Does the homerun record mean anything?

Does the MLB homerun record matter anymore? Now that the sport has been tainted with steroids, HGH and many other performance-enhancing or PE drugs the lure of the homerun record chase has seemed to lose its lustre. As A Rod chases his 600th career homer I find myself not being able to care less and I truly believe its because he admitted to dabbling in PE drugs.

The argument is often made that players like A Rod have been clean for many years but the fact remains that you can’t hit homer number 600 without hitting numbers 1 – 599.
The only real heroes are the ones that stayed clean their entire career, the Babe Ruths and the Hank Aarons of the world. Lets have a look at the progression of the homerun record and more importantly look at how badly it has been tainted.

Here is the current top 10 homerun leaders of all time.

Rank Player HR
1 Barry Bonds 762
2 Hank Aaron 755
3 Babe Ruth 714
4 Willie Mays 660
5 Ken Griffey, Jr. 630
6 Sammy Sosa 609
7 Alex Rodriguez 599
8 Frank Robinson 586
9 Mark McGwire 583
10 Jim Thome 576

Now here is another list of players that reportedly tested positive or admitted to using drugs.

Barry Bonds: He was involved in a steroid scandal where he admitted to using a clear substance and a cream given to him by his strength trainer who has been indicted for supplying anabolic steroids. Bonds stated that he did not know what they were and he was eventually charged with lying under oath in regards to this matter.

Sammy Sosa: in 2009 the New York Times reported that Sosa was on a list of players that tested positive for PE drugs in 2003. Sosa spoke on his own behalf at a hearing before congress where he sat beside no other then Mark McGwire and denied the allegations.

Alex Rodriguez: In 2009 Sports Illustrated reported that A Rod tested positive for2 steroids in the 2003 season when he played with the Rangers. In an interview with ESPN A Rod confirmed the reports contradicting his 2007 interview where he denied ever using a steroid. What a hypocrite!!

Mark McGwire: In 2010 after accepting the position as the Cardinals hitting coach he admitted to using steroids during his playing career. In 1998 McGwire admitted to using androstenedione which is an over the counter muscle enhancer that has already been banned by the anti doping agency the NFL and the IOC.

In 2003 MLB took samples from several players under; the pre tense that it would be anonymous. When 5% of all samples tested came back positive for steroids the MLB had no choice but to begin random testing protocols beginning in the 2004 season. Since this time the homeruns have declined on a yearly basis.

Out of the top ten homerun hitters in history 4 of them have tested positive to steroids. As far as I am concerned Hank Aaron is the homerun champion followed by the Baby Ruth. The Barry Bonds, A Rods and McGwires do not exist. Every stat they ever had is tainted and should be stricken from records and hey should have no chance of entering the hall. There is no place for PE drugs in sports and awarding records to users does nothing but promotes the use of Performance Enhancing drugs.

Superpower Spain!!

Spain has been on one hell of a roll in the latter part of this decade. They seem to be unstoppable on the world sport stage. Lets go back a few years and have a look at some Spaniards and there accomplishments.

2007: Tour De France, Alberto Contador

Before the race bookmakers had Contador a 29:1 shot to win the tour not bad odds for the Discovery Channel team rider. Contador was trailing Cancellara and Rasmussen for most of the tour but in the transition stage 17 he took the yellow jersey and would hold on for his first ever tour win. He finished with a time of 90 hours and 26 seconds. Just 23 seconds ahead of Cadel Evans of Australia.

2008: Euro Cup, Team Spain

Spain dominated in the group stage winning all 3 of their games to move onto the first round of the knock out stage where they would face the favored Italians. Spain managed to squeak by Italy winning in penalty kicks 4 – 2. This would prove to be Spain’s only real threat throughout the tournament as they went on to defeat Russia 3 – 0 then eventually beat Germany 1 – 0 to claim the Euro title.

2008: Beijing Olypics Tennis, Rafael Nadal

Rafael Nadal made his place in tennis history by being the first to ever win gold in Olympic tennis on his first try at the age of 22. He defeated Chilean Fernando Gonzalez who took silver and Novak Djokovic who took home the bronze. With Olympic gold Nadal displaced Federer from the world number 1 ranking after a record setting 237 weeks.

2009: Tour De France, Alberto Contador

Contador won his second Tour with an improved time of 85 hours 48 min and 35 seconds. He was 4 min and 11 seconds faster then second place and Schleck and 5 min and 24 seconds of 7 time tour winner 3rd place Lance Armstrong.

