Hall of Shame Inductee

As the magic number for the White Sox drops to 43, I'm still excited about the season as a whole, but I'm fascinated and a bit disapointed by the latest steroid scandal. Rafael Plameiro seems to be doing his best Bill Clinton impression - no, he's not playing the sax with Arsenio, or writing long winded, self indulgent biographies. He's lying to public. (Note that I'm not comparing him to Dubbya, Big Dick, or Rummy because that would be too mean - and that's lying on a completely different scale.) Raffy, who testified in front of congress earlier this year said "I've never intentionally used steroids. Never." If this was a logic question/answer on the GRE it might read "taking steroids are to Raffy as sexual relations with that woman are to Bill." Or, another GRE question may be "Raffy's pious indignation blew up in his face, and he's a liar. Who can sit next to him?" The answer: none of his teammates for the next 10 days.

Palmeiro's behavior and cowardly responses seem to make him ripe for a political campaign run. I'm disturbed by his and other athletes response - they didn't knowingly do this. This is like the Enron guys that can't recall. So, a new form of lying is to say you don't know, you don't recall and act stupid. Proving them wrong, it's like proving a negative - impossible. Steroids are known to have degenerative properties, but I didn't' realize that it could dissolve your spine.

In related news Slammin Sammy Sosa is still over rated and his arms are quite smaller this year. I wonder if steroid testing has anything to do with the change. Of course I'm over simplifying here as it's hard to hit home runs when (a) you're not on 'roids; (b) you're not using a corked bat; (c) you have both hands wrapped around your neck; or (d) all of the above. The answer: I don't care because the White Sox just swept a four-game series against the Orioles.

Play ball!