Random thoughts on a Saturday Morning

ARod (A-Fraud/A-Roid, whatever) continues to be excorciated about his admitted use of PED's. The latest reason? His association (alleged) with a trainer who has been banned from MLB for being a steroid mule for ARod's then-teammate Juan Gonzalez. Despite the fact that he ADMITTED using steroids over an extended length of time (unlike Andy Pettite who said he used it 'once', and Jason Giambi who despite his apology, never really admitted to using anything), he is now held up wrongly or rightly, as the new poster boy for everything that is wrong with baseball. Somewhere Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, and Barry Bonds are doing the happy dance....

Meanwhile, O's second baseman Brian Roberts signed a 4-year, $40 million dollar extension this week saying, in effect, he wants to spend his entire career with one team, and believes in the direction Andy Mac has the franchise going. Kudos to BRob for his loyalty and optimism, no matter how misguided they may be.

How bout this, though? ARod is getting hammered for his associations. BRob's closest friends with the O's in 2004 (when his power spiked) were Larry Bigbie and Jay Gibbons, two former O's named in the Mitchell Report, and admitted HGH users. 2004 was also the year that Miguel Tejada, another suspected drug cheat, joined the O's. Roberts goes from a slap-hitter in 2003, to 50 doubles in 2004. From 4 HR in 2004, to 18 HR in 2005.

Roberts admitted to taking 'one steroid shot' in 2003.

Believe that? If you do, let me put you on to a prime real estate deal. It's a bridge. In Brooklyn. I can get it for you cheap.

Just a few other thoughts...

There are supposedly 103 other names on the list of players who failed the anonymous drug tests in 2004. Why did SI focus solely on A-Rod? Where are the other 103 names? And if this was a test done solely for survey purposes, with anonymous samples, how can they conclusively link it to A-Rod? And why didn't the MLBPA (and Gene Orza) destroy the samples after they were taken in 2004 as the agreement said they were supposed to? I think Orza is covering his bases in case he gets laid off in the economic downturn...with this demonstrated ability to botch the handling of drug tests he's padding his resume for a job with that French company that does the TdF testing...

Tiger Woods announced his comeback will start week after next in the Accenture Match Play. BMore talking head Anita Marks (yes, I've seen the issue. Coyote. Major. Thank god for the inventor of the airbrush), argued that 'he would have to change his swing and wouldn't be as good, and having a new baby would distract him, and he probably won't be as good as before.' Memo to Anita: His daughter Sam was born the day after he finished second in the US Open. So with Elin about to drop he still finished second. Since then, with all the 'distractions' of a child, he finished in the top 5 of 10 of the next 12 majors, including 5 wins. Next, of COURSE he's going to change his swing. He's been playing for three years on a blown knee, caused by the inordinate amount of torque placed on hit by the clubspeed he generates, and has had to adjust his swing to deal with the pain. If he's pain free, he's as long as ever, if not longer. If he has to tone it down, he gets it more under control, hits more fairways, and its game over for everyone else. Finally, she made some comment about his 'focus'. Plain and simple, he's most focused athlete of our generation. Period. He won the US Open on a torn ACL and a broken leg. Let's repeat: HE WON THE TOUGHEST GOLF TOURNAMENT IN THE WORLD WALKING ON A BROKEN LEG.

He's gonna be good. Scary good. Even more scary good than before.