Mets Last-minute Deal

Well, I'm quite pleased that the Mets actually freed up a spot for Lastings Milledge in the lineup instead of trading him away. I'm slightly perturbed about now having two certifiable nut-jobs in the system (Oliver Perez joining Jose Lima), but there's always a chance that they cancel each other out and Perez regains the form he had two years ago when he was looking like the next great lefty. Roberto Hernandez is no Duanier Sanchez (out for season due to NYC cab related fiasco), but he'll have to do. Overall, I'm content with what they've got. I think they'll cobble together enough pitching and rest Pedro to keep him fresh for the fall. Now let the Lastings-Reyes-Wright era begin!

L'Equipe lays le smackdown on my theory

For the final say on the effects of Testosterone, I tried to find some reactions from the French about the Landis positive test. L'Equipe, even while blasting Landis, said the following:

"Testosterone is not a stimulant with immediate effects, even if it has been used in the search for such results in fight sports... It does not give an immediate boost but has a long-term effect on the power of the engine."

So stage 17 lives on after all...

Cycling: Landis Fallout

Wow. I was shocked this morning when The Duke announced on the radio that Floyd Landis had tested positive for extra-high levels of Testosterone. The surprise was not that a cyclist had been caught cheating, but that a champion had been unmasked as a fraud.

With a back-up test still pending, it seems that Floyd doped for his then-unbelievable stage 17 win. No one had ever done anything quite like what he did that day (except for Mickael Rasmussen the day before, but we'll get to that later), and now it seems to have been an achievement of science, not of spirit.

My initial thought was, well, they're all doping, and he just got caught. But when I found out it was stage 17, I re-thought that. I don't believe that the sport is clean; I suspect most riders are getting away with doping. But I do believe Floyd gambled a little more than everyone else, boosting his testosterone a bit too far, and cheating his way past everyone else. Let's call this "extra-cheating."

Indeed, the rules actually leave some room for a little cheating. According to the AP article on the positive test, a normal human ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone in the body is 1:1. But a racer is considered clean if his ratio is 4:1 or less. So while everyone is probably cheating to get to that ratio, Floyd extra-cheated past that ratio.

I suspect that Floyd, suddenly out of the Tour and with nothing to lose (he may never race again with a hip surgery scheduled for after the Tour), decided go all or nothing and extra-cheat his way back into the race. It almost worked. Good job by the officials to catch him.

I will know look up who will slide up to first in the tour with Landis out of the picture...ah, it's Oscar Pereiro of Spain. He's the man who made up nearly 30 minutes to take the yellow jersey on stage 13, because all of the favorites didn't think he'd last through the Alps. Looks like Oscar gets the last laugh!

Yesterday, the greatest individual performance on a stage of the Tour was Floyd on 17. Landis rode out early and stayed away to the finish. We can now throw that performance out and say that the greatest performance was Mickael Rasmussen on 16. Good ol' Rasmussen, who would win the King of the Mountains jersey, rode out early and stayed away to the finish. He didn't win with as large a gap as Landis, but he also didn't have above the legal limit of Testosterone coursing through his body. He gets the Ken Griffey Jr. Award for athletic achievement over-shadowed by cheaters. His ride on 16 should be remembered forever.

Updated Sports Sauna Membership
Mickael Rasmussen
Oscar Pereiro

Banned from Using the Sports Sauna
Floyd Landis

Thoughts on Tiger Woods' legacy thus far

THE FACTS...

Tiger Woods just became the first person to win consecutive British Opens since THE greatest British Open champion of the modern era, Tom Watson.

Winning his 11th major, Tiger moves into a tie with Walter Hagen for second all time in career majors. He is only 30-years-old, still quite young for a golfer. Jack Nicklaus didn't win his 11th major until he was 32.


THE OPINIONS...

Tiger is not as great as he once was. At this point, we should think of the Tiger Slam, way back in 2000-01 as his prime, the pinnacle of which was the unbelievable 15 stroke US Open win at Pebble Beach. Don't get me wrong, his win this week was dominating by Golf's standards. It just wasn't dominating by Tiger's standards.