2009: Australian Open, Rafael Nadal

Nadal defeated Federer in an epic 5 set battle to capture the Aussie Open. This victory solidified Nadal’s status as number one and the reputation of being one of the best clay court players to ever play the game.

2010: World Cup, Team Spain

In South Africa Spain was a second seed backseat only to the juggernaut Brazilian team who was favored to win. Team Spain fresh off world cup victory had the confidence and swagger to repeat at world winners. After Spain dropped a 1 – 0 opening loss to the Swiss doubts started to arise. They went on to win there remaining two group games to advance. They then proceeded in 3 1-0 victories of their own against Paraguay, Germany and eventually Netherlands to win the World Cup title and their first ever as a competing nation.

2010: French Open, Wimbledon: Rafael Nadal

Nadal has been on a tear in the 2010 ATP Series after recovering from knee injuries. He has had an excellent first half of the season winning both the French Open at Roland Garos and the infamous Wimbledon. In September he will try to win his first ever US Open Championship.

2010: Tour De France, Alberto Contador

Contador was able to defend his Yellow jersey to win his 2nd strait Tour and 3rd in 4 years. He defeated 2nd place Andy Schleck once again by a margin of seconds. Schleck look like he had the Yellow jersey secured until he lost a chain late in the race leaving an open opportunity for Contador to take the lead which he never gave up.

Well that’s a pretty impressive series of events for the country of Spain. With young talented world class athletes like Nadal and Contador this trend may continue for years to come. Maybe its something in the water down there or all that southern Spanish sunshine but whatever they got I think that we as Canadians should find out what it is and get some!

5 of the greatest sports chokes of all time!

Isn’t it nice to know that even the best of us can buckle under pressure? Even the million dollar men can sweat under the heat of the limelight! So here I present some of the largest sports chokes of all time!! Oh how sweet it is!



NY Yankees – 2004 League Championship Series

The Yankees were putting on a clinic throughout the entire 2004 playoffs. Reaching the American league championship series they took a commanding lead over the Boston Red Sox 3-0. As soon as another title was on the horizon it was ripped away just as fast when the Yanks would drop the next for games to the Sox who would then go on to win the world series! Thus creating a precedent of the 0-3 comeback and one of the greats chokes in MLB history!



Leon Lett – Thanksgiving Day 1993

Miami Dolphins in Dallas on the sacred day of thanksgiving football. Miami has a field goal attempt with 15 seconds left in the game to win it. Dallas lines up in block formation. Can you believe that the kicker nuts it and the Cowboys get a block! Now all they have to do is not touch the ball and let the clock run out! With a crowd around the ball, in slides this lone ranger Leon Lett. In a complete daze he tries to recover the ball and bobbles it causing a Miami recovery. The Dolphins get a redemption shot at the kick and wouldn’t you know it, the kick sails right between the uprights handing the loss to the Cowboys!



Phil Mickelson – 2006 US Open at Winged Foot

Mickelson was leading going into the final day of the tournament and lead by 2 strokes with 2 holes to play over Ogilvy. After Ogilvy held a chip for par on the 17th he put a little pressure on old lefty. Phil only needed a par to win on the 72nd hole so standing on the 18th he reaches in his bag to pull his driver which has been his nemesis all week but he wanted to tempt fate once again. He hit a wild push that ended up rebounding off a hospitality tent and landed in a patch of trampled grass with trees blocking his shot to the green. Phil being Phil attempted to pull off another miracle cut shot around the trees but instead it smacked off a tree and careened back to Phil’s feet. He managed the shot the second time but it buried itself in a greenside bunker where he sandblasted through the green and managed to get up and down for a double bogey accentually handing the trophy to Ogilvy! When Phil was asked about his choice of the driver on the 18th his response was “I just can’t believe I did that, I’m such an idiot!”



Boston Bruins – 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs

Trouble down in bean town! The Boston Bruins were on a little bit of a tear in the 2010 playoffs easily dismantling the Sabres in 6 games then striking the Flyers and winning the first 3 of the series. The Flyers then battled back winning the next 3 to get to game 7. In game 7 the Bruins returned to form gutting out a quick 3 nothing lead. The Flyers chipped away at that lead to eventually force overtime and beat the Bruins giving them not the Stanley Cup but a spot up high in the ranks of all time sport chokers!!



