other teams. They don’t plan their game around him.

Brian Westbrook is amazing, but he’s asked to do too much in the Eagles offense. There’s no way that the star running back should be asked to play running back, third down back, wideout, blocking back, and sometimes kick returner. That’s a good reason for allof his injuries.

Hines Ward is legit. Santonio Holmes is nont in that class, but as a #2 he’s a stud. Football instinct and talent enabled him to take a pass where he was supposed to get out of bounds, expected to get out of bounds, and should have gone out of bounds, and turn it into a gain all the way to the Cardinals 5 yard line.

Meanwhile, here in Eagles country, we have a third and 17, all three receivers run 8 yard patterns and McNabb is forced to dump to Westbrook who’s only about a yard off the line of scrimmage.

This doesn’t have anything with McNabb not throwing precisely or that he can’t lead the team. It has to do with the fact that the play being called has not one wideout past the first down marker. It has to do with the coaching and personnel that Andy Reid has assembled.

Everyone likes Greg Lewis. He’s someone that we all cheer for when he makes his one catch per game and then every fourth game or so, he comes in and makes a big play. But, he’s not really worth anything on this roster. I’d much rather have a big back for third downs or a true fullback. Reid keeps guys like Lewis around because they “know the system”. The problem is that the system doesn’t work and if anyone tries to tell you differently they’re morons.

Joe Banner and Jeff Lurie must have been hit over the head with the sacks of money they make every year, because they have no idea that this isn’t working. What is the point of being under the salary cap each year if you’re not making runs at a title.

We are a bit spoiled because the Eagles get into the playoffs more often than most teams, but they can’t get over that hump. The one year that they did go out and get a playmaker, they went to the Super Bowl. We all know how that turned out, but it’s the truth.

Instead of ridiculing McNabb for what he hasn’t accomplished, we should celebrate what he has accomplished given the limited assets that he’s had. I’m sure that all the whites we be up in arms, because he’s not a leader or any other load of crap they want to heap on the guy, but Kevin Kolb is not the answer. If you’re one of those idiots that thinks Kevin Kolb will be better, kill yourself now. You’re obviously to stupid to live. Ask David Klinger or Andre Ware how that University of Houston offense translates in the NFL.

Take the $10 million that we’re nunder the cap for this past year and turn it into a good receiver. Give away Lito Sheppard, he’s another waste of space and money. Throw in a draft pick or two and take Anquan Boldin off the Cardinals hands before Jerry Jones swoopes in and does it.

Finally, get a hold of one of those sacks of money and slug Reid in the head with it. Maybe it’ll knock some sense into him. Then hit the idiots who think this is all McNabb’s fault.