The… Netherlands???

This is incredible.  Incomprehensible.  It’s still early and I’m having trouble coming up with words to describe just how miraculous the Netherlands TWO victories over the Dominican Republic at the World Baseball Classic are.  I think I’d struggle no matter what time it was.  So let’s go to the numbers.  The DR has 23 current major leaguers.  The Netherlands has 2.  The DR has 4 current all stars.  The Netherlands has 0.  The DR pitchers have 518 major league victories.  The Netherlands’ pitchers have 95 (and 90 belong to one player).  Finally, if you were to pay the salary for the entire DR team last year you would be out about $83 million.  The Dutch team would cost you $400,000.  The DR team is more than 200 times as expensive.  Say all you want about it being spring training and players not being in top shape yet, this will go down as one of the greatest upsets in the history of sports.  I bet a lot of people didn’t even know they played baseball in the Netherlands.  These games have been simply amazing.

A-Rod: My Thoughts After Sleeping on it All

After sleeping on the whole A-Rod thing and his interview I have a few random thoughts to throw out there.

I agree with everyone on ESPN, ESPN Radio, and every other sports related anything that there is NOTHING that surprises me anymore when it comes to steroids (or whatever you want to call it) and baseball.  Despite not being surprised by anything, disappointment and anger still swell within me when news like this comes out.  That’s how I feel.  Angry and disappointed.  Not shocked or surprised.  I still don’t know how I feel about the statistics from this era.  Thankfully I have a lifetime to figure that out.

As I was listening to Tirico and Van Pelt yesterday someone commented on the fact that we want our athletes to be super-human, then get mad at them when they take steroids to be just that.  As an athlete and a rather hardcore fan of sports, especially baseball, I have to disagree 100% with this statement.  I do want my athletes to be superhuman, but I want them to do it because of their natural ability and work ethic, not because they are on steroids.  I do not want every Joe Shmoe on the street to be a great athlete.  I want great athletes to be unique… to come around once in a generation… not to be constantly pumped out of drug labs.

The other thing that strikes me is the absurd hubris that must drive someone like A-Rod to use these substances.  Here’s a generic version of what I think must have gone through his head:

I am the best at what I do for a living in the world right now.  Nobody does my job any better than me.  There are 6 billion people on earth and not one single person does this any better than me.  What’s more, I am probably the best EVER at my job.  In the entire course of recorded human history, not a single person has ever done this as well as I do.  But I want to be even better and set the bar so high that no one will ever reach me.  So I guess I’ll take illegal drugs to improve my performance.

That someone can sit down and think that is unfathomable to me.  I was watching Troy yesterday on FX and I can’t help but compare these athletes to the Achilles character in that movie.  I don’t get it.

I’m also not sure how much of what he said last night we can really believe.  I’m a trusting person, so I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt, but a year and a half ago he did another TV interview and categorically denied ever using or being tempted to use performance enhancing drugs.  So he’s already been proved a liar.  I guess time will tell how much of what he said is really true.

I’m not sure who is responsible for the leak of only A-Rod’s name, but I really want to know the other 103 names on that list.  Those players who have never used steroids need their names to be cleared of all suspicion.

I will give A-Rod credit for coming out and admitting his use.  It takes guts to admit that you lied to the world.  You have to respect someone for that.  Now maybe we can have a legitimate conversation about steroids and how we can get them out of the game for good.  Until a star was willing to stand up and publicly admit his use and open that dialogue it was never going to happen.  If A-Rod can be the catalyst for that he might just redeem himself in my eyes.