Baby steps

In all it was a pretty good week. Sure, I took a day weather/cold/tired-from-the-kid day off, as well as two easy days with no real long runs, but it was consistent. That’s a start.

Anyway, here’s how it broke down.

Monday
Off. Tired.

Tuesday 13 miles in 1:28:29
Good day. I wore shorts, the ice wasn't so bad on a portion of the loop, and I didn't have to hustle to get out and back. This was a good run and I hope it leads to some good things.

Wednesday 13 miles in 1:26:26
Did the same run as yesterday and was strong enough to keep a good pace the entire time. Ran reasonably hard in a few spots.

Thursday 13 miles in 1:29:47
Started running in the rain and then the sun came out. I even wore my French cycling rain jacket. As far as the running part goes, I was really, really slow and felt a bit tight in my hips and calves. Perhaps it's the volume from the past two days?

Friday 9 miles in 62:12
Really windy -- so much for the "warmer" tempertaures. Felt a little tight going through the hills and the wind, but was pretty smooth and strong as the run went on. This was a scheduled easy day. I could have gone longer, but I want to recover a little better before trying tomorrow's run.

Saturday 13 miles in 1:26:58
I wanted to go a little longer but I got sidetracked and all of that kind of stuff. Regardless, I ran pretty well once I was warmed up. I especially ran well the last 5k or so. Feel like I'm getting some strength back.

Sunday 7 miles in 49:07
Very easy, easy day. My legs were pretty tight and the snow made for some pretty wet conditions. Nonetheless, I got the work in.

Total: 68 miles in six runs

Taking de France out of the Tour

Here’s the question I assume that most Americans probably have regarding the recent developments in the Floyd Landis case, and I’m prefacing it with the fact that I don’t really understand Americans all that well. At least that’s the case when it comes to culture and politics.

Nevertheless, when it comes to Landis the question is this:

Is he getting off because of a technicality or is he getting off because the test results are wrong?

Which is it? And it’s just so black and white, right?

Be that as it is, let’s get one thing clear – Landis will be officially vindicated. He will not lose his 2006 Tour de France victory. (Doesn’t that sound like a weird sentence? He will not lose his victory?)

So do we apologize to Floyd, or what?

Let’s back track for a second… Landis, the Californian via Lancaster County, Pa., is out on his “Vindication Tour ‘07” as the case against him crumbles like trans-fat laden cookie. According to a story in The Los Angeles Times by Michael A. Hiltzik, the French lab that handled Landis’ urine samples for the allegedly dirty samples following the 17th Stage of last year’s Tour de France did not follow proper testing procedure.

The most critical error from the controversial French laboratory is that it allowed two technicians to analyze both Landis' initial and validating urine analyses. That’s a violation of international standards, according to the LA Times report, because the same technicians cannot analyze both tests.

In that regard it sounds as if Floyd will walk on a technicality. But it opens up the question of whether or not the technicians were covering up their own tracks seeing that Landis passed every other drug test he ever took.

In those matters, check out Steroid Nation, as well as Trust But Verify – the extremely thorough site devoted exclusively to Landis coverage.

Meanwhile, Landis claims there are more mistakes from the lab that apparently erred and destroyed Landis’ reputation in some circles. If it is in fact revealed that the lab is liable for the errors and the Tour de France is complicit in hiring a “criminal” lab to do its testing, then what should happen?

Obviously, the lab faces lawsuits galore not just from Landis, but also from other riders it may have implicated. In terms of credibility, that lab is out of business.

But what about the Tour? Could it be that the Tour is guilty, too? How does one punish an event?

How about taking it away from France?

Yeah, that’s right – take the Tour out of France.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned about sports in the last decade it’s that athletes go where the money is and no one really cares about the venue. Sure, places like Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park are cool to play in and in some regard the athletes enjoy the history and legacy and all of that stuff. But the reality is that those places are for the fans. If you give athletes money to run, jump, throw, ride or punch in someone’s backyard, they will show up.

Actually, they’ll show up early.

In other words it doesn’t matter if the Tour de France goes through the Alps and finishes at the Champs-Élysées. All that matters is if the best (clean) riders in the world are competing against each other at the same time. So hold the race in Spain, Germany, the United States or anywhere else for that matter. Put the money on the table and let the athletes go to work.

Just don’t let the same people continue to run people’s reputations and lives into the ground... if, in fact, that's what actually happened.

The best and the worst

For a team that has won exactly one World Series title since its inception in 1883 and just one playoff appearance after 1983 (none since 1993), it’s a wonder that the Phillies haven’t run out of players to induct into their Wall of Fame. Yet year after year the Phillies keep sending out lists of players for us to vote on.

This year the 15 players on the ballot are:

Pitchers: Larry Christenson, Jim Konstanty, Ron Reed, Dick Ruthven, Rick Wise
Catcher: Darren Daulton
Infielders: John Kruk, Fred Luderus, Juan Samuel, Pinky Whitney
Outfielders: Lenny Dykstra, Von Hayes
Manager: Gene Mauch
Coaches: Mike Ryan, John Vukovich

The criterion for consideration, according to the Phillies, is:

Phillies players with five or more years of service are eligible. Managers and coaches need four or more years of service.

