It’s baseball season again! It’s time to give my two Cubs jerseys a permanent hanger in my closet. The NCAA basketball tournaments are over, and it’s time to pack the dismal winter sports. It’s springtime! Time for the sport that should still be America’s pastime, but it no longer holds that honor due to strikes, greed, the short attention span of most Americans, and the occasional fan beating up the first base coach. Time for beer and hotdogs, sunshine, heckles for the left fielders, peanut shells on the floor, peeing in troffs, organ music… but it’s also time for my first annual 5 burning questions list.
1. Who will be implicated next in the steroid hunt? My guess is Darren Baker. Sure he’s only 5 years old, but you never know these days. Of course the media would probably make up such an outrageous story to get back at Dusty Baker for calling McCarthyism on the whole steroid fiasco. I scoffed at that statement, as did the media, until people started coming out with more outrageous allegations. One of the latest was Jack McDowall mentioning Mark Prior’s name in an interview while on the subject of steroids. They jokingly called him Backtrack Jack (they used to call him Blackjack back in the day) on a local radio show because he attempted to retract his statements. I understood that McDowall didn’t say Mark was using steroids, but pointed out that he fits the description of a player who did use steroids. Just the fact that Prior’s name was mentioned was enough to cause a furor. This just proves that by saying “steroids” and a player’s name in the same sentence may be enough to implicate them. McCarthyism? It was ridiculous at first, but it’s starting to make more sense. People were not surprised that names like Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, and Jason Giambi were mentioned in the same sentence as “steroids”. But Eric Gagne and Mark Prior? It’s getting ridiculous.
2. When will Roger Clemens fall and break his hip? Hopefully tonight. (4/7/04)
3. How long will the Milwaukee Brewers remain in first place? Give it a few days. They’ve been playing the Cardinals the last two games. What do you expect?
4. What small market team will be the next Florida Marlins? I will have to say the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. They beat the Yankees two games now, even though the Yankees have an all-star lineup. If the Yankees keep this up, it may as well be Boston that wins the division. That is, if Pedro Martinez stops having temper tantrums. Otherwise, beating up another bench coach could land him a suspension. Keep in mind Don Zimmer is now with the D-Rays. Could we be looking at a Pedro vs. Don Part 2?
5. What are your early season predictions?
AL East
New York Yankees
AL Central
Kansas City Royals
AL West
Oakland A’s
Wild Card
Baltimore Orioles
(Sorry Red Sox fans, I have a feeling they’re going to implode)
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