Final four thoughts

When I wrote that I was "officially putting myself on the clock", I meant that I was going to start writing baseball related blogs for the foreseeable future.  However, for some reason I forgot that today was the final four.

Since I want to really get back into the habit of writing on a  regular basis I thought I would write some observations about the Final Four.

I want to be  sure to let who ever may be reading this to know that I am not a huge basketball fan. I don't feel that I really understand it  very well. So any observations are probably not as knowledgeable as they probably should be.

For starters, can I just say that Nike is getting way too out of control when it comes to uniforms.  Call me old fashioned  but I don't like to many variations of teams uniforms.  The Oregon football and basketball uniforms are the worst offenders of them all.  It seems like Nike runs the program and not its administration.

But today, when I turned on the first game I immediately was confused because  it looked like Syracuse was playing and I knew that couldn't be right because I knew Louisville was playing Kentucky.  Louisville's primary color has always been red as far as I am concerned.  I mean they are the Louisville Cardinals, right? As far as I know there are no orange cardinals.  I want to thank the announcers for telling their viewers that we did not have to adjust our TV sets.

I guess now a days money talks and traditions doesn't matter at all. I think that is a real shame.

For me there was a bit of a running theme throughout both games: Kentucky and Ohio State came on strong in the first halves and tried coasting through the second half.

Before Kentucky-Louisville began I really thought that Kentucky would win in a blowout.  I have a lot of respect for Rick Pitino and the Cardinals.  There are a lot of teams that would have "thrown in the towel" at halftime and phone it in during the second half.

Going into the Ohio State - Kansas game I thought the Buckeyes (my second favorite college team) was going to  the championship game.  Honestly, I saw the whole game but I just don't understand how they blew it late in the second half.  It's one of the few times like I feel I missed something in the game.  It didn't seem to me like Kansas was playing all that great but they got the win. Congratulations to the Jayhawks.

I'm not going to really try to pick the winner but I do think Kentucky is the best team I have seen all season.

For my Ohio friends and family;  sorry but I have been in Florida much longer than I lived in Ohio and I am smack dab in the middle of Gator country.  Go Gators!!!

Now lets get baseball season going.

Back again--and explanation.

The worst thing about getting out of the habit of writing every day is that it's hard to get going again.

I was researching Mark McGwire's but there was a discrepancy in his stats that I didn't understand and for some reason it took me a few days to figure it out.

I have found out that when I really don't understand something I tend to look for the hard answer instead of the simple answer that is right in front of my eyes.  In this case, he was traded from Oakland to St. Louis in 1997 and Baseball Perspective had that season's stats broken down in a simple way that I failed to understand for a few days. Yes, I am mentally slow for real sometimes.

I believe that part of the problem is that for some reason I go into a weird depression /funk from January through March every year.  I believe it is so,me form a a mental block I put myself through but don't know how to break. I don't know if that is true; but it is what I believe.

It has not helped that a unforseen issue came up this month and that has taxed me mentally and emotionally also.

With that being said, it was and is my intention to at least act as though I am a real baseball writer this season. I am buying the MLB.TV package and intend to daily blog about the season. It would be better to actually have the ability to go to games and do interviews but this is the best I can do.

Since the season starts Wednesday, and I want to finish up the "Steroid ERA HOFer's" and  predictions for this season;  I am "officially" putting myself on the clock tomorrow and will get caught up by Wednesday.

At least that is the plan.

Steroid era possible HOF's Part 3:Bonds, McGwire, Sosa

Originally, I was going to write this post around the first of the month but a situation came up that proved to be a big distraction and I delayed writing this. I'm still slightly distracted but not as much as I was.

If there is anyone who was looking forward to what I was going to write next I apologize for the delay.

I had to go back to what I wrote to know where to begin.

I was astonished to find that Barry Bonds home run pace had greatly increased but his slugging % declined after 1997.  I think most "experts" believe that was around the time that Bonds "probably" started using steroids.  I would have thought that if steroids really do help players hit the ball harder that both home runs and slugging % would greatly increase.

I was hoping that by looking at Barry Bonds' statistics I would be able to some conclusion about whether or not (a) he may have used steroids and (b) whether his "possible" steroid usage should bar him from inclusion into the baseball Hall of Fame.

I still believe he definitely belongs in the HOF. I believe that either with/without steroids help his was the best hitter in the game while he was playing. And as much as I hate to say it he is the best hitter I have seen since I have been watching baseball. I am not a Pete Rose fan either but I would have to put Rose at #2B.

But looking at Bonds" statistics did not help me come to any possible conclusions about possible steroids usage.

So I have decided to look at the career stats of Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa.   Sosa, McGwire and Bonds are the players who are most closely associated with "possible" steroid usage.

It is my hope that comparing their statistics will help me come to some kind of clusion about steroid usage and HOF eligibility.

I will start with Mark McGwire in my next post.