In addition to a player’s statistical record, consideration is given to longevity, ability, contributions to the Phillies and baseball, character and special achievements.

Out of the 15 eligible, I cast my vote(s) for Jim Konstanty, Darren Daulton and Gene Mauch. Too many more and there won’t be anyone left on the ballot for next year.

Konstanty gets the vote for one season. In 1950, as a relief pitcher, Konstanty appeared in a then Major League record 74 games and was National League’s MVP that season. When the Phillies got to their first World Series since 1915, Konstanty took the ball and started Game 1for his first start in approximately four seasons.

Ultimately Konstanty only won 51 games and saved 54 in 6½ seasons for the Phillies, but he was one of the pioneers in that he was a true relief specialist, who was versatile and strong enough to pile up more than a 100 innings.

Don’t tell me the Phillies wouldn’t like to have a relief pitcher to toss 50 or so innings this season.

I don’t think I have to get too into why Daulton should be enshrined. Simply, he may have been one of the most important players the franchise ever had. Importance of a player, of course, belies simple things such as numbers on a page and in that regard Daulton is both simple and complex. He led the league in both RBIs and knee operations… then moved to the outfield after two decades of squatting.

Better yet, he was the straw that stirred the drink in ’93. Ask anybody.

Mauch, on the other hand, was regarded as one of the best baseball minds as well as the most star-crossed. He’s has managed more seasons without reaching the World Series than anyone else. Worse, Mauch has come so excruciatingly close to getting there only to fall through a trap door.

There was 1964, which people around here remember, but then in 1982 he guided the California Angels to 2-0 lead in the best of five series only to drop the final three games to the Milwaukee Brewers. That was the first time that had ever happened.

In 1986, Mauch’s Angels were one pitch away from beating the Boston Red Sox in five games of the best-of-seven ALCS before Donnie Moore served up the famous home run to Dave Henderson. The Red Sox went on to win Game 5 and then games 6 and 7 to further extend Mauch’s curse.

Yet for the Phillies, Mauch turned a laughingstock into a contender by winning 646 games in a little more than eight seasons. From 1962 to 1967, Mauch’s Phillies finished .500 or better in every season, which was a rarity for the franchise.

We're the worst!
According to U.S. News and World Report my neighbor James Buchanan is still the worst president in the history of our union. But then again history is always evolving and an endless cycle and I’m sure that maybe in another two years or so, “Old Buck” as he was known, could be bumped up a notch.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves just yet.

Buchanan served from 1857 to 1861 and was in office when the first shots of the Civil War were fired. A contradictory figure, Buchanan was known as a southern sympathizer, yet would buy slaves and bring them back to Lancaster to free them.

Some of Buchanan’s “highlights” in office include:

Refused to challenge the constitutionality of slavery and supported compromises that allowed it to spread into U.S. territories.

Encouraged the Dred Scott decision by the Supreme Court in his Inaugural Address, which became one of the major factors that led to the Civil War.

Though he claimed secession was illegal, he claimed going to war to stop it was also illegal.

Watched silently as the southern states formed the Confederacy.

When Preston Brooks, a congressman from South Carolina, stabbed Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner on the floor of the United States Senate, Buchanan did nothing.

Buchanan did a bunch of good things, too. Namely, he turned the union over to Abraham Lincoln and his name was on an excellent elementary school for which I am an alumnus.

Buchanan’s stately mansion “Wheatland” is open for tours year round, and if you a presidential history buff it’s worth the visit. And if you come by let me know… I’ll give directions and the “insiders” tour of the ‘hood.

More: The 10 worst presidents

D.J.

It was probably at the training camp before the 1984 NBA season where I was rebounding shots for Andrew Toney during his regular, after-practice routine. As the resident gym rat at F&M’s Mayser Gym and a neighborhood kid who used the campus as a playground (and sometimes turned up at fraternity parties on College Ave. long before getting to the seventh grade), plum jobs during the annual 76ers’ training camp were a good way to learn about the game.

Because I watched him shoot so much and threw him thousands of passes, my own shot was almost a copy of Toney’s. There was the little step with the right foot before rising to release one with a right hand that found the bottom of the net more often than the iron of the rim. No, Andrew Toney wasn’t a bad guy to develop a shot with.

But during this outing as the fans who packed the gym to watch practice and a scrimmage were filing out, one man shouted at Toney – the noted “Boston Strangler” – that the Sixers’ top rival in the Atlantic Division didn’t have a guard that could keep him in check:

“The Celtics are worried, Andrew. They don’t have any one who can stop you. No one.”

But before returning the ball to Toney, I hesitated for a second and said to him just before firing another pass, “Yeah, but they just got D.J. didn’t they?”

“That’s why we’re here,” he said, shooting another one… and then another one... and then many, many more until it felt like my arms were going to fall off. Maybe I shouldn’t have mentioned D.J.?

