Big Leather Couch

We had a brain cramp on this one, forgetting to put in an entry. The next Carnival will be hosted by our friend Morgen over at IT'S A BLOG EAT BLOG WORLD.
You can get all the details there now. The topic is ANIMALS.

COUCH NOTE: There is a new submission address. Please look at all the info.

We are going to step into our time machine and bring you an oldie but goodie today...

MONDAY MATINEE will resume this week with the first installment of a whole new serial.

THE COUCH NOTE: When this originally posted there was not music.

Without further ado...

Centerfield
By John Fogerty
BestAudioCodes.com

Monday, July 31, 2006

Are Pro Sports Now Just Professional Wrestling?

Yesterday morning...like most Sundays, I sat down to watch the Sports Reporters on ESPN at 10:00am...I love the format of this show and most times I love the reporters they have on. The format reminds me of the show I used to be a panelist on when I lived in Boston. It is filmed "live' and broadcast without edits.."live" as it happened.

So, yesterday, one of the subjects- of course - was Floyd Landis and his positive testosterone test after the Tour de France as well as Justin Gatlin and his flunked test. Which of course, led to talks about Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Raphael Palmiero, Jason Giambi, Lyle Alzado , Ben Johnson the rest...

They hit on the subject and it got me to thinking about sports and the way we watch them and have watched them and will watch them.

How long have our sports "heros" been using these performance enhancers? It is way longer then most of us want to believe. Whether it is the "greenies" the baseball players used, to get up for a day game after a night game or for the second half of a double-header. Football players taking cortisone shots during a game to be able to play and eating pain-killers by the fist full.

Now it is steroids and human growth hormones..and it is not only baseball. Lyle Alzado died of a brain tumor.. the result of years of steroid doping. Who knows what is happening in hockey, basketball, tennis, soccer and even golf? Sports Illustrated, in it's Golf Digest special section, has been running this comic about a golfer named Stik Stikowski, who was tired of being out-driven by the other pros, so he ends up on steroids...not too far from fantasy I bet...And of course, now cycling and track and field are back in the spotlight.

So, the question was asked..and I had a hard time answering it...
My whole life, sports was something you put on and never knew how it would turn out - well OK, sorry...except for Jai Alai and the trotters...both "sports" where the outcome is determined before the beginning of the match/race - IMHO. No matter the sport, the results were always unpredictable and you felt everyone was on the same playing field.

Now, do we look at mainstream sports the way we look at professional wrestling (which has always been a hot-bed of steroid abuse) - or like going to the movies or a play? As just an entertainment vehicle with no real mental or physical response to the outcome?

Look, Jason Giambi, never said what he was apologizing for, but he did apologize. Then he continued playing and showed he could still be one of the dominant players in the game without the steroids... Mark McGwire could have been also - he was big...hit homers and was a great ballplayer...The man averaged 40 home runs a year from 1986-1996...then all of a sudden began hitting 70! Why was it needed...ego? Well how does the ego react to the baseball world shunning him now?

Barry Bonds was headed to being the best ballplayer of his era...until he began taking steroids and ruined his reputation. Why did he take them? Because he was jealous of McGwire and Sosa and their home run chase! Funny...on the show yesterday and up until this point, Sammy Sosa's name was not mentioned. He slipped into oblivion...another player destined to have his name enshrined. One who always seemed to be so fan-friendly...then...the corked bat and steroids and slink away he did.

There must be a better way for out major sports to patrol themselves... Maybe by joining together to find better ways to test for the illegal substances. Basketball has always been lax on marijuana...and I tend to agree with that. Why make issues like the NFL has done with Ricky Williams over marijuana when you turn a blind eye to steroids and the overuse of painkillers? Where is the logic in that?

Then there is this portion of the tale.... Next year, Mark McGwire is going to be on the ballot for induction into the Baseball Hall Of Fame. Also on the ballot will be Cal Ripken and Tony Gwynn, two major stars, who both played their entire careers in one city and who are the epitome of what an athletic hero should be. They played hard everyday, never made excuses, loved the fans and played clean. The fact they even have to share a ballot with McGwire is painful to me.

