#30 Parrish goes all out, to block a kick vs NY Giants before 84,000 in Cleveland Municipal Stadium

Baseball Hearings or Congressional Autograph Party?

The Congressinal Hearings on steroids ring as hollow as all the rest of the previous Congressional Hearings have been. Mark McGuire won't answer questions because it will incriminate himself and others. The legistlators gave reminisent rants about their youth and baseball's nostalgic impact on them. Considering that politicians trustworthyness is rated lower than baeball players the situation of today shouldn't be any surprise. I got the feeling that as soon as the cameras were off the baseball players would be besiged with requests for autographs from everyone in the room including the congressmen.

Jose Conseco may be disliked by Mark McGuire but Conseco's message remains unchanged steroid use is rampant in baseball and I would add all sports. The Major league owners and their spokesmen don't want to take time off from counting their money to figure out what to do about the issues. It is a great deal like the Federal Government creating a War on Drugs that is a farce.

What goes on between a doctor and his patient is privledged private information. Our government the one holding the Steroids hearings give our military pilots amphedimines to make them more alert and keep them from getting sleepy/tired on long trips. I want them to continue giving our pilots those amphedimines, they enhance the pilots performance.
I listened to most of the hearings and never heard amphedimines mentioned and I understand there are no rules against their use. Congressman Henry Waxmann's assistant told me by phone that although I didn't hear anyone mention amphedimines during the steroid hearings the Congressmen were acutely aware of their use in baseball.

As a child I ate spinnach, it enhanced Popeye's performance, I imagined that spinnach enhanced mine as well. An individual has a certain amount of ability in him or her to perform, to run, to jump, to throw or hit a ball. Exercise intensity can enhance those abilities, vitamins can help, fear of failure can help, desire for success can help, diet and vitamin programs can help. But there is just so much in your tank no matter how you exercise or what you ingest. You can't create ability with a syringe no matter what is in it. Barry Bonds Mark McGuire, and Jose Conseco have exercise programs, including practice and have diets and vitamin programs that maximize their inherent talents, as do the great majority of high school, college and professional players. Is this what these steroid hearings are about? I don't really think so.

The real questions is what are the baseball owners up to this time? The players aren't gaining anything from these hearings. There are some embarrassed and perplexed players but there is nothing for them to gain, except Conseco may sell some books. On the other hand the owners stand to increase their control over their employees to some degree. Congress is helping the owners negotiate with Donald Feher Executive Director of the Players Association. Feher has done a brilliant job for the players over the years; the owners need an act of Congress to level the playing field. What else are the owners gaining from "their" Congressmen through their usual backroom machinations? Owners need anti-trust exemptions and political maneuvers to control their business and allow them to build their money factories/casinos, called stadiums, with taxpayer money.

President George W. Bush was a major league baseball franchise owner and that can not hurt Commissioner Bud Selig and his constituents position. Perhaps the hearings are a high profile diversion for President Bush to maneuver behind. You never know what is really going on behind the scenes when sports owners engage our national
legistlators.

From news accounts Selig has suggested in his new rules that players get five steroid test failures with penalties that are up to Selig before they are out, that seems rather lenient. Maybe they should give players who take steroids only 2 strikes per at bat and everyone who doesn't take them 3 strikes per at bat adjusted by 1 strike if the pitcher is taking steroids.

On Face the Nation Hearing Chairman Tom Davis said Congress is going to give MLB (Selig) and his gang another year to clean up their act before doing anything. He did say he was dissappointed that McGuire said on 8 occassions in his testimony he would not talk about the past while he invoked his 5th Amendment rights. Rep. Davis said he tried to get immunity for McGuire and the other players who testified but the Attorney General would not give it to them because of other active ongoing investigations. Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi were excused from testifying at this hearing be cause they are involved in a more serious grand jury investigation of steroids in baseball. Bob Schiffer Face the Nation host said that some 500,000 athletes from high school to the majors are taking steroids now. Schiffer also quoted Sen. John McCain as stating "Baseball can not be trusted." A solid note to close this article on.

They Call It A Game by Bernie Parrish

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Personnalized autograph (new paperback) copies are available for $25 plus $5 S&H by emailing Bernie with the short inscription you'd like.

Trent Dilfer, Trent Dilfer, Jeff Garcia for Dilfer...hmmmmm

I was stunned, no very puzzled by the machinations that more or less traded Jeff Garcia and Kelly Holcome for Trent Dilfer. Living in Florida I have seen a lot of Trent Dilfer at QB for the Tampa Bay Bucs. Not very much of it was good. But I have to give him credit for winning the Super Bowl formerly known as The World Championship of football, for the Baltimore Ravens. At the time I wondered why Dilfer wasn't the Ravens starting QB from then on since he earned it winning that Championship game for them; but then the Ravens were owned by Art Modell whose expertise is television soap operas rather than football. Terry Pluto's article this past week was a particularly appropriate and insightful one. Here is the Browns organization after a close call being relieved to have Dilfer as their starting quarterback. It reminds me of when YA Title retired after I intercepted the last pass of his great career, a 12 1/2 yard out pattern to Frank Gifford as duly noted and chronicled in great detail in the book, Broadway play, and movie Man In A Glass Booth by Robert Shaw. Shaw wrote "All his heart was in that pass." Incidentally YA, Gifford gave the pattern away. You threw a perfect pass, because I knew it was coming and it still took a hell of catch and a hell of a play to intercept it and run it back 50 yards or so. Title's retirement left the NY Giants with a QB named Gary Woods. The "LEAGUE" quickly arranged a three way trade that sent our Mike Lucci to Detroit and Earl Morrall to New York and Erich Barnes to Cleveland. The "LEAGUE" had to have a contender in New York and the Giants needed a proven quarterback. Sort of like "fixing" the "LEAGUE."

Here's my quick view of the Browns rebuilding program. So far I rate unloading Courtney Brown (+), trading Gerald Warren (+), Anthony Henry (+),Robert Griffith (-)(he tackled people), signing Patriot's guard Joe Andruzzi (++), signing Cosey Colman (+), adding linebacker coach Mike Haluchak (+). Aquiring the defensive back from Baltimore Gary Baxter who is supposed to be the Ravens 3rd best tackler last season, probably a (+) if it is true.

Browns Safety Sean Jones being hurt in quarterback camp doesn't speak well for him (-). If Chris Crocker takes some tackling lessons he could do well if not he will be a minus. Coach Andrew Patterson's endorsements of Warren and Brown are somewhat suspect, like when Lombardi would call Blanton Collier on the phone and tell him "You can't keep playing that wide side of the field zone defense" and Blanton would listen to him and try to get me to reduce using it. Why would Lombardi want to help us play better defense? A few years later they moved the hash marks in toward the center of the field because that wide side of the field zone was blanketing the offenses and the owners wanted more scoring.

Rip Scherer was hired by the Browns as a "second" quarterback coach? That's puzzling. Hmmm...Trent Dilfer is now the Browns starting quaterback??? At this point that is puzzling me too? Don't know quite what to make of it yet. I'm thinking about it.