The Republic of Sport

JT THE REF

JT THE REF's Comments

Posted Tuesday July 01, 2008, About: Buck doubts Pettitte's Hall status

In terms of big game lefties in this generation there are none better than Andy. However, Andy does not have the cred to get into the HOF. Andy does not have the numbers and that little HGH thing will keep him out of the HOF. Future HOF voters have a real decision to make about how they are going to handle guys like, Bonds, Clemens, Andy, For now they have said, "No way!" What will be interesting is how this little scandel is treated as it fades into the background. I don't believe Andy is a HOF even after his little experience with HGH but are you going to have the same problem with Heath Ledger if he wins an Oscar for the "Dark Knight?" My point is cheating occurs in every sport and for some reason we pick in choose how much cheating we are going to allow. In the whole discussion about HGH and steriods there is rarely any discussion about the fact that it was legal during the time these players where supposedly taking these drugs. Could you make the argument that they where "playing by the rules?" Imagine if you will that robbing banks was legal. Imagine that you and your buddy where very, very good at robbing banks and you made a lot of money doing it. Imagine further that all of a sudden they changed the rules and decided that robbing banks was against the law and it was time to prosecute those that got to be too good at and going forward the 'new' rule was no more robbing banks or you will go to jail. Should you punish the robbers for acts committed when it was legal to rob a bank? In today's society (that is full of itself by the way) the answer is yes. Bonds and Clemens should never go to jail for using steroids or HGH...lying to a grand jury is something different all together. It is funny to me that a society that lives in a glass house so freely throws stones...Good Luck to Ledger when he wins the Oscar...never mind the fact that he left a little girl behind...we will find some way as a society to make Ledger's oops into the feel good story of the Oscars...too bad the same society cannot or rather will not forgive Clemens and Bonds in the same way...truth be told they did nothing wrong...at the time.

Posted Wednesday June 04, 2008, About: Joba experiment looks ugly to start

I saw the same thing with Johan Santana in Minnesota. This is a process, lets face it, he was set up to fail. Short of a no no after 65 pitches he was going to face this kind of abuse. I am a die hard Yankee fan and they are not that good this year, they look tired and old and are right where they should be, in last place. I do believe they will make a run as we get further into June but it is almost too late already as the Yankees are seven games out. Last year was nice but it was also the exception rather the rule. I say develop Joba and find out if he can be a top flight starter in this league. The question will be if it is determined that all he will ever be is a 3rd or 4th starter where does he have more value? In the 8th or starting every 5th day? Remember, Johan spent 2+ years in the bullpen before he was moved to the rotation. The only thing for sure is that the Yanks need to take there time with Joba.

Posted Thursday May 15, 2008, About: Yankees GM Cashman under fire

Hank is White Noise at this point. In situation's like this, the players are never held accountable and they should be. Cashman has put a good product together and I have faith that the Yankees will be there at the end. The O's and the Rays are a nice story but they will come crashing back down to earth in the AL East. The great thing about these know-it-alls is they go on like George is dead. If George wants Cashman in the fold he will be in the fold. The Yanks will be there in the end...like they always seem to be.

Posted Thursday May 08, 2008, About: Knicks source: Jackson's front-runner

The next coach of the Knicks gets the same mess that Isiah Thomas left behind. While hiring a coach is important there are bigger issues to address. This reminds me of the Tim Floyd experiment in Chicago years ago. The Bulls bring in a un-proven college coach and than he sits there and fails while nothing much happens. If I am Mark Jackson, I say, "Thanks, but No Thanks!" If he is interested in coaching he needs to sit on the bench for a while and learn the ropes. BTW, in my opinion Avery Johnson is overrated. You take the Dallas squad that he had and give it to (insert qualified coach's name here) they are going to have the same amount of regular season success. Avery coaching in the playoffs, you know, when you have coach and make adjustments, was simply awful as reflected by his record. I bet if Avery Johnson gets the Knicks job his 73% winning percentage of regular season goes down...I wonder if that is something that Avery is considering?

Posted Tuesday May 06, 2008, About: Ozzie pleads for fans patience

I believe that White Sox fans were very patient last year when the Sox went into the tank. A big part of what the White Sox love about Ozzie is his ability to wear his emotions on his sleeve. The problem with that however, is that after a while all of the swearing becomes white noise. In other words, they hear Ozzie swearing and talking but they (media, fans, players) miss out on the message. His act has worn thin and I think if I am the White Sox I begin looking for a replacement. I think Ozzie has lost this team and it is obvious that fans and the media are sick of his little tirads. Good baseball man, decent short-stop back in the day, but his mouth has written a check that his...well you know the rest.

Posted Tuesday May 06, 2008, About: Tigers shift slumping Sheffield

I would not worry about the Tigers they will be there at the end. The part of this that does not get any media play is how much better is Sheffied than Jaque Jones at this point? Trading Maybin was a huge mistake. When there starting pitching comes around is when the Tigers will turn it around and that has nothing to do with Sheffield. Jones was/is better defensivly and while Sheff will hit a few more homers his days of .300 35 125 are done. The Tigers could have gotten .265 17 75 from Jones a lot cheaper than they will from Sheffield minus the headache too! The Tigers need one more outfielder to be considered legit title contenders. All of this is bunk though as the season is less than 40 games in for most...we should have a better indication at All-Star break.

Posted Tuesday May 06, 2008, About: Feds may interview Clemens' women

The thing is its personal. Clemens can't win here. If he denies it, he is wrong and if he admit's to the affair(s) he is wrong. This reminds me a little bit of Bill Clinton, had sweet Billy just admitted to the affair most of us would have just shook our heads and gone on. For some reason that is not the case here. Oh yeah, I forgot, we live in a time were more people watch American Idol than vote for the President of the United States and sports figues are American royalty. My point is that he cheated on his wife and that is between him and her and while it speaks to his charcter it is a bridge to far to connect cheating on your wife to doing performance enhancing drugs. I hope for the love of the game of baseball that while he is having his day in the world of public opinion, that his day in court goes much differently!