Yes, Tiger will break Jack's record. I no longer believe he'll smash it, though, as I thought earlier in his career.

Tiger is certainly the greatest golfer on the planet. You could have made an argument for Mickelson for a while, just like you could have for Vijay Singh, back around 2003-04. But it's been Tiger since he turned pro. Tiger plays in fewer tournaments, but wins more and always finishes high. It's unprecidented.

Tiger is the greatest golfer ever. If something happened now that prevented him from ever playing again, he would still be considered better than Jack at this point. He's significantly better at this stage in his career. It's not really that close.

Tiger is not the most dominating athlete of all time, though. He once was on pace to be, but no longer. If he picks up another grand slam, I'll rethink this. He's up there though.

I like the Nymets!

10 points to everyone who can name where the quote was from who didn't live on Flint 4C.

I just wanted to clarify my comments from a while ago about liking David Wright even more than I like the Mets this year. I meant to say that I LOVE the Mets this year, more than any year since Edgardo Alfonzo was briefly the best baseball played in New York city. I'd love them more, if I didn't despise Carlos Beltran. But outside of him, I'm incredibly excited about this team. I buy into all the voices that say they're taking advantage of a weak division, and that they're far from flawless. But you know what? I do believe they're better than I thought they were going to be. And that makes me happy. I'm pleased that we've seen Soler, Pelfrey, and Milledge in the lineup and not in the Transactions column of the paper. I hope we keep Milledge most of all to fit in somewhere behind Reyes and around Wright for the next decade. But I love these Mets, I do. I'm paying attention to scores, and watching games. I was thrilled to see this week's SI cover (who wouldn't be when 5 of their guys are on the cover? Isn't it like 10 times better to see a bunch of your guys than just one of your guys? Loved it.) Goooo Mets.

But I REALLY love David Wright. And if he avoids a post-HR derby slump, I'll love him all the more. 23-years old!!!

Three Cheers for European Sports Associations

Huge news today in soccer as four Italian teams, including Juventus and AC Milan, were penalized for match-fixing. Good job by the Italian football league for reacting swiftly and strongly against a terrible scandal.

Similar props are deserved by the Tour de France for tossing out several teams, including the athletes who finished 2nd through 5th, before the race began for a doping scandal that broke at the race before the Tour. They may have been too harsh: the man who finished fifth last year, the delightfully aggressive Alexander Vinokourov, was forced to withdraw without being implicated because his team didn't have enough riders to compete. But it's a small price to pay for cleaning up the sport.

Contrast Europe's tough line with the soft stances by American sporting leagues. You can get caught using steroids in baseball and still get back on the team during the same season. Simply miss a drug test in soccer, like Rio Ferdinand did a few years back, and you get banned by FIFA from all soccer games for a year.

The difference is the power that American sporting unions have. Still, it's a shame Bud Selig doesn't have the backbone to follow Europe's lead and take a harder line on steroids now, while the MLB players union is already in a corner.

MLB: Davey Wright

It's ridiculous how excited I am about David Wright. I'm more excited about him than I am the Mets chances in general this year. Has anyone ever had the best left side of the infield in the majors for 15 years? Is it too early to be talking about that? He's younger than me!!

World Cup Notes

I'm off to a party at a place that doesn't have cable. The over-under for percentage of people who will leave to find a better TV if they don't get reception for the World Cup final is 50%.

I was in Toronto for several hours on Wednesday. I was surprised to find that city far more into the World Cup than any place in Estonia, and it wasn't just the Francophones. Turns out Toronto is one of the worlds most international city by population, according to the UN. Who knew?

I'm trying to talk myself into picking France, with the best midfielder and the best striker on the field. On the other hand, Fabien Barthez is a disaster waiting to happen, giving a huge edge to Italy on defense. I've had a feeling the past couple days that this game will go to PKs. So that's going to be my prediction. 1-1, with Italy winning on PKs.