Jean Van de Velde – 1999 British Open

It looked like the Open was all but in the bag as Van de Velde stood on the 18th tee at Carnoustie. He has a three shot lead and 1 hole to play so of course Van de Velde pulls driver, why not right! He sprays the drive right but gets out alive by landing near the 17th green. He had 190 to the flag with a giant burn in front so naturally he pulls a two iron in attempt to go for it. He crushes it clearing the burn by 15 yards but sprays right once again into the grandstands! It then ricochets back 25 yards and land in the rough! He then tries to wedge it out with his 3rd shot but the ball barely moves and ends up in the watery burn. Commentators make one comment “Stupid” He then rolls up his pants and walks down into the 4ft burn. Everyone around is wandering “what is wrong with this guy?” Even though it was the only smart thing he did that hole Van de Velde signals that he was picking up the ball to take a drop solidifying his 4th stroke. He then takes his fith shot a short pitch over the burn. He clears the burn but the ball comes to rest in a bunker.
He then blasted out of the bunker to 7 ft. He was able to hold that put for a triple bogey 7, Which forced a playoff with Paul Lawrie. After 4 playoff holes and two birdies by Lawrie the Frenchman lost the British Open twice in one day and creating a legacy of the greatest choker of all time!

Forbes releases its list of the world most valuable sports franchises

Forbes has recently released it's yearly list of the worlds most valuable franchises.
Currently the English Premier Leauge's Manchester United soccer club tops the list at 1.84 billion dollars.

Followed by the Dallas Cowboys at 1.65 billion and the New York Yankees at 1.6 billion. The NFL's Washington Redskins at 1.55 billion and the New England Patriots at 1.36 billion round out the top five.

This all looks impressive but doesnt seem to hold a candle to Tiger Woods who was the first individual athlete to exceed the 1 billion dollar mark as Forbes reported last October. Tiger Woods made over 90 million in total earnings but after his hell of a year and all his infedelities he had his income axed by 22 million to bring him down to the poor house with his measly 70 million a year!

Other then Mr. Woods, Floyd Mayweather makes himself a decent living with 65 million a year and not far behind are Pacquaio and Kobe Bryant with 42 and 48 million respectively.

Here is the top ten richest single atheletes

1 Tiger Woods (golf) 105
2 Floyd Mayweather (boxing) 65
3 Kobe Bryant (basketball) 48
4 Phil Mickelson (golf) 46
5 David Beckham (soccer) 43.7
6 Roger Federer (tennis) 43
7 LeBron James (basketball) 42.8
8 Manny Pacquiao (boxing) 42
9 Eli Manning (football) 39.9
10 Terrell Suggs (football) 38.3

Now comes the golden question. Why the hell are these atheletes making this much fucking money when brain surgeons who save lives on a daily basis only take home about 300K?

Well the answer is really simple... Its whatever puts more asses in the seats and more eyes on the game. If im Roger Federer and I just made the USTA X amounts of millions I believe that I am entitled to quite a chunk of that and if Nike sells 5 million more baseball caps because Woods wears one when he birdies the 18th on sunday why cant Tiger make a decent percentage!

The fact is that those doctors save all those lives but they just are'nt that profietable to the hospital. Its not a matter of morality but a simple matter of ROI!

NHL Rejects Kovalchuk Contract

The NHL has rejected Kovalchuk’s 102 million dollar 17 year contract on the grounds that it breaks salary cap circumvention. Well no shit! The deal would have gotten Ilya 95 million dollars over the first 10 years and 1 million per year for the last 7with an overall cap hit of 6 million dollars per year!

For one we all know that there is almost no way that Kovalchuk will play out the entire 17 years of this contract. He is now 27 and after 17 seasons he will be 44! Who the hell does he think he is Chelios or Gordie fucken Howe! Lets be reasonable and give him 10 seasons out of the 17 and at 95 million for the first 10 years the very simple math should cause a cap hit of 9.5 million per year against the Devils.

The 2010 – 11 season cap currently sits at 59.4 million and even with Kovalchuk eating up 6 million per season the Devils are still more then 1.8 million over the top line! If his 9.5 million per year salary went against the cap Lamerello’s Devils would be over 5 million above the cap which equals the salary of Martin Brodeur! So how in the hell would the Devils be able to afford a player of Kovalchuk’s caliber without scouring the ridiculous CBA and finding a loop hole.

