Pettitte Says Clemens Admitted HGH Use, Clemens Disagrees

New York Yankee pitcher Andy Pettitte said in a deposition to Congress that then-fellow Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens told him 10 years ago that he used human growth hormone (HGH). Pettitte's statement could mean a lot more trouble for Clemens when he testifies to Congress today. Clemens, who was named as an HGH user in baseball's Mitchell Report, has repeatedly denied using any performance-enhancing drug.

" ...Pettitte also told the committee that Clemens backtracked when they talked about HGH again in 2005, the same year Congress held its first hearing on steroids in baseball, the AP said. Clemens said then that Pettitte misunderstood the earlier conversation and that he actually had been talking about his wife using HGH, the AP reported."

Media sources have reported that Clemens' wife had received an injection before a photo shoot. He told Congress today that Pettitte "misremembered" his remarks about HGH.

In his opening statement before Congress this morning, Clemens said that his former trainer Brian McNamee, who was the source for the allegations that he used drugs to improve his performance, was a liar. For his part, McNamee told Congress that he had injected Clemens with drugs more often than he had first acknowledged.

3:00 PM ET | 02-13-2008 | permalink | e-mail post

Barry Bonds Indicted on Perjury Charges

Barry Bonds waves to fans during his final home game as a player for the San Francisco Giants in September.

Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images

The other shoe just dropped for Barry Bonds.

Bonds, baseball's leading home-run hitter who has been accused of using illegal supplements in his quest for the cherished title, was indicted today in San Francisco on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice. He's accused of lying when he told a grand jury investigating steroid use that he did not take performance-enhancing drugs.

"During the criminal investigation, evidence was obtained including positive tests for the presence of anabolic steroids and other performance enhancing substances for Bonds and other athletes," the indictment says.

It also says that Bonds lied when he said his personal trainer, Greg Anderson, never injected him with steroids.

"I'm surprised," John Burris, one of Bonds' attorneys, told The Associated Press, "but there's been an effort to get Barry for a long time."

5:58 PM ET | 11-15-2007 | permalink | comments (4) | e-mail post

Baseball Managers Vote for Limited Instant Replay

Anyone who watched this year's baseball playoffs will remember Boston Red Sox slugger Manny Ramirez's long drive that bounced high on the outfield wall in Cleveland. It was hard to tell if the ball hit above or on the line that marks a home run. The umpires huddled and eventually ruled the ball had stayed in play. But if baseball managers have their way, the umps could go to instant replay to make the call in the future.

Baseball's general managers voted 25-5 Tuesday to add instant replay during games in limited situations. It wouldn't be used for balls and strikes or to determine if a runner was safe at home, but it could help decide if "potential home runs are fair or foul, whether balls go over fences or hit the tops and bounce back, and whether fans interfere with possible homers," The Associated Press reports.

The next step is for the managers to put the proposal before MLB commissioner Bud Selig, who has opposed instant reply. But as the Los Angeles Times reports, he has "softened his opposition" recently, apparently not wanting to appear outdated. If he approves, the managers would vote on a more detailed proposal, which would eventually go the players' and umpires' unions and possibly the owners for approval.

The idea of instant reply is attractive when you consider situations like the Ramirez hit. But games are already pretty long — and many complain that instant replay is likely to drag them out even more. Is the chance that a replay might work out in your team's favor worth the possibility of an even longer game?

10:46 AM ET | 11- 7-2007 | permalink | comments (10) | e-mail post

Beijing Air Quality Concerns Sports Officials

So will the 2008 Beijing Olympics go down in history as the air pollution games?

The United Nations Environment Program released a report Thursday that praised Chinese authorities for much of the work they've done to clean up the environment in preparation for next year's Summer Games. But it noted that air quality remains a "stubborn" problem as "levels of small particles in the atmosphere [in Beijing] ... which are hazardous to health, often greatly exceed World Health Organization Air Quality Guidelines."

Jill Geer, a spokeswoman for USA Track and Field, says the problem can be bad. But she also says the Chinese authorities can make a big difference in a hurry.