D.J., of course, is the great Dennis Johnson, the defensive stalwart the Celtics acquired from Phoenix specifically to put the clamps on the Boston Strangler. Reports all over the Internet are that Johnson collapsed and died after a post-practice one-on-one game in Austin, Tex. where he coached in the NBA Developmental league. He was just 52 years old.

Meanwhile, the rest who can recall watching D.J. play in vivid detail just got a little bit older.

But as far as clutch players go, Johnson was right up there amongst the greatest who ever played. He had the wherewithal to streak to the hoop, catch the pass and lay it in after Bird swiped Isaiah’s pass in that playoff game at the Garden. He also stepped up and drilled a 20-footer at the buzzer – a shot that soared like a flying dagger at the hoop – to beat the Lakers and tie the NBA Finals in Game 4 in ’85.

In addition to putting the clamps on Toney, Johnson was also charged with guarding Magic in the Finals and making sure Bird and Kevin McHale got their shots as the quarterback of two championship teams during the 1980s. When D.J. was handling the ball for your team, you felt safe.

“He was one of the most underrated players in the history of the game, in my opinion, and one of the greatest Celtic acquisitions of all time,” said former Boston teammate Danny Ainge. “D.J. was a free spirit and a fun personality who loved to laugh and play the game. We had spoken at length just the other night about basketball and his excitement about coaching the Austin Toros.”

Larry Bird once called Johnson the best teammate he ever had.

That’s not bad for a guy who didn’t even play on his high school team and drove a forklift following school. Yet somehow Johnson was able to wind up at Pepperdine University for one season and the NBA a year after that.

Three years after that he was named MVP of the NBA Finals.

Johnson came to the Celtics after leading the Seattle Supersonics to the 1979 NBA title over the defending champion Washington Bullets. I remember watching the clinching game when we lived in Washington and thinking, “Man, that Johnson dude is a pest.” And when the Celtics got him I thought that the balance of power in the Atlantic Division just shifted away from Philadelphia and back to Boston.

Johnson went on to greater acclaim with the Celtics largely in part because he was the perfect anecdote for superstars Bird, McHale and Robert Parish. Back in those days the Celtics were clearly Bird’s team, but it was D.J.’s show. Bird was the man but Johnson made everything run on time.

But the one thing that keeps coming out in the reports on such a difficult day is just how fun Johnson was. That’s a pretty good way to be remembered.

And man oh man could he ever play.

The big thaw

I finally got my car out of the driveway this morning and as soon as I did, I drove it straight to the Starbucks and the local Whole Foods wannabe store to load up on coffee and Clif Bars.

So yes, the snow is starting to melt, which means the roads are slowly turning into small streams. Even though the roads were relatively clear of snow and ice, my feet were soaked and the back of my shorts were covered with flecks of muddy spray during today’s 13-miler.

It was fun though. It definitely feels good to get back out there without worrying about the wind chill.

Partially motivated by the release of the American Hardcore DVD (a tad disappointing, I must say), I took my iPod out on today’s run and hit shuffle. Here’s what registered as a “play:”

1.) Trial – Verbal Assault
2.) Sometimes – Pearl Jam
3.) Hateful – The Clash
4.) Hope There – Antony & The Johnsons
5.) Shameless – Ani DiFranco
6.) A New England – Billy Bragg
7.) Attitude – Bad Brains
8.) Cut-Out – John Frusciante
9.) Institutionalized – Suicidal Tendencies
10.) Smells Like Teen Spirit – Nirvana
11.) Cut From the Cloth – The Evens
12.) Everybody Knows – The Evens
13.) Cache is Empty – The Evens
14.) You Fell Down – The Evens
15.) Pushed Against a Wall – The Evens
16.) The Past Recedes – John Frusciante

Normally I’d annotate the tracks, but I’m not in the mood today. Besides, some of those songs speak for themselves.

As far as running stuff goes, I stumbled across an interview of Todd Williams on Let’s Run this afternoon. Williams, as some remember, was the top American 10,000-meter runner during most of the 1990s. He made it to the Olympics twice and often challenged Bob Kennedy as America’s top distance hope. Eventually Williams moved up to the marathon though his best events were the shorter races – he still holds the U.S. record in the 15k (42:22).

The return of Kelly Leak

When asked about the most realistic baseball movies, my answer is simple – there are two that hold up. Unless you have a couple hours to kill the others aren’t quite up to the reality challenge.

The two: Bull Durham and the original The Bad News Bears.

At least from my point of view from spending the last seven years around a professional baseball team as well as a childhood and adolescence playing the game, those two films best captured the essence of the game.

It’s probably me, though. I don’t like the sappy side of baseball simply because I’ve never seen it in real life. People strike out, coaches and parents push too hard, there’s always someone bigger, faster or better. The best way to deal with it is to enjoy it and not take it so seriously – that’s what they learned at the end of The Bad News Bears, and what Crash Davis taught everyone on the Durham Bulls.

Although I do have that romantic, NPR, baseball-as-a-metaphor-for-life buried deep in the locus of my mind, I only bring it out when I'm killing time and watching The Natural or Field of Dreams… alone. Maybe that's because I've seen the real side of baseball and know that the romanticized view doesn't exist except for on Old-Timers Day or in Cooperstown. Baseball is curse words, a hot grounder that misses a glove and turns the shin purple, spitting and an obstructed-view, upper-deck seat next to a drunk who just spilled another beer on your shoes.