The NHL had no choice but to reject this kind of deal. If this contract were allowed to go through it would set a precedent for countless ludicrous deals to come. There would be nothing stopping a team with cap space from signing a high profile young player (for arguments sake we will use Crosby) Say the Pens could sign a Crosby for 20 years 100 million pay him 12 million for 7 years then the rest later and still only have a cap hit of 5 million dollars per year! The very idea of these contracts is fucken ridiculous!!

These type of deals will wind up causing the end of the NHL. The cost certainty that owners fought for during the CBA has totally disappeared and they will not be able to run their businesses under these circumstances for much longer without gouging the fans with higher ticket prices, merch that no one can afford and beers that cost 20 bucks per glass which will effectively end the average joe hockey fan.

So what is next for Kovalchuk and the Devils? Im sure another deal is in the works and hopefully it will be one that falls within the confines of the current CBA. I think that a maximum term for contracts must be discussed before the next CBA is agreed apon. The NHL cannot afford another lock out to accentually solve nothing!

Federer VS Nadal

Are we seeing the makings of the best tennis player in the world in Nadal? Or have we already seen it with Roger Federer? Today’s rivalry in tennis is among one of the best rivalries in the history of sport and we as tennis fans are lucky to have these two skilled, gracious and humble competitors.

The question is who is the best tennis player in the world today?

Rafael Nadal is the current holder of the worlds number 1 ranking with 10, 745 points in 18 tournaments played, while Federer currently holds the 3rd spot with 6,885 points in 20 tournaments.

Roger Federer now 28 years old has left his mark on the game of tennis he has won 62 career titles and a record setting 16 slams. Nadal since turning pro in 2001 has won 41 titles 12 finals and 8 slams as well as gold medal in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Both of these superstars’ stats are very impressive but the difference in length of their careers makes it hard to create a comparison.

As for sheer match dominance Nadal has a very slight advantage he has played 544 career matches with 448 wins this gives him a win % of 82% while Federer has a total of 879 matches with 709 wins giving him a win % of 80. When we consider head to head stats Nadal leads Federer with a commanding 14 – 7.

What makes these players so dominant? Rafael has the advantage of incredible fitness, he has the ability to outlast most opponents in longer matches and the fact that he is a lefty provides him with unique shot placing abilities (even though he was not a natural lefty, he was trained to play left handed as a child by his coach and uncle Tony Nadal)
He is by far the most dominant clay player and has recently found the way to transcend that game to the grass courts as shown by his win at Wimbledon this year and his final against none other then Federer. His net game has improved greatly and his crosscourt fore arm combined with his speed should help him become a hard court contender and possible US Open champion as soon as this season.

Federer posses amazing poise and accurate placed serves that allow him to put his opponents out of position. He is probably considered one of the best net players and volleyers in the history of tennis. This has allowed him to become extremely effective on the hard court because net play help control the speed of the game. He has one 5 consecutive US Opens do to his effective hard court play.

Will Nadal be able to catch Federer’s 16 Slams? Nadal has a possible 17 slams to play before he turns 28 and he needs 8 victories to catch Federer. With his 83% match wins this feat looks not only possible but inevitable pending that he stays healthy. Nadal has battled knee problems for the last few seasons and hopefully it does not get worse over time. Im sure that Federer will not let this happen without a fight. I suspect we will see this rivalry continue for a few more years to come.

Favre says "one more season wont hurt"

Reports say that Favre told Mens Journal that "One more season probably wont effect long term health"

Does this mean that he is comming out of retirement for a 3rd time? This old timer just wont go away! but the fact is that this old timer is comming off one of the best seasons he has had. Farve completed 33 touchdown passes and managed only to throw 7 interceptions in his first year with the Vikings. Its unfortunate that we only remember one of these! The AFC championship game against the Saints when he made a bonehead on the run pass into tight coverage and you know the rest. That play aside im sure Farve considers last season a success.

The Vikings are waiting fo Farve's decision with only two weeks left before training camp begins because obviously they will have to persure other avenues as far a QB's go. Up to today Bus Cook has told the Associated Press that Farve has made no indications either way as of yet.

He did have to undergo surgury after the beating he took in the game against the saints but he seems very optimistic about his health.

I just hope that he does not lead another team on. I agree that he is one of the great quarterbacks in the game but I am getting a little sick of the Brett Farve show! I want him to make a decision and make it now and im sure the Green Bay Packers concur!