Geer was in Beijing for the 2001 World University Games. She told me that the day before the student games were to start, her roommate called her to the window. In previous days, she could only see a half-mile or so because of the poor air quality, but that day, she could see much more of the city.

The rumors were that authorities had shut down the factories around the city. And that's exactly what Dr. David Martin, a member of the track and field organization's sports medicine and science committee, recommends this time around. He says one of the things China should do is close factories and take cars off the road in Beijing at least three weeks before the games.

Martin, who specializes in exercise physiology at Georgia State University, says two key pollutants, carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide, come from cars and factories.

"The last thing in the world the Chinese want," he adds," is for these games to go down in history as the pollution games. And while shutting cars and factories down will cost a lot, it will be pennies compared to what they've already spent on the venues and preparation, and pennies compared to the cost of losing face."

6:07 PM ET | 10-26-2007 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post

Calls for Stripping Jones' Medals After Steroid Report

Marion Jones competes during the 2000 Summer Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia.

Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

The hue and cry for Marion Jones' Olympic medals has begun.

John Coates, chief of Australia's Olympic organization, told Reuters today that he thinks the track star should be stripped of the three gold and two bronze medals she won at the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney if she admits taking steroids. "I would expect that the IOC would re-open ... an investigation which I think they did commence in respect of her at the end of 2004 and I would hope the medals would be taken away," he said.

Citing a letter Jones sent to close family and friends, The Washington Post reports that Jones will plead guilty today in New York to two counts of lying to federal agents about her use of steroids.

Jones has long denied using performance-enhancing drugs. Even when Victor Conte, the founder of the controversial BALCO lab accused of supplying many athletes with drugs, said he had seen her talking steroids, she found a way around it, as Shaun Assael of ESPN the Magazine writes.

Jones used her money and fame the way the mob uses muscle, and the results were pretty much the same. In 2004, before the Athens Games, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency was frothing to make a case against her. It had calendars labeled 'MJ' that showed she used insulin, growth hormone, and BALCO's infamous clear and cream. All they needed was Conte to interpret them, and she'd be cooked. Instead, Jones quietly settled her libel suit against him. Conte's cooperation never materialized.

In an interview with The New York Times, Conte showed compassion for Jones. "Is Marion Jones a bad person? ... No. Marion made mistakes. The pain and suffering she is about to endure in public is going to be devastating to her."

11:55 AM ET | 10- 5-2007 | permalink | e-mail post

New York Mets Complete Historic Collapse

The New York Mets finished off one of the worst collapses in baseball history Sunday. Never before has a team up by seven games with only 17 games left to play not made it to the postseason.

I spent a lot of time Sunday thinking about my friends who are diehard Mets fans. Few things in sports can leave you as emotionally wasted as watching your team disintegrate a few steps away from the finish line.

Leave it to the New York tabloids to deliver the final blows. "From Champs to Chumps," roared the New York Daily News. The New York Post chimed in with: "Choked to Death."

"It's never been more appropriate for a team to play in a city called Flushing," wrote the Post's Mark Hale. (Yeeeouch!)

As a Red Sox fan, I have walked down this road of thorns. We saw a 14-game lead over the Yankees collapse in 1978. And then, to make it worse, the team struggled back to force a tiebreaker with the Yankees, only to lose it all on Bucky Dent's home run. Or how about the ball Bill Buckner missed in Game Six of the '86 World Series, the one that would have ended decades of frustration. In the end, the Mets won that one, and we had to wait 18 more years to reach the Promised Land.

As Bill Clinton might have said, I feel your pain.

11:27 AM ET | 10- 1-2007 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post

Say It Ain't So, Bill! Are the Pats Cheaters?

The New England Patriots are, by many accounts, the NFL's best team this year. (I'm a huge Pats fan, just to be up-front about it.)

But it appears they may also be cheats.

ESPN is reporting that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has determined that the Patriots violated the rules by videotaping defensive signals used by the New York Jets during Sunday's 38-14 Patriots win. League sources say Goodell "is considering severe sanctions, including the possibility of docking the Patriots draft picks." A similar videotaping accusation was leveled against the team in a game against Green Bay last year.