It’s also a bit of a metaphor for the life of Jackie Earle Haley.

Haley, as most remember, played Kelly Leak – the hard-hitting, motorcycle-riding badass in The Bad News Bears. He also played Moocher in Breaking Away, the coming-of-age movie that first made Dennis Quaid a star. I remember watching it on TV – before the proliferation of HBO etc. – in the 1980s and being mesmerized by the story and the bicycle scenes. Maybe that’s where the fascination with endurance sports started… who knows.

Either way, in two of the best movies released during the mid-to-late 1970s, Jackie Earle Haley was front and center.

And then he disappeared.

The transition from child star to adult actor appears to be a slippery slope that has claimed many – count Haley as one who didn’t make the transition from potential star to working actor so well. But in one of the great redemption stories that has caught the eye of just about every mainstream media outlet, Haley not only is back, but also will be in the running to win an Academy Award this Sunday night for his role in adaptation of Tom Perrotta’s novel Little Children. Prior to that, Haley had a significant role in the re-make of the adaptation of Robert Penn Warren’s All the King’s Men.

Not bad for someone who had spent the previous 15 years as a limo driver, pizza delivery man, construction worker and infomercial producer.

Check out his story:
from Salon.com: “I felt like it was supposed to happen this way”

from The Washington Post: A Former Child Star's Grown-Up Reward

Certainly, Haley doesn’t need a trophy to validate his work. And as we all know, the Academy Awards are the biggest bunch of b.s. out there. But if there is anyone up for the award who has paid more dues than Haley, then, yes, give them the trophy.

Let's hope Tanner Boyle can make a comeback, too.

Elsewhere...
Pat Burrell's engagement pictures are floating around on the Internets. Could the pending nuptials be the linchpin to a big season?

All that and brains, too
Chase Utley has joined a "virtual march" to help raise awareness about Global Warming. Let's hope that he can start his march by taking a sledge hammer to Jon Lieber's stupid truck.

Randomness

I’m not angry about anything today. The snow and ice (or “snice”) is finally starting to melt and it looks like I might be able to get my car out of the driveway by tomorrow some time. I also had a decent run that wasn’t impeded by too much snice that formed like a glacier over the neighborhood. I’m properly caffeinated, not over-fed and everything appears to be coming off without a hitch.

Since that’s the case, let’s just do an old-fashioned link dump.

Ready?

In New York the big deal seems to be the story about the relationship between A-Rod and Derek Jeter. Actually, it all sounds like the time in eighth grade when my friend John got angry with me for making fun of his parachute pants. Hey, he knew where he got those pants – why should I apologize because he wore the same pants as Micki Free?

Nevertheless, Tyler Kepner and Ben Shpigel of The New York Times are keeping a baseball blog this season. Guess what? It’s pretty good.

No one asked, but judging from some of the photos from Clearwater, Ryan Howard isn’t in great shape.

Remember in the old days when guys showed up at spring training and wore those rubber jackets the entire time? It’s interesting to see how far training and the science behind it has come.

Here’s one – three guys ran across the Sahara Desert. To cover the 4,000 miles in 111 days, the trio ran the equivalent of two marathons a day.

What’s going on with the Phillies? Check it out, I broke it down:

In today's Daily News, Marcus wrote about Jayson Werth and how he hopes to catch on with the Phillies.

In today's Inquirer, Todd wrote about Jayson Werth and how he thinks he can help the Phillies.

In today's Courier Post, Radano offered this piece on Jayson Werth and his prospects for 2007.

In Tuesday’s edition of the News Journal, Scott Lauber gets in to how Jayson Werth is looking to bounce back in 2007.

On Phillies.com, Ken Mandel takes a look at the maturation of prospect Kyle Drabek.

For today’s edition of the Bucks County paper, Randy Miller wrote about Jayson Werth and his recovery from surgery.

The good people in Delaware County were treated to a story by Dennis Deitch about how Jayson Werth says he has something to prove in 2007.

Stephen Miller of the Morning Call wrote in the Tuesday edition about how Jayson Werth is feeling ready to contribute in 2007.

Elsewhere, Paul Hagen’s updates on Randy Wolf and Mike Lieberthal were excellent.

Suck it up

All this means is that I’m no expert on Michigan or its climate, but I bet it gets a lot colder there than it does here in Lancaster, Pa. We’re pretty close to the Mason-Dixon Line, after all. Once, for kicks, I rode my bike to the Pennsylvania-Maryland border near where the Susquehanna pours into the Chesapeake Bay. I’ll have to dig up the essay I wrote about that…

Anyway, it tends to be warmer here in the winter than in Michigan. When it snows it’s a bona fide event. Schools close, the mail stops, people lose their minds and fight over bread and milk at the grocery store, and chairs grow out of the ground to hold shoveled out parking spaces. Then, around 4 p.m., it all melts away and we go back to our normally scheduled lives.

