"I wasn't willfully-blind when I wrote 'Summer of '98' -- not ME!"

From Sunday's NYDN:

"Does any responsible person really believe that we were all supposed to convict Mark McGwire of steroids
eight years ago because of one jug of andro in his locker?"

Damn right, Shorty . . . though not simply because of that cunningly-placed jug of andro. Even you must have seen how juiced-up he was, in that amazingly-inflated body . . .

But go ahead . . . keep playing let's pretend. Your ticket to Fantasyland's been validated . . .

 

Well we have learned the Luppy has been reading SportsJournalists.com this week.

Luppy should have listened to his kids in '98. In SO98 he writes about his son noticing how different
Mcgwire looks while they were watching a spring training game vs the Mets.

I guess this passage is luppy backing down from his "knew all along" stance.

 

The anti-Ratner screed is fine. He's right -- and he's got it, right.

Self-serving insider "spin" remains hysterical.

 

"He's bigger than on his rookie card, Dad"

"He has new arms"

Alex Lupica quoted in "The Summer of "98" --when homers flew. records fell and baseball reclaimed America

 

If somebody had presented me with a column accusing Mark McGwire of steroid abuse in 1998, based on a jar of andro and the relative size of his arms, and that's all, I would have thrown it back in the writer's face with an admonition to get some real information next time.

 

Agree with the Bastard.

 

and if i was the columnist who wrote, it i'd march over to the photo department and have them dig out year-by-year photos of mcgwire. not saying that proves anything beyond a reasonable doubt but it's enough to run a speculative column, especially if you're judicious in how you write it.

 

And if I was still a colunist in 2006, I would write a column saying that I was duped by Sosa and McGwire like most.

Said column would clear the air and allow me to now write critical columns about steroid era without seeming disingenious.

I certainly would not write any columns that made it appear like I knew all along.

 

Mikey wants it both ways. Nothing new, and relatively easy . . . when you have the editor in your hip pocket.

Of course, by '98, McGwire's entire body (not just his arms) appeared as if he'd ingested substantial
portions of Alice in Wonderland's "Eat Me".

 

Some day, somebody will explain to me why baseball players continue to bear the brunt of all steroids controversies, yet football players get off easy.

For all its chest-thumping, the NFL has never tested for HgH.

 

Bob Nightengale wrote a steroids piece in 1995, with quotes and all from general managers talking about the stuff becoming a part of the game, and the story was basically ignored. If Lupica or another columnist had called out McGwire based on some photos they saw, that columnist would have been called irresponsible. The fact of the matter is steroids in baseball was ignored, covered up, whatever, by everbody (players, GMs, commissioners, media, fans, etc.) because nobody wanted to believe it.

 

keef . . . you're not wrong . . . my surmise is that in baseball, abusers REALLY stick out . . . in foots,
they're part of the landscape.