Steroids Erases Memories

No, not the user's memory, the fan's. Great column from Bill Simmons this week on the topic. Read him here and then read me here:

The memory that I keep thinking about, through all this steroids crap, is McGwire's 62nd. I'm not a Cardinals fan, but I'm a baseball fan and the numbers and the history mean something to me. So I remember being very excited to be able to witness this moment. I was at my parents house with my dad, my uncle, both huge baseball fans, and my cousin who was probably about seven. When Big Mac came up, I remember my uncle saying to him, "I want you to watch this so you'll remember it." I remember it so clearly. The ball uncharacteristically barely clearing the wall, Mac almost missing 1st base, the awkward, yet special moment of McGwire and Sosa hugging and doing Sammy's chest thump, peace thing, McGwire's son coming out to greet him and then Mac paying his respects to the Maris family. It was a great moment and until recently a fond memory. Now I don't know how to feel about it. Looking back, we should have known something was up with those two, but at the time, whether willfully or not, we ignored the signs and just drank in that sweet moment, the kind that makes us all love sports so much.

This is actually an email I sent to the Sports Guy after reading his column.

ALCS Running Diary

No, not from me. This one is actually funny. From Bill Simmons of course. Here's a sample:

8:49: Fox shows the obligatory "Kenny Lofton has played for all these teams" montage, as mandated by its contract with Major League Baseball. All I can say is this: I was making "Cool Papa Bell" jokes about Lofton four years ago, and he's still chugging along and hitting postseason homers. It's amazing. I'm putting him on the sleeper list for my "Mitchell Report Fantasy Draft" next week, along with Ed Hochuli, Carrot Top and Dr. Dre.

And here's the link to the rest.