But this time is was different. My car is still stuck in the driveway because somehow ice settled underneath the front tires. The glacier still covers the landscape and runners like me curse Mother Nature as their fitness wanes.

In Michigan where the runners in the Hansons-Brooks Distance Project train, it snows a lot. Nearly every day, I bet. It gets really cold, too. Much colder than here where I wore shorts when I went out to run until Jan. 10.

Still, rain, sleet, snow and cold weather, the Hansons get out there to run. In this interview with Brian Sell from the New York Road Runners web site, the 2:10 marathoner with a good shot at finishing in the top three at the Olympic Trials in November reveals that he goes out to run every day.

Outside.

No treadmill.

In Michigan.

The point: guys like me should suck it up and run. So it snowed and iced… big deal.

Ice, ice baby

I’d been planning to write about how the local government folks in Lancaster City really blew it with the snow and ice storm that turned the roads and sidewalks into glaciers. How come they could clean up the streets in Harrisburg and other nearby cities, but not Lancaster? Was it because our city was laid out in the 18th Century? Maybe they’re just smarter than we are?

Whatever the reason, we’re really bad at moving snow off the streets here in Lancaster. But then again, no one had an easy time this past week. And the funny (ironical not ha-ha) part is that it’s just as bad now is it was the day after it happened. For instance, it’s been seven days and I still can’t get my car out of my driveway because the front tires are resting on top of a sheet of ice. Oh I shoveled quite a bit last Wednesday. In fact, I was out there for about four hours – more if Tuesday night’s preliminary shoveling is thrown in. But this stuff just ain’t going anywhere.

Needless to say, running was pretty difficult last week as evidenced by the picture of one of my routes (upper right). Though the roads in my neighborhood were passable, there still was some ice here and there, plus most people who drive cars aren’t too keen on sharing them with anyone.

But the worst part about last week’s runs came when I crossed into the Lancaster city limits. Oddly, the worst spots were on sidewalks on city property. They appeared to be untouched, while it seemed as if the residents at least gave an effort to get some of the sheets of ice off the sidewalks. Not the city though.

That’s the weird part, too. Politicians don’t seem to understand that quality of life issues are what people (voters) remember. If the mayor, the city council or the county commissioners (whoever the hell decides to do something) can get the snow of the sidewalks and the trash off the streets, people will remember. Better yet, businesses will be attracted to the town because everything is clean and safe.

Taking care of the quality of life stuff means the politicians and special-interest business folks can build their convention centers and hotels without much resistance. After all, wo wants to hold a convention in a town where the streets are covered with snow and trash and the only downtown business open after 5 p.m. on a Friday is the pawn shop?

Not anyone who has any self respect – and not anyone who might want to go out for a run.

Anyway, I put in 49 miles for the week in six runs. That’s definitely not where I want to be this late in the year. However, the upcoming week looks good. Temperatures should climb into the 40s and my normal routines should come off without a hitch. Maybe a 60-mile week is in the offing?

Then 70?

Then 80?

And so on and so on …

Monday -- 11.6 miles in 1:19:11
Felt pretty good, but I'm still not there. I'm not as strong as I was a couple of weeks ago and I can really tell. My legs -- especially my calves -- were tired about an hour into the run.

Tuesday -- 6.8 miles in 47:11
Ran in the snow. The conditions were a little slippery, but not bad. Y legs felt kind of tight, though.

Wednesday -- nothing
Spent the day shoveling. After that I ate pizza. I guess that makes me a lacto vegetarian for those into labels.

Thursday -- 6.8 miles in 48:02
The roads were pretty icy and really tough to run on. I really, really, really hate this weather.

Friday -- 6.8 miles in 47:22
Not as icy as yesterday, but I cut out the bad parts. Wasn't as cold either. Still, I'm going crazy -- I'm out of my routine and it sucks.

Saturday -- 8.5 in 60:55
My mistake was running into the city... the sidewalks were so icy that it ruined the run. Otherwise, I felt pretty good and showed a little bit of strength.

Sunday -- 8.5 miles
The roads are still really bad and the wind made the conditions tough, but I got it in. I ran the last 63 minutes with John May, which was fun. I like to run.

More Charles

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8f3rxYSHYuA]

Same old song

For as long as Ryan Howard has been a part of the Philadelphia sporting scene, which goes back to 2002, steroids never entered my mind. I never thought about anything regarding illegal drugs or performance enhancing substances when Howard was smashing all those homers.

From my vantage I saw a guy who really had an idea of how to hit. In the batters’ box he also seemed to be thinking even if he struck out, and even in the minor leagues he was always making adjustments. He was always one step ahead of the competition.

Last year, though, the steroid question popped up, which was equally rationale and infuriating. Because such sweeping ideas which are always lacking in depth and nuance come from the national media, it made sense. They don’t watch Ryan Howard play every day. They don’t appreciate the intricacies of his regime and day-to-day effort. All they see are the numbers.

Anyone who has been in the Phillies’ clubhouse knows that if Ryan Howard is taking steroids he’s taking the wrong ones.