I have read many stories and it appears the Baseball Writers of America (those who vote for the Hall Of Fame) will not induct McGwire his first year. His recent fluffing off of the steroid issue, once again, makes me not want him ever in. The worst thing that could happen is to have mark McGwire standing on the stage at Cooperstown, NY, next July accepting his induction along with these two superstars.

I have always said Pete Rose (after admitting he gambled on baseball) should be allowed to be in the Hall...you can not dismiss his records (all clean it appears)...But I would never allow him to have anything to do with baseball again. With McGwire, I do not want his records in the Hall- they are tainted...and he has ducked all responsibility and hid behind retirement.

Is there a way to solve this? I really don't know...but I do know I will continue to try and watch sports without the constant thought of "Well, what did he/she do or take to enable that to happen?"

Thanks for sitting ... see you Monday.

Thank to everyone for their comments on the redecorating done here. We have tweaked already, darking the red that appears in the sidebars.

We have gotten one complaint of the vibrancy of the blue. Is this something that disturbs anyone else? If it bothers your eyes, you will not spend time here and of course that is the reason we are here..

So, while the world was celebrating the beginning of a new world, Saddam Hussein was executed for his crimes against humanity.

Tisha at Serenity Quest had asked if he should have been executed or put into jail until he died. To THE COUCH, what was done benefited everyone concerned. Putting him in prision would have meant paying for his upkeep for - what? - another 20-30 years? Hundreds of thousands of dollars? Nope.

Unfortunately, we are still occupying the country and he did still have many followers. Evidently those followere include anyone never tortured by he or his sons, or those who did not know someone who had been. THE COUCH thinks this is probably a small number given all of the pain he was responsible for over the years.

None-the-less, our troops and those covering them have now been subjected to the backlash of these supporters and will continue to be so.

Another reason for our President to try and restore some respectability to his legend by bringing our men and women home and out of harms way.

Let me tell you how to not spend New Year's Eve. Sitting in bed, with some tid-bits to eat and OJ and two boxes of tissues and aspirin and aches.

Nope, not the way to do it at all.

HOPE Y'ALL FOUND BETTER WAYS!

Wondering if you have heard the story of Jim & Mary Walker. They live in Colorado. They have snow. Lot's and lots of snow. They need a new snowblower and need money.

THE COUCH, having inside sources in every single home in the world...was able to obtain a recording made of the original conversation held in the Walker household.

"Hey Jim, what can we sell so that we can get you that new SNOWblower and then you will not drop dead of a heartattack and leave me to shovel all that crap outside?"

"How the hell do I know Mary, and anyway how do you think you are going to have a garage sale.. don't you see all that SNOW outside??? I just wish it owuld all go away."

"Well if I could make all the SNOW go away, we wouldn't need the moeny to get you a new SNOW blower...ummm wait.. did you see on ebay someone is selling ghosts? Maybe we can sell some of the SNOW and make the money."

"Who the hell would buy SNOW???" "How about those fools in the south? They never get snow. Or someone in Hawaii? No snow thre."

So, yup, ya got it...right HERE on ebay, you can bid on SNOW. The starting bid is $0.99 and only 10 bids will be accepted. FOUR people have already bid.

Only and they promise no yellow snow, but will not guarantee state of the product upon delivery. But, you can show up at their home and pick it up yourself.
THE COUCH will not be bidding on this product. We have an inside with TUG in Hell, CO, so we can get SNOW whenever we darn well please....right Tug?!
Speaking of cold and snow, yesterday as we did the spanning the world of New Year's, we made a mistake and are being taken to task for it, so if you happen to go back and look, we are no longer waving to Coco in Nova Scotia - but are now waving to her in New Brunswick, Canada where she actually lives.


All suggestions will be taken into consideration. We have begun formulating the next installment of the MONDAY MATINEE.

Thanks for sitting...