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Hank Aaron this week called for the entire 103-name list of baseball players who tested for positive for steroids in 2003 to be made public. I believe most people, like myself, agree with him. Transparency is the only way for us to put the Steroid Era behind us once and for all. Don’t get me wrong, there will always be players who will try to gain an advantage using performance-enhancing drugs. But I believe we can eventually put the gross abuses of the Steroid Era in our collective rear view mirror if as much as the truth as possible is laid out on the table.

Some people call whoever is leaking names from the list to the press a hero. As much as I am glad to see any and all of these players outed, I say that he is doing a grave disservice to the game by only releasing one or two names at a time. If you’re committed to the truth coming out, if you’re willing to break the law, then fully commit–release the entire list!

By leaking only a handful of names, this person is furthering the suspicion, furthering the blame game… and allowing many other guilty parties to enjoy their clear names at the expense of a few. Those few deserve the wrath they receive, but these others should likewise have their names dragged through the mud in punishment for their otherwise scott-free crimes.

Continue Reading Release the List!

The DIS Special Examination Division or DISSED–me, my two rescued Pit Bull mixes, and my Russian friend, Stolichnay–has been assigned to write a four part series on the United Football League. The first part can be found here: http://www.deepintosports.com/2009/07/25/ufl-united-football-league-nfl-competition-success-problems/

Take a look at the UFL website. Has all the trappings of a slickly produced movie with some big name stars, great production values, and an interesting premise.

Unfortunately, after you open the pretty wrapping what you see smells like funky leftovers.

You can pretty it up with all the fancy, upbeat language you want. Football is football. The absolute most–if everything worked out the way the website predicts–the UFL can ever be is minor league football, a feeder system for the NFL, where the highest level of American football is played.

Continue Reading The UFL Part II: Not Your Daddy’s Football

A few weeks ago I was listening to a morning radio program and the announcers read a list they found on the Internet of the “Top Ten American Sports Franchises”. Quite simply, the list was a complete joke full of bias for and against certain cities as well as entire sports (basketball was over-represented, to the detriment of hockey, which was not included at all).

I felt the only way to respond was to generate my own such Top Ten list.

I had to set some ground rules for my selection process. First off, since winning championships is the ultimate goal of any sports franchise, the best team in any given sport has to be the one with the most titles. No ifs, ands or buts. That is the very definition of being the best in one’s sport.

The above rule made the slotting of four teams (though not necessarily their order) very easy. For the remaining six, however, other factors come into play that could very well mean a team with less championships being ranked higher than a team with more in the same sport. These factors include the strength of the teams’ other (non-championship) history, dominance over shorter periods of time, size and scope of a teams’ fanbase, and whether the team has stayed put in one city or moved locations.

Comparisons between sports involved the length of the league’s history, the number of teams playing in the league over the years, and the sport’s overall place in the American consciousness.

Without further to do, my Top Ten American Sports Franchises:

Continue Reading Top Ten American Sports Franchises

Michael Phelps’s coach, Bob Bowman, ripped swimming’s governing body FINA on Tuesday for allowing polyurethane bodysuits at the current World Championships in Rome. He also threatened to pull the Olympic hero from any upcoming international meets until such suits are banned, saying that the advantages provided by such swimwear diminish the value of world records.

The tirade mays seem like sour grapes from a coach whose swimmer just lost a world record to a relative unknown (Germany’s Paul Biedermann) wearing one of the controversial suits (Phelps himself was contractually obligated to wear a Speedo LZR Racer suit, which raised eyebrows itself at the Beijing Games). And I don’t question that there very well maybe some bitterness on Bowman’s part.

But Bowman does have a point. World records are dropping like flies at these World’s–fifteen to date. More importantly, FINA has already outlawed the suits for next year, a ban that should take effect either in April or May. If the suits devalue individual accomplishments so much that they need to be banned at all, why wait a year? How many records will be shattered in that time?

Continue Reading Swimsuit Complaint Suit

Editor’s note: This will be the first of a four part series to familiarize our readers with the fledgling United Football League (UFL). Each installment will analyze the new league’s unique problems and what it must do to survive. In addition, the DIS Special Examination Division, or the DISSED, will take a look at each of the inaugural four teams, their coaches and potential rosters.

Yet another upstart football league will be poking its head out of the sports closet this fall. All dressed in pretty new clothes and trying to be as inconspicuous as possible–or, at least, not piss off the NFL bosses–United Football League (UFL) execs are quick to point out they aspire only to be a feeder system for the NFL and will only sign players cut by NFL teams or those relegated to practice squads.

NEW RULES

Some new wrinkles the UFL is developing might make the league–intentionally or not–a testing ground for the NFL:

Continue Reading The UFL: Déjà Vu All Over Again–Once More…