Nevertheless, the steroid question sprung up again during Howard’s pre-Spring Training press conference in Clearwater yesterday.
A bunch of other questions came up, too, but since the national media was there, the steroid issue was out in front. That’s fine and expected, but when is it going to end? Is it going to end? I doubt anyone really thinks Howard is cheating, but will there ever be a day when the questions about it ever stop?

It’s very doubtful.

Lance vs. Pound
One thing is for sure: Lance Armstrong will never escape the questions about performance-enhancing drugs, and Dick Pound will never stop talking about Armstrong.

In The New York Times, George Vecsey writes about how the pair are tied to each other – kind of like Magic and Bird.

Making the rounds
John Amaechi is not the first gay man to play in the NBA. He won’t be the last, either. He’s also not the first gay man to play professional sports to write a book, and it’s doubtful he will be the last.

In other words, there is nothing particularly interesting about his story. Amaechi is not a trailblazer, was barely a marginal player in the NBA and was an above average player for Penn State mostly because he was a center who could get up and down the court.

As far as being gay goes… whatever. The fact that something like that is still an issue in 2007 is sad. Just get in the pot already. It also reminds me of a quote from Gandhi when he was asked what he thought about American culture:

“It would be a good idea.”

Nevertheless, Amaechi was in Philadelphia doing the canned interviews with all of the outlets to sell more books – a fact that seemed to be lost on those doing the interviewing. Tim Hardaway, Shavlik Randolph and their unfathomable idiocy aside, the only reason Amaechi is even in the news is because ESPN published his book. His story really isn’t that extraordinary – in fact, it’s probably very normal.

Barkley vs. Bavetta

Does anyone think Barkley has been to sleep since landing in Vegas?

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7j_XIYsPMc0]

Just waiting for the ice to melt

Here's a few interesting stories from Sunday's sports pages to read while we contemplate whether it it would be a smart idea to use a bit of kerosene and a Bic lighter to remove the ice from the city streets... Homeboy Floyd Landis has a book coming out on the eve of this year's Tour de France. Entitled Positively False, Landis, obviously, is out to restore his name following last summer's drug testing debacle but it seems as if his real aim is to secure stronger rights for athletes and overhaul the anti-doping system.

I’ll wager that even drug zealot Dick Pound believes the current anti-doping system needs a few repairs here and there, so it will be interesting to read what Floyd comes up with… better yet, if we get a copy of the book we’ll even offer a big-time, full review right here and on ComcastSportsNet.com. Whether or not anyone believes Floyd isn’t the issue – drugs/cheating is. How do we know we aren’t watching professional wrestling?

Meanwhile, Steroid Nation discusses if Landis' lawyers are bleeding him dry.

Speaking of cheating, check out Rich Hofmann’s column from Friday’s Daily News.

On another note, because of the ice and snow problem here in near Franklin & Marshall, we’re about to head near Floyd’s old ‘hood for today’s run. It should be a fun change and very scenic.

Even more: Trust But Verify

Anyone who doesn’t read Scott Lauber’s reports from Clearwater for the Wilmington News Journal is missing out. Scott is heading into his second season covering the Phillies and really knows his stuff… now, if we can just do something about his personality. He’s about as friendly as a punch in the face.

After reading Todd Zolecki’s story about Chris Coste in today’s Inquirer, I have determined that Todd has a baseball card collection buried in the back of a closet in Wisconsin.

Apparently the NBA All-Star Game is today…Really?

Heading to Farmersville…

Another blast from the past

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fJXbsBBE1A]

Boring ourselves to death

Not too long ago, Dallas Mavericks’ owner Mark Cuban took the media to task for its fascination with salaries of entertainment figures (athletes included) as well as how much it costs to make a movie or buy a team, etc.

Basically, Cuban wondered why salaries of rich people were so important to media types and why the financial side was always centered on the wealthy.

He wrote:

If making salaries public is so important, why don't reporters disclose their salaries? If weekly box office is so important, why don't newspapers report daily sales and subscription numbers? If box office is the ultimate reflection of the quality of a movie, shouldn't a newspaper, or magazines ' daily or by issue sales be a reflection of the quality of that issue?

It's not hypocritical is it?

Hearing Cuban on the subject made me look back to see if I wrote about individual salaries and how much money people make. Guess what? I did. A lot. Worse, I'm not even sure I noticed what I was doing. In retrospect, I suppose, I wrote about such things without even thinking – a salary, it seems, is just another statistic like batting average or ERA. And like those stats, salary figured in whether or not a player could be moved or if others could be acquired.

But the part that is mystifying is that salaries never interested me nor did it really indicate anything to me about a person. The fact that Chase Utley recently signed such a large contract is not interesting at all. It proves nothing and doesn't make Utley smarter or a better player. It's meaningless.

Needless to say, these types of ideas are not in line with conventional thinking. Actually, it's more like if the world is a rat race then it's OK to be a rat. Perhaps because of the way I was raised – in my bourgeoisie-ness with that safe and sound middle-class safety net where deeds and ideas are the most important thing, failure is easily fixed, and the total pursuit of money is viewed as a tacky move of a Philistine – I was never motivated by money. That’s both good and bad, but we’ll leave that alone for now.