Several NFL coaches interviewed after the story broke said that teams have been trying to steal each other's signals forever. But why would a team with as much talent and leadership as the Patriots go so far as to allegedly break league rules? Was Bill Belichick determined not to lose again to his former assistant, Jets coach Eric Mangini? (Then again, at least one report claims Mangini blew the whistle on his old team.) Who knows?

The New York tabloids are having a field day with the controversy. The funniest headline I saw comes from the New York Post — "Belicheat." Belichick did apologize today but didn't say specifically for what.

5:02 PM ET | 09-12-2007 | permalink | comments (15) | e-mail post

'Something Freaky' in Baltimore: Rangers Get 30 Runs

Take me out to the football game, take me out to the crowd...

That's what the box score of the first game of a double-header Wednesday between the Texas Rangers and the Baltimore Orioles resembled. Texas got four touchdowns and a safety, and Baltimore got a field goal — 30 to 3. But in the land of baseball, Texas' 30 runs broke the previous record of 29 for the most scored by an American League team.

Baltimore Sun sports reporter Roch Kubatko notes that Baltimore now falls to 0-1 in games decided by 27 runs. As Marlon Byrd, who hit one of two Texas grand slams, said after the game, "This is something freaky." (If you want to know more about what it's like to see so many runs scored in just one game, Day to Day's Alex Chadwick talked to Dallas Morning News sports writer Evan Grant.)

The last time a major league team got that many runs in a game was in 1897, when the Chicago Colts (now the Cubs) scored 36 against Louisville in the National League. Did players even use gloves back then?

No doubt this will start a debate about the need for a mercy rule in baseball.

1:30 PM ET | 08-23-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

Tiger Woods Is Just Playing the Numbers Game Now

All summer long, I've been hearing one number -- 755, the number of home runs that Hank Aaron hit and that a certain San Francisco Giants player needed to pass to become baseball's all-time leader. Now that this number has passed us by, get ready to hear a lot more about the number 18.

I've always felt fortunate that I've been alive to see some of the world's great professional athletes play during the prime of their careers: Wayne Gretzky and Bobby Orr in hockey, Michael Jordan in basketball, Alex Rodriguez and Pedro Martinez in baseball, Peyton Manning and Joe Montana in football, Roger Federer in tennis and Annika Sorenstam in golf.

But few of these superb athletes come close to Tiger Woods.

Bob Ryan, The Boston Globe's great sports columnist, writes that Woods may turn out to be the greatest athlete of all time, in any sport. For instance, since the 2006 British Open, Woods has won 11 of the 19 tournaments he has played in, including three majors. He also finished second in two majors. He now has 13 victories in golf's big ones: the Masters, the U.S. Open, the British Open and the PGA.

The record is 18 victories in major tournaments, held by Jack Nicklaus. Playing at this rate, Woods will probably pass him by 2010. So get used to hearing that number 18 a lot over the next couple of years.

10:51 AM ET | 08-14-2007 | permalink | comments (13) | e-mail post

Vick's NFL Career Seems Headed Down the Drain

Atlanta Falcons star quarterback Michael Vick is now in more trouble than a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.

The two remaining co-defendants in the case have now scheduled hearings to enter plea agreements. That leaves Vick as the only one of the four people charged still facing trial. And ESPN reported Monday night that Vick's attorneys met with federal prosecutor Michael Gill and the investigators.

The end is nigh. Prosecutors will probably only make a deal if Vick spends some time in the big house. Karl Rove has a better chance of returning to the White House than Vick does of returning to the NFL in 2007. The bigger question is whether Vick will play football again. Ever.

I'm not much of a gambler, but I don't think I'd be putting any money on Vick's chances.

9:36 AM ET | 08-14-2007 | permalink | comments (6) | e-mail post

Barry Bonds Knocks Advertisers into History

Whether or not he deserves it, the video and pictures of Barry Bonds hitting No. 756 will go into history. And for advertisers, that could be priceless. Advertising Age notes that on the now-famous section of the outfield wall at AT&T Park are signs for Charles Schwab, Bank of America and Diamond Walnuts. Ads that will be played endlessly on sports highlight shows for years to come.

