Dan treats us to a double feature today:
- A nice look at Clay Bucholz' no-hitter. Shaughnessy always does a decent job with covering the classic feel-good moments - stories which can't be tainted with his cynicism or that are not vulnerable to his incessant and annoying flip-flopping. He hearkens back to the 1967 start of rookie Billy Rohr, who took a no-hitter into the 9th against the Yankees. (For a very nice review of Billy Rohr's game, go here.)
- An opinion piece on Rodney Harrison and his admission that he used HGH. Shaughnessy argues that no matter how hard we may try to dress it up and rationalize Harrison's use of HGH, that we can't get away from the fact that Harrison was cheating, pure and simple. Shaughnessy's point is a good one but anytime questionable things such as this happen with the Pats, Shaughnessy just can't resist the urge to say in essence, "See, the Patriots are no different than any other NFL team." (That line of thinking most recently used when the Pats signed Randy Moss) My thought is that he already declared the end of that stand-up Patriots mystique when they signed Moss so CHB should be banned from declaring another end to it - it's like double jeopardy...
Hope everyone has a nice Labor Day weekend
Cheers
Dave M
14 comments:
Hey Shank, here's the difference - Rodney confessed and will sit out four games; who else caught with HGH confess or get kicked out for some period of the season? And taking shots about the Patriots' commitment to character is laughable because that commitment has long been proven to be real even with setbacks. So just what do you want out of the Patriots anyway, Shank?
To be fair, Harrison confessed after he was caught. The CHB actually got a few points right in all this.
What he misses, of course, is the big picture, which is that if PEDs are an epidemic in cycling, track/field, baseball, etc., then it stands to reason that the NFL is no different. All his shots about the growth in size of Bonds's neck, and yet nary a word about how high school lineman are bigger than the pros of 15 years ago?
From 38Pitches.com
"Oh and we are trying to keep tabs on how many times our folicly challenged friend CHB uses the word “Blowhard” in reference to me. The over under on the season is 100 and I think she’s bypassed that already."
Classic!
"Harrison confessed after he got caught." Harrison is one of the few who confessed at all - virtually all the others kept lying about it and were asking others to defend their right to lie about it - "I'm not here to talk about the past...."
BTW, did Shank wax outrageous when Mike Cloud got suspended for the first four games of 2003 for HGH?
And Shank, you may not have noticed this, but there is a character difference here - Harrison took the stuff (I know this is semantics) not to gain a competitive edge, which is pretty much impossible right now given the prevalence of the stuff in football, but to regain a competitive footing. Guys like Balco Bonds and Mark "Andro Up The ***" McGuire didn't need that or even an edge; they took it out of their own greed.
It's not an excuse for Harrison, Shank, because it doesn't argue against suspending him for four games; it's simply a defense of Harrison's character, because there are character differences between Harrison, who is overall a stand-up guy, and greedmongers like Balco Bonds who spend their whole life cheating anyone they does business with, be it their sport or their business partners. If you're going to slam Harrison, Shank, do what you always gripe about others not doing - tell the whole story.
Is Schilling trying to prove that he's a blowhard? Apparently so. And a trite one at that.
Bruce, no he isn't trying to be a blowhard, because blowhards spout off with opinions contrary to facts; this is stuff Shank and yourself do, not Schilling.
BTW, Shank still hasn't told us how the Patriots (or the Red Sox, for that matter) are supposed to be operated when he constantly finds faults with their efforts. How are the Patriots supposed to handle things like the Rodney Harrison issue, Shank?
"Bruce, no he isn't trying to be a blowhard, because blowhards spout off with opinions contrary to facts; this is stuff Shank and yourself do, not Schilling."
You have got to be kidding me. Are you seriously trying to say that Schilling is NOT a blowhard? He is an obnoxious asshole and he always wants the story to be about him. Here is the definition of a blowhard:"a very boastful and talkative person".
What would you call Schill then? It's funny to watch the pissing contest between CHB and Schilling when in reality both are hated by almost everyone.
The difference between Schilling and Shaughnessy
is this: Schilling actually does something worthwhile.
He wins baseball games for the Red Sox. Shaughnessy does nothing but spout invective, bile, and slander.
Tim
dubegedi, Schilling says stuff that for the most part is true. Shank never says anything remotely credible. Therein lies the difference.
Jeez, Shank will go ballistic now because the Patriots were caught "cheating" - until you remember that videotaping offers no edge to a team beyond future reference - advanced scouting, in short, a legitimate tactic and by no means warranting the whining of the Packers or Jets and certainly not warranting whatever Roger Goddell overkill comes down.
Dan must be absolutely salivating over this!
OB, you hate anybody who's not in the media,
what say you?
Tim
See, here's the problem: What the Pats did was wrong, which we all have to admit that to ourselves on some level.
BUT ...
People like CHB and the rest of them in the Boston media have gotten their panties in a bunch in the past about so many other things that simply weren't a big deal, or that they were flat-out wrong about, that now, when they might actually have something worth moralizing over, no one wants to listen to them anymore. It's like a modern version of the boy who cried wolf.
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