The point is that I never really thought much about advertising another man’s salary simply because he was paid a lot of money and was on a professional baseball team. At the heart of it, Cuban was railing against people like me and he was/is correct.

But it gets deeper than that, too. Over the past two days regular readers of this site have been “treated” to a few not-so-subtle jabs at Jon Lieber’s purchase of a $211,000 truck, that, frankly, I find superficial, wasteful and disgusting for many, many reasons. But at the same time, I don’t know if I’m more disgusted that Lieber enjoyed flaunting his vehicle that cost about the same amount as the median price of a single-family home in the U.S. or the media’s coverage of it.

Maybe what Cuban meant to write was that stories like this aren’t just hypocritical, they’re boring. Worse, it seems as if the media is more focused on the wealthy and superficial than the things that really matter.

As of the January 15, 2007, the war in Iraq costs the U.S. $229 million a day, but space on web sites and newspapers is given to a guy with an expensive car because he can throw a baseball reasonably well.

Good.

I don’t think anything will change, and I’m not about to wage a war against the celebrity culture and frivolousness. For one, I can’t win, and for another, I’m a participant. Overcoming personal hypocrisy and contradictions is never easy.

But at least someone is taking notice. In a story in the National Journal, William Powers points out that the media’s fascination with wealth has become trite and ubiquitous.

Powers writes:

Stories about the rich are nothing new. Wealth is intrinsically interesting, and extreme wealth all the more so. You see a piece about the grandiose estates the hedge-fund crowd has been building in Greenwich, Conn., the new capital of conspicuous consumption, and some mix of admiration, envy, disgust and pure voyeurism naturally pulls you in. The mega-rich have always been a nice cottage industry for the news media, and there's nothing wrong in that.

But we've crossed some line in recent years. The press covers these people not just as the narrow slice of society that they are, but more and more as the only slice that matters; not as exotic exceptions to the cultural norm, but as the norm itself. This is especially true in the leisure/lifestyle realm, where the market for eight-figure houses is sometimes covered as if it were a popular trend.

More importantly:

Indeed, the media are so saturated with the very wealthy, the story line is losing its novelty. When covering human excess, a less-is-more approach is the way to keep 'em coming. By normalizing the very rich, journalists are making them boring, which is the opposite of news.

Meanwhile, the old middle class -- remember them? -- is taking on a strange magnetism. Did you know there are actually Americans who live very happily on five-figure incomes, without a single pied-a-terre? It's so amazing, it almost feels like a story.

Full disclosure: I’m driving a 1998 Honda Accord with 136,000 miles on it. The car is blue, was recently inspected, and hopefully ready for 136,000 more miles. For some reason my golf clubs are still stashed in the trunk, too. I also drive a Saturn Vue that we bought in 2004. It’s black and drives fairly smooth even though I intentionally drove it into a pile of petrified plowed snow this morning… not a good idea. The front-wheel drive is no match for ice.

In Clearwater…
Pitching coach Rich Dubee wants the Phillies’ catchers to take more proprietorship in calling games.

In Lancaster…
It appears as if the snow and ice still hasn’t been removed (don’t get me started), however, nothing could stop the J.P. McCaskey Red Tornadoes from winning a third straight Lancaster-Lebanon League championship on Friday night in Hershey, Pa.

The Tornadoes whipped Lancaster Catholic by 29 points for the largest victory in the league’s championship game. The victory also gave McCaskey 10 league championships in 34 seasons and it is just the second school to win three in a row.

No L-L League team has ever won four in a row, but with 10 of the 14 players for McCaskey slated to return next season it’s going to be hard to stop them.

He can act too?

The talk around the Phillies on Friday in Clearwater wasn't regarding Freddy Garcia leading the rotation, or even Jon Lieber's mode of transportation. Instead, media-types were floored by manager Charlie Manuel's nuanced performance in one of the team's soon-to-be-released TV promotions.

Click here to watch Manuel's acting chops that will soon earn him an appearance on "Inside the Actor's Studio."

Yes, it's that good.

Notes from the warmer ground

Got an extra $1.7 million sitting around? Jon Lieber's house in Newtown Square, Pa. is on the market. Do you think he's unloading it to pay for his $211,000 truck?

* According to the writers covering the team in Florida, Chris Coste has a big booster in manager Charlie Manuel.

The skipper told reporters:

"What Coste did last year definitely has to be considered. He caught for us in big games down the stretch. He showed he definitely can do the job in the major leagues, and he definitely can come off the bench and hit."

More: And So it Begins
Even more: Day 1: Chillin' in Florida

Though he only played with the team for a little more than two months, the New York Yankees announced that they will honor the memory of Cory Lidle by wearing a black armband on their trademarked pinstripes. Moreover, Lidle's No. 30 has not be issued to another player this spring.

Meanwhile, after spending a little more than two years with the team, the Phillies reportedly will not memorialize their former pitcher in 2007. In fact they have already re-issued his No. 30 -- twice.