Of course, this was all part of the secret plan. Marketing expert Steve Rosner tells Ad Age that "the normal cost of a sign in the outfield is between $500,000 and $750,000, and that the Giants most likely marked up the price at the beginning of the season, knowing that the historic home run would come soon."

Remember that kid in Yankee Stadium who reached over the railing to catch a fly ball that helped send the Yankees to the World Series? Rosner estimates that the endlessly replayed video of the catch was worth $6 million to the sponsors on the wall right below him.

- Robert Smith

11:56 AM ET | 08- 9-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

Something About Barry

Oh, what a beautiful morning for sports fans! Now that janitors at AT&T Park have mopped up the tears of joy and rage at some guy's 756th home run, a glorious new day has begun. We can finally stop talking about Barry Bonds.

I don't quite understand what personal demons the public was wrestling with over this one. Sure, there was the steroid issue. The race issue. The relentless needs of 24-hour cable channels. But it got crazy. Near the end, there was no factoid too small to analyze. Editor and Publisher magazine (who knew they had a sports page?) ran a piece about the elbow brace worn by Bonds and whether it created some sort of mechanical advantage. Uhhh, OK. You couldn't watch a baseball game on TV without constant interruptions updating you every time Bonds took a swing.

So, now he did it. It's been filmed for posterity. (The best part of the video is seeing the fans fight over the ball. Now THAT'S drama.) Let's move on. You record geeks can spend the afternoon poring over a nifty chart in The New York Times that compares the trajectory of baseball's great home-run hitters. Judging from the lines, my man A-Rod will hit the 756 mark in about six years. Until then, let's just watch the games.

- Robert Smith

10:02 AM ET | 08- 8-2007 | permalink | comments (3) | e-mail post

Cyclists Protest at Start of Tour de France Stage, As Race Leader Kicked Off Team

Word is that yet another cyclist at the Tour de France has tested positive for a banned substance, this time testosterone. Even the cyclists, particularly from France, are upset about all these cheating allegations. The Associated Press reports that a large block of riders refused to start today's stage at the scheduled time.

But the best thing about this latest version of "Everything you always wanted to know about doping but were afraid to ask a pharmacist" is the excuse from the last rider accused of cheating, Alexandre Vinokourov of Kazakhstan. Vinokourov tested positive for a banned blood transfusion after he won last Saturday's time trial, but he told French media that he hadn't cheated. "I heard that I made a transfusion with my father's blood," Vinokourov said. "That's absurd, I can tell you that with his blood, I would have tested positive for vodka."

Whoa. Talk about throwing Dad under the peloton.

(Tom's Update: The hits just keep on comin'. AP reports that Tour de France leader Michael Rasmussen was kicked off his team Wednesday, for violating the team's internal rules.

The expulsion ... was ordered by the Dutch team sponsor, was linked to "incorrect" information that Rasmussen gave to the team's sports director over his whereabouts last month. Rasmussen, who also has been suspended from the team, missed random drug tests May 8 and June 28, saying he was in Mexico. But a former rider, Davide Cassani, told Denmark's Danmarks Radio on Wednesday that he had seen Rasmussen in Italy in mid-June.

2:55 PM ET | 07-25-2007 | permalink | e-mail post

Tour de France Leader Has Skipped Two Drug Tests

Michael Rasmussen rides uphill during the 12th stage of the 94th Tour de France today.

Joel Saget/AFP/Getty Images

I am shocked -- shocked I say -- to hear there may be another drug scandal brewing in the Tour de France.

Morning Edition reports that current race leader Michael Rasmussen "will be dropped from the Danish team for not informing Danish anti-doping authorities of his training whereabouts." And German TV has dropped coverage of the race after a German rider tested positive for a banned substance.

The New York Times reports that Rasmussen was cleared to start the 12th stage this morning, despite the revelation that he skipped drug tests on May 8 and June 28. A third missed test within 18 months would bring a two-year suspension. The Danish Cycling Union tested Rasmussen at the recent Danish national championships and has reported no positive results.

