Adam LaRoche vs. Jason Johnson

Outside the Lines, one of the few non-game good shows on ESPN, had an interesting topic today on Adam LaRoche, 1st baseman of the Atlanta Braves. Apparently, LaRoche has Attention Deficit Disorder. It affected him to the point this season, where he forgot to cover 1st base on a dropped 3rd strike and instead just stared at the bat that had been thrown accidently by the batter. LaRoche was prescribed a drug that is on the MLB banned list as a stimulant. The argument can be made in both cases. LaRoche should not be on the drugs because it is a performance enhancement and his performance has definately benefited. They showed a graphic where LaRoche was hitting about one hundred points higher after going on the medication. Dwight Stone, the US Track and Field President, said that LaRoche should not be allowed to be on this medication simply because it has been banned. And it makes sense, the medication is a performance enhancing drug. I think Stone missed the point in that there is a big difference between track and baseball. I did both and can safely say that baseball requires some thinking. Track requires some thinking, but it never really changes, where baseball can change from pitch to pitch.

The other side of the argument is that LaRoche needs the medication to perform his job. This is also true, but where does baseball draw the line? I space out all of the time at work, do I need medication? I thought more about this while watching the Cubs game today. Jason Johnson, from the Reds, was wearing and Insulin pump. I don't think that anyone would argue that Johnson needs to use this pump during the game, otherwise he could slip into a diabetic coma. However, how close are Johnson and LaRoche? LaRoche certainly would not die if he didn't take his medication, however it still helps, just as much as it helps Johnson and his insulin. So where is the difference? This will be a bigger issue as drugs become more prevalent with more options.

Braves 2- Cubs 1

The Cubs offense was pathetic again today, losing 2-1 to the Braves. In one inning, Henry Blanco led off with a triple, only to have the next three guys fail to get him in. Tommorrow Rich Hill goes to save a second sweep from Atlanta. The last time the Cubs won in Atlanta was April of 2004. Hill has been much better lately. I think he deserves to have a spot in the rotation next season with Zambrano, Marshall, and hopefully Prior. The Cubs also need to possibly go out and spend free agent money on another starter to fill out the rotation.

Bears 26- Packers 0
Geez, maybe I should have out of Milwaukee this summer. It would have been awesome seeing all of the Packer fans at the Annex today. Much like the Cubs look like a little league team against the Braves, the Packers looked like the JV against the varsity Bears. The Packers were outplayed and outcoached in about every aspect of the game. To think, I actually picked against the Bears this week, whoops.

The ABC Sunday Night Movie
I can understand why individuals would be upset that they were being inappropriately portrayed in a very sensitive subject of a movie. The thing about this movie though, was that it sucked. I applaud anybody who watched more than 15 minutes of in a row. The Democrats should have not wasted their time, because I will almost guarantee when the ratings come out, they will suck, especially against the NFL opening weekend, and the first primtime Sunday night public television broadcast maybe ever.

The Cubs Failures

In the past month, this Cubs team has turned into one of the worst I have ever seen. One of my roommates asked me the other day, "Why do you still watch the games?" I told him I don't know, but I secretly believe that it's my secret duty or something. Tonight they couldn't pitch or hit or play good defense, same old same old. It seriously looks the Cubs are the really bad little league team who is playing all of the good teams right now.

The Cubs Really Suck

But I don't want to dwell on that failure. I'll dwell on another failure the United States Baseketball team. First, the fact that this championship got one tenth the coverage of the World Cup, shows America how signficant soccer really is. But I hate how everybody is poo- pooing the United States as if their loss was somehow premediated. Huh? America is the best basketball country in the world, by far. We should not be beating any country by less than 20 points. All this stuff about how other countries are catching up is BS. Look at the NBA draft, 90% of the players are from the US. Has any foriegn player ever won MVP or the NBA Finals MVP? I don't think so. The US was a failure in this World Championship.

Now many people wonder why they were so bad, no team game, can't shoot, blah, blah, blah. I knew this team wouldn't win anything when I got up at 5:30 to go to work and Dwyane was not starting. The NBA Finals MVP, one of the top two best players in the NBA was on the bench. Did this make sense to anybody at all? The US media and Coach K played this off as Dwyane being a team player and a nice guy, which he is. I have no idea why Coach K didn't laugh at Dwyane and say, that is one of the dumbest things I have ever heard. He should have said "Dwyane, seriously, you are one of the best players in the world, you will be starting for our team." But Coach K took it seriously and BENCHED the NBA Finals MVP.

The real US failure is the fact that they have not taken the NBA game to international game. Many people are right, in that traveling is called, you are less likely to get a call when barrelling down the lane. Here's the thing about the US team, there are too MANY good players. And instead of one dominting, they all pass off to each other. It's good team play, but none of them are used to it. What they should do is designate one guy each game to be their go to guy and dominate, set the offense around them and play. I hope Coach K told Dwyane at the start of the 4th quarter to do whatever he wanted to do against Argentina. That's why Dwyane dominated and the US won. The US has to figure out how to balance all of the good players with the aspect of somehow being a team.