Fab Five Furor

Grant Hill has responded to Jalen Rose's "Uncle Tom" comment during the Fab Five documentary. I'm not sure he has the right angle on what Rose said, but he makes a very valid point in any case. Many of the comments are worth reading, also.

Clemens to be indicted

The New York Times reports that Roger Clemens is to be indicted on charges of perjury, relating to his testimony to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in 2008.

Now, that looks familiar.

Will Barry Bonds' many apologists quit with the "it's all about race" crap?

Jackie Robinson Day

It's 63 years since Jackie Robinson re-broke the color barrier in professional baseball, and it seems everyone is wearing number 42 today in celebration. In all the hoopla, let us never forget: it happened in Brooklyn.

Stretching credibility

Ari Fleischer can claim "it doesn't cover this specific period" all he likes, but this quote is pretty damning:

Put it this way. If Paris Hilton were to take that array, she could run over Dick Butkus.

- Curtis Wenzlaff, McGwire's early career steroid supplier.

But by 1998, it was just to help with injury recovery? Sure, Ari. And I have a bridge over the East River you might like to buy.

And, by the way, will Barry Bonds' many apologists finally admit that this isn't about trying to tear down a black icon? McGwire and Clemens and Pettite don't look very black to me.

Worst analogy ever

No one, yet, has signed Michael Vick. As a result, Bill Rhoden has the temerity to buy into Jesse Jackson's allegations of collusion and his comparison of Vick to Jackie Robinson.

Wow.

Perhaps he's just not that great a quarterback for a West Coast offense. Remember, his passing numbers never were terribly great, even as his record for the most 100 yard rushing games by a QB piled up. Vick is the greatest scrambler who ever played the game, and an average passer at best. For better or worse, he is not like most QBs.

Most everyone runs a short passing system nowadays that values quick release, high accuracy, and risk averse decision making. Refitting such a system at drastically short notice to fit Vick in would be nigh impossible.

This isn't collusion. It certainly isn't racism. It's just stodgy NFL conservatism.

And football aside, Bill, I should forgive Michael Vick and his cohorts for some truly unspeakable deeds because hunting is legal? Screw that. I hate hunting, too, with a passion, and I think a great deal less of Brett Favre (for one) for partaking in it.

And as for the Robinson analogy, that's flat out offensive. Robinson was a hero, a genuine hero, to Brooklyn and baseball and the whole country. Vick is a cruel, callous felon.

Satire?

I can't tell any more. You make the call.

In any case, the revelation that the Clear was apparently not yet covered by Federal drug laws in 2001 has brought with it an avalanche of pro-Bonds columns, saying that somehow he is now completely vindicated, and further, that the whole circus has been some form of racist witch hunt.

Right.

The Clear was legal - big deal.

1. The 1971 agreement between management and players prohibited using any prescription medication without a valid prescription. This language has gotten more specific over time, but well and truly covers the Clear, whether the law of the US had caught up with that particular designer drug or not.

2. Bonds started using the Clear because it was then undetectable - unlike the previous anabolic steroids he was using that BALCO's own tests were easily able to detect. His cheating goes back before he ever hooked up with Conte.

3. There's no racial element here. Ask Roger Clemens how public opinion is running for him. It's about arrogant cheats who blame everyone else and won't admit their guilt in the face of a mountain of evidence.

The shallow end of the Gene pool

Remember Auburn football? Until recently, this was a program marked by a certain sense of underachievement. Every season they would be touted as national title contenders, only to suffer an early season loss, hide away in the middle of the rankings for a while, then crush Alabama in the Iron Bowl. Which kept everybody happy.

Until this season. This season, they lost the Iron Bowl at last after a six year winning streak. So coach Tommy Tuberville had to go.

And then, Auburn returned to its redneck roots with a vengeance.

One of the final two candidates for the coaching job was Turner Gill, who has turned around a dismal Buffalo program, going 8-5 with a massive upset win in the MAC title game, and a bowl berth for the first time in 50 years.

The other was Gene Chizik, who went 2-10 with Iowa State, 0-8 in the Big 12. No bowl berth, no organization, no apparent plan, and no future at Iowa State.

So Auburn hired Chizik.

The white guy.

Seriously. 2-10 and light skin beats 8-5 with a historically dreadful program and dark skin.

If anyone can come up with a better explanation for this hire, I'd love to hear it.

Recommended reading

Doug Glanville's excellent series in the New York Times continues today, with perhaps the best piece yet, about the unique trials of being an African-American Ivy Leaguer in the pro baseball system. A sample quote:

I always found it curious that I was accused of thinking I had all the answers and asking too many questions at the same time.

I bet Barack Obama writes that sentence one day, too.

Eliot Asinof, RIP

Eliot Asinof, one time minor leaguer in the Phillies organization, and author of many books, including the classic Eight Men Out, died yesterday, aged 88. A badge of honor not often associated with his achievements is that he was among many writers blacklisted in the 1950s. In his case, this was after he signed a petition outside Yankee Stadium imploring the Yankees to hire black ballplayers.

Black ballplayers are mentioned ever so briefly in the movie of Eight Men Out, written by Asinof and John Sayles. "Best team I ever saw," says the man cleaning the seats after the game, "best team of white folks, that is." It's a subtle acknowledgment that the 1919 Black Sox scandal did not rock the entire baseball world. As ever, Asinof said a lot with very little effort. He will be greatly missed.

Black and white and a grey area

In a column today in the NY Times, Bill Rhoden talks about recent high profile investigations involving Marion Jones, Barry Bonds, and Michael Vick, and comes up with this interesting quote:

My issue has to do with an apparent double standard that has focused, thus far, on black athletes.

I don't think three athletes make a pattern. Do you really believe that if Jason Giambi had denied all, and Bonds and Sheffield had come clean, that no prosecutor would have come after the big white player for lying? The press has certainly hung Giambi out to dry on multiple occasions.

So, by way of counterexample, here's a list off the top of my head, from the last couple of decades, of people in sports who've been investigated either by the authorities or their employers, and found wanting, none of whom are black, and all of whom were made an example of: Art Schlichter, Pete Rose, Bobby Knight, Marv Albert, Pokey Chatman, Dave Bliss, Rafael Palmeiro, Tonya Harding, Jason Grimsley, Todd Bertuzzi.

Any others of note?

Am I wrong - is there a bias in investigating the alleged crimes of sportspeople?