It seems that hardly a season goes by without some now-not-so-shocking allegations involving a well-known cyclist and drugs. It will be interesting to see if the latest news has an effect on how people view seven-time tour winner Lance Armstrong and his adamant denials of drug use. Do you find it more difficult to accept his word when it seems almost every other major cycling star has either been caught cheating or come under a similar cloud of suspicion?

11:32 AM ET | 07-20-2007 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post

QB Vick Charged with Sponsoring Dogfighting

I just don't get it. When young professional athletes have so much to look forward to in our sports-crazed culture, why do some of them endanger opportunities that most of us would give our right arms to have?

The latest athlete to face charges of wrongdoing is the Atlanta Falcons' super-talented quarterback, Michael Vick. And the charges against him involve something that is a hot-button issue for many people -- deliberate cruelty to animals.

The Associated Press reports that an indictment handed down Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Virginia charges Vick and three associates with "'knowingly sponsoring and exhibiting an animal fighting venture' and conducting a business enterprise involving gambling, as well as buying, transporting and receiving dogs for the purposes of an animal fighting venture."

As NPR's All Things Considered reports, what makes this case particularly gruesome are the accusations of how some of the dogs who didn't "perform" up to expectations were allegedly killed -- by hanging, drowning or being shot. One of the men is accused of consulting with Vick before electrocuting a dog after it was doused with water. If convicted, Vick could face up to six years in jail and $350,000 in fines. He could face disciplinary action from the NFL even if not convicted in court.

Washington Post sports columnist Michael Wilbon writes that Vick's situation is a lot worse than those of other NFL players who have recently gotten into trouble with the law, such as "Pacman" Jones of the Tennessee Titans and "Tank" Johnson of the Chicago Bears. He is one of the league's best-known players, and his actions affect the reputation of the entire NFL.

But you know what? As I listened to sports talk shows Tuesday night, there were more than a few callers who said "Let Vick play!" even if he was guilty. One caller said he didn't care what NFL players did off the field as long as they performed well on it.

So should a player's off-field behavior have a bearing on how you see them as a player? Does the nature of an offense make a difference? I'd love to hear from you on this one.

11:33 AM ET | 07-18-2007 | permalink | comments (42) | e-mail post

New Book Accuses Lance Armstrong of Doping

Lance Armstrong

Scott Wintrow/Getty Images

Like baseball star Barry Bonds, retired cyclist Lance Armstrong may never completely escape the whispered (or even shouted) allegations that he cheated his way to the top of his game. Now a new book goes even further, accusing Armstrong of being not just a follower in the world of doping, but a leader.

The book, From Lance to Landis: Inside the American Doping Controversy at the Tour de France, by Irish investigative journalist David Walsh claims that Armstrong's "all-consuming drive" to be the best led him down the road to using illegal enhancements -- in particular, the drug EPO -- to win seven Tour de France races in a row.

In an interview with Steve Inskeep on NPR's Morning Edition, Walsh says no one has told him "on the record" that they have seen Armstrong using drugs, but he also says there is "zero doubt" in his mind that Armstrong doped based on his research.

In the past, Armstrong has said the he doesn't like Walsh and that Walsh doesn't like him. In a preemptive strike against the book, Armstrong denied using performance-enhancing drugs to Sports Illustrated.

9:21 AM ET | 06-20-2007 | permalink | comments (11) | e-mail post

Real Madrid Says It Wants Beckham to Forget L.A.

David Beckham, the newest "savior" of U.S. soccer, is more in demand these days than a ticket behind home plate at Fenway for a Red Sox-Yankees playoff game.

The English soccer player, whose decision to join the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer generated all kinds of headlines in January, is making them again as he prepares for what will be his final game with Real Madrid of Spain.

The president of Real Madrid, Ramon Calderon, alarmed American soccer fans when he suggested that Beckham's contract with Los Angeles includes an escape clause and said that he would do everything possible to convince Beckham to remain in sunny Spain. Alexi Lalas, president of the Galaxy, said that's baloney and that Calderon should just focus on this weekend's Real Madrid game, in which the team will play for the league championship.