More: The Cory Lidle Foundation

In drug news, some colleges that play Division III football are going to participate in a pilot drug-testing program.

Pat Burrell is in camp and talking about his role with the team in 2007. Yes, he thinks he can "protect" Ryan Howard.

More: The Protection Myth

Watching Clearwater from 6 degrees

Let’s go out on a limb and guess that Jon Lieber didn’t see An Inconvenient Truth, nor did he read the briefings from the United Nations’ Kyoto Protocol during his winter break. We’re going to guess that Lieber spent some time stalking and killing small animals, but whatever…

Nevertheless, Jon Lieber showed up at camp with a ridiculous looking truck that is 9 feet, 2 inches tall and 25,000 pounds, with six doors, 45-inch wheels, seating for seven, a satellite dish and customized leather interior and takes $500 just to fill the 50-gallon gas tank that gets 12 miles to the gallon.

As Marcus Hayes wrote:

It was an audacious entrance for a player who doesn't really have a spot on the ballclub.

There is no word whether roly-poly Lieber shot a spotted owl or clubbed a baby seal on the ride from his home in Alabama to Clearwater.

Meanwhile, the oft-injured Lieber, who manager Charlie Manuel has told to trim down over the last two season, says he weighs 243 pounds after finishing the 2006 season close to 250. He said he wants to get down to 235 pounds before the season starts though he doesn’t think being out of shape affects an athlete.

“That's been my whole career. When I weighed 215, they were on me about my weight. The weight thing, I've heard it my whole life. I'm not worried about it. If you guys think I'm fat and out of shape, you guys will say it. But I feel great. I'm ready to help.”

Nah… maybe he’s just big-boned.

On another note, Lieber is two-inches taller and 80 pounds heavier than 21-season veteran Jamie Moyer.

More: Reason #56 To Love Philadelphia: Jon Lieber's Truck
More: Debunking myths and bad jokes - Global warming? It’s 14 below!

***
An interesting quote from Pat Burrell in the Inquirer regarding the Phillies desire to get some so-called “protection” for Ryan Howard in the lineup:

“…he had a pretty good year last year, good enough to win the MVP. So something was going on right.”

It’s cold, the roads are icy and I’m salty
Looking to do something related to public relations or marketing or whatever it is companies do to revive a so-called “image problem,” the Inky publicized the addition of two new columnists to its Sunday roster.

One of those columnists is Mark Bowden, a former Inky scribe who worked on the news side and covered the Eagles before becoming the best-selling author of Blackhawk Down and Killing Pablo to name two. Some have offered that Bowden was one of the best investigative journalists working so bringing him back into the fold is quite a boon.

Though some called it a bit pedantic, Bowden’s first offering – on the need for diplomacy with Iran – was something new for paper increasingly concerned with local coverage. The fact that Bowden is also the author of Guests of the Ayatollah: The First Battle in America's War With Militant Islam gave a little more weight to the words.

Adding Bowden was a smart move by the Inquirer.

Meanwhile, the second addition is a man named Michael Smerconish, who is a local radio talk-show host who appears to be a marginalizing figure the way Howard Eskin is for WIP. Smerconish, who also writes a column for the Daily News, plays on the mundane clichés of “liberal” and “conservative” and partisan hackery as if those ideas still have any real meaning.

It’s boring stuff, but another good move by the Inquirer because people might talk about the Smerconish guy. Yes, his scope is purely local and when one gets out here to the far provincial outposts like Lancaster, no one has heard of Smerconish. But it seemed like a good addition nonetheless.

That’s until his “column” appeared. Instead of offering ideas, engaging prose and story-telling, Michael Smerconish offered a litany of “what I believe.” Worse, the Inquirer printed it and posted it to its web site.

And they wonder why people under the age of 50 don’t buy newspapers any more.

After stomaching the first few paragraphs it was clear that the dude wasn’t suited for a column – a blog would be more apt.

Hey, that’s just what I believe.

Go figure... it's warm in Florida

Let’s start with what you are going to see in the first dispatches from the Phillies’ training camp in sunny Clearwater, Florida. They pitchers will be doing the requisite calisthenics and running along the outfield grass. They will be images of them smiling and laughing while playing catch – maybe even a whoop or holler from a hitter as the crack of the bat gives off the aurality of a shotgun report as a line drive rockets toward US-19.

It’s fun just imaging it.

But then it happens. Some TV reporter – or maybe even a coach or player – will come on the screen with a Cheshire-cat grin as they inform viewers that the current temperature is 68 degrees and the weekly forecast is only calling for temps in the mid-60s.

“Getting a little chilly down here,” someone will condescendingly spit through that grin.

Frankly, those moves are nothing more than the refuge of an ultimate hack, so get ready for it. Just resist the urge to shout back at the TV, “Hey Hack, I guess you’re trying to point out that it gets warm in Florida. Right? Gee, I didn’t know that. Guess what? It snows in Pennsylvania during the middle of February. Sometimes it even gets cold and I didn’t even have to get the meteorological society stamp of approval to figure that one out. Now get back to your 30-second ‘report’ while I sit here and wait for the 17 