General

Shanoff’s W.U.C.: Sosa Juiced? YOUDONTSAY

Jun 17, 2009, 12:11 PM UTC

Today’s Calls: Sammy Sosa vs. History, Albert Pujols vs. Felix Hernandez, Hedo Turkoglu vs. the Magic, Brandon Jennings vs. Epiphanny Prince, Brandon Marshall vs. Donte Stallworth, Kevin Love vs. Kevin McHale and More.â†µâ†µThe Opening Pitch: Sammy Sosa tested positive for PEDs back in 2003? The overwhelming reaction from fans:â†µ

â†µâ†µMeh.â†µ

â†µâ†µWhy? (1) Everyone figured Sosa was juicing anyway. (Oh no: Someone alert Raul Ibanez!) (2) Everyone figured that everyone was juicing in 2003. (Oh no: Get Ibanez back on the line!)â†µ

â†µâ†µHere is a neat little journalism sleight-of-hand you pick up at some point: Accusing one person specifically of doing something wrong? You better have specific evidence to back it up.â†µ

â†µâ†µBut accuse everyone of doing something? You’re in the clear! Accuse away!â†µ

â†µâ†µThat was the lesson of the Ibanez thing last week, especially combined with the Sosa thing this week: Cynicism rules.â†µ

â†µâ†µAnd that is precisely what drives collective thought when you bring up baseball played at the peak of the Steroid Era: Wasn’t everyone cheating?â†µ

â†µâ†µEither it was steroids or amphetamines, which were eventually banned as cheating after epic and epidemic abuse over the past 50 years of baseball history. But everyone — or “everyone” — had their hands (and bodies) into something that today would be considered cheating.â†µ

â†µâ†µSo telling us that Sosa was cheating? Back in 2003? You’re going to have to do more than that to shock or surprise us. The good news for MLB is that news like this gets a collective shoulder shrug. â†µ

â†µâ†µThat’s the bad news for baseball, too. â†µ

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â†µâ†µMLB Talking Pointsâ†µ

â†µâ†µ— Rays rock Rox: 11G W streak not just over, but obliteratedâ†µ

â†µâ†µ— Pujols Watch: Bashes A.L. pitching (Verlander), too.â†µ

â†µâ†µ— King Felix reigns: 2H CG SO (6K)â†µ

â†µâ†µ— Milestones: Torre ties Sparky (5th all-time Ws)â†µ

â†µâ†µ— Joe Mauer is unstoppable: 4-for-4 yesterday (.429 in ‘09)â†µ

â†µâ†µ— Fantasy Stud: Gabe Kapler (3-for-4, HR, 4 RBI)â†µ

â†µâ†µ— CWS: UNC’s/Seattle’s Ackley is pretty goodâ†µ

â†µâ†µNBA Offseason: The Magic got a taste of the high-life, and now they want to stay there. They recognize that Hedo Turkoglu was their X-Factor on the run to the Finals, so they are willing to pay the luxury tax to keep him together with Dwight Howard, Rashard Lewis and Jameer Nelson — the East’s best.â†µ

â†µâ†µNBA Draft: Dan Steinberg on Brandon Jennings. ‘Nuff said. (I think Bethlehem Shoals is ready to declare Jennings the most “FreeDarko” player in the ‘09 draft class.)â†µ

â†µâ†µDraft Age-Limit Watch: Epiphanny Prince is going to play pro in Europe, rather than spend another year playing for free for Rutgers. And good for her. The WNBA’s “must-play-4-years-(oh-unless-you’re-Candace-Parker-in-which-case-we’ll-wedge-an-exception)” rule is worse than the NBA’s.â†µ

â†µâ†µNFL Offseason: Donte Stallworth gets only 30 days in jail — 30 days — for killing someone in his drunk-driving accident. It is impossible to “make this right,” but if Roger Goodell was going to do the right thing, he would suspend Stallworth for the entire season.â†µ

â†µâ†µBrandon Marshall will be traded: He says it via his own blog, “Where I am in my life now change is probably best. ... The hardest thing was hearing Mr. B[owlen] wish me luck in the future, but we both came to the conclusion that this is probably the best thing for me to grow on and off the field.” (Next stop: Cleveland?)â†µ

â†µâ†µThe Last Word: “Kevin McHale will NOT be back as head coach this season.” â†µ
â†µ— Kevin Love, in a Tweet that broke news. (Yes, that would be an athlete tweet out-reporting the NBA media.)â†µ

â†µâ†µHis follow-up tweet around 2 a.m. ET was even better: “P.S. I am not a breaking news guy...I had no idea no one knew..I’ll tell them I stayed at a holiday inn express last night. Always works....”â†µ

â†µâ†µDan Shanoff writes The Wake-Up Call every weekday morning for SportingNews.com and blogs daily at DanShanoff.com. Got any comments, questions or feedback? Email Dan at shanofftsn-[at]-gmail-[dot]-com. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/danshanoff. â†µ

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This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.

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