To me, it all feels like a way to remind people that Beckham is coming to America. Beckham and his wife, Victoria, seem to want to be L.A. royalty so bad it oozes out of them. (Actually, Beckham, who has been enjoying a career resurgence as of late, might get to be real royalty, if rumors of his potential knighthood are true.)

11:34 AM ET | 06-11-2007 | permalink | e-mail post

Bill France Jr. Turned NASCAR into a Juggernaut

You probably don't know his name, or even what he did. But Bill France Jr., who died Monday, was without a doubt one of the most powerful men in American sports. NBC's sports czar Dick Ebersol called him a "true giant."

France was the chairman of NASCAR from 1972 to 2003. He turned a rural, almost entirely Southern pastime into America's second-most-watched sport. Only football draws more TV viewers. France also helped NASCAR find national sponsors and new venues beyond its original base.

France ruled NASCAR as a benevolent dictator, not backing down when his decisions were challenged, as a driver noted in a USA Today story.

"His personality came at a time when it was what our sport needed," veteran driver Jeff Burton said. "He ain't a waffler or a guy who does anything half(way). Part of leadership is having the guts to make a decision and then having the guts to stand by it. That's what he did on a lot of occasions."

NASCAR is a family business for the Frances. France's father, William Henry Getty France, founded NASCAR in 1948 and ran it until his son took over in 1972. After Bill France Jr. resigned in 2003, his son, Brian, took over as NASCAR chairman.

1:44 PM ET | 06- 5-2007 | permalink | e-mail post

'Stray Rod' Gets Last Laugh on Boston Fans

For New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez, it must have seemed like a nightmare: the idea of coming to Boston the same week that media outlets across the country showed a picture of him with an attractive blonde who was not his wife.

And the Boston fans, true to their nature, were merciless. They chanted a variety of insults at him, calling him "Stray Rod" and jeering every time he came to the plate. They screamed "mine" every time a pop-fly came his way (following a similar incident involving A-Rod earlier in the week). On Friday night, another group of fans wore identical masks depicting a blonde woman.

And then Sunday night, when it counted the most, A-Rod belted a home run off Boston star reliever Jonathan Papelbon to give the Yankees a 6-5 victory.

As Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe wrote, A-Rod had the last laugh, "athletically speaking."

11:07 AM ET | 06- 4-2007 | permalink | comments (3) | e-mail post

A New Curse in Boston

The curse of the Bambino plagues the Red Sox no longer. The Patriots play like they wouldn't care if there was a curse. The Bruins aren't cursed -- just badly managed and coached.

But the Boston Celtics ... ah, the Celtics are cursed.

The Celtics, at one time the winner of 16 NBA championships in 30 years, seemed to play the past season for one reason only -- to lose enough games to receive one of the top draft picks that go to the worst teams in the league. The idea of drafting Ohio State's dominating big man Greg Oden or Texas' dynamic Kevin Durant made fans drool, seeing a return to the promised land shimmering on the horizon.

But when the lottery balls fell, so did the Celts. Instead of first or second, they were fifth. No Oden, no Durant.

So why murmurs of a curse? Because it's Boston and Bostonians love curses! The Boston Globe's Bob Ryan, who knows basketball like few other writers, explains:

And who didn't believe that the bad fortune, which began with the death of Len Bias, proceeded with the death of Reggie Lewis, and continued 10 years ago with the faulty drop of the Ping-Pong balls when Tim Duncan was available (and the Celtics had the best chance at him), would finally be reversed? Nope. Sorry. Somebody up there loathes them.

Bill Simmons, who writes on Page 2 on the ESPN website put it this way - "We're headed for another decade in which the Sox and Pats are Michael, and Sonny and the Celtics are Fredo."

You want to know the most ironic touch to this whole sad story? The Celtics' mascot is called "Lucky."

3:41 PM ET | 05-23-2007 | permalink | comments (5) | e-mail post

Roger's Back with the Yankees

On Sunday afternoon, as my family and I drove from our old home in the Boston area to our new abode near D.C., I happened to pick up the New York Yankees game on my radio as we motored down the New Jersey Turnpike. As a longtime Red Sox fan, hearing the voice of Yankees broadcaster John Sterling was a little like listening to Tokyo Rose -- you wanted to listen, but you felt wrong doing it.

Then suddenly, the radio exploded. Roger was back! Roger Clemens, that is. Appearing deus ex machina-like in the box of owner George Steinbrenner, Roger told the drooling masses at Yankee Stadium that he was coming back to pitch for the team. You would have thought Jesus had appeared descending on a cloud the way Sterling's broadcast partner Suzyn Waldman was screaming. Later, I heard a WCBS announcer say that the Yankees could expect a return to the World Series now.

Ah, no.

Coming from Boston, I'm quite used to fans making wildly unjustified assumptions about the effect one player can have on an entire team's season. Until 2004, Red Sox fans were doing it almost every year. It's weird to see it happening to New York fans now. Oh, how the times have changed.

Clemens is a good pitcher. He will make the Yankees a better team, absolutely. But the problems that are plaguing the team go way beyond anything one player can solve. Pitching is still the thing that the Yankees need the most. True, they've got Mike Mussina, Andy Pettitte and Clemens now, along with the truly talented Chien-Ming Wang and the potentially great Phil Hughes, once he gets back from injury. But those first three pitchers are no longer spring chickens, and baseball is a marathon, not a sprint.

This is one reason why Clemens asked for all the special provisions -- like not traveling with the team -- that have actually generated a little bit of controversy even before the Rocket steps on the mound, which will probably happen in late May or early June. Clemens also has a prorated $28 million contract. An ESPN announcer calculated that to be about $7,500 a pitch. (I knew I should have learned to throw a slider.)

As for the Red Sox, well, they would have taken Clemens, too. You can never have enough pitching, as they say. Curt Shilling, always saying what's on his mind, said that the Sox don't really need Clemens. He's taken lots of grief for that comment, but I find myself in agreement with him. If there is one thing the Sox do have, it's pitching.

11:17 AM ET | 05- 8-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

You don't want to be Dirk Nowitzki today

You could make a good case for Dirk Nowitzki being the Alex Rodriguez of basketball. Like the Yankees' slugger, the big German center for the Dallas Mavericks is an amazingly talented player. He will, in all likelihood, be the NBA's Most Valuable Player this year.

But none of that matters after Thursday's first-round loss to the Golden State Warriors, which eliminated the Mavericks (favored by almost everyone to win this year's championship) from this year's playoffs. One can only imagine what it was like to be in the company of the Mavs' overly excitable owner, Mark Cuban, last night -- there haven't been any new postings at his BlogMaverick site in a few days.

The Warriors are a good team and have always given the Mavs a hard time. But this loss is monumental in scale. The Mavs won 67 games during the regular season out of a possible 82. They dominated the league. The last time I can remember an upset of this size was 1971, when hockey's Big Bad Boston Bruins, led by Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito, broke every regular season scoring record there was, and then were ousted in the first round by the Montreal Canadiens.

And it will pour down on Nowitzki like a typhoon in the rain forest. And he knows it. There are posts all over MySpace, and on fan blogs that are saying that he basically stunk the place up and needs to go. And when NBA commissioner David Stern announces in about 10 days that the league's MVP is ... Dirk Nowitzki, people are going to demand the right to change their vote. Ouch.

Over at the True Hoop blog at ESPN, Henry Abbott offers a more nuanced assessment.

Dirk Nowitzki is what those people want. He's just as nice as people can be. He's honest. He does great, selfless things far from the limelight. And I am not one of those people who buys the notion that you can't be both nice off the court and a top competitor.

But Dirk Nowitzki, I fear, is about to be emasculated for, essentially, being a good person without a reliable way to beat long defenders who are much faster than him.

Like Rodriguez, Nowitzki is a guy you want to root for, you want to succeed. I hope it happens for him someday. I think it's probably a good thing he spends the off-seasons in Germany.

3:23 PM ET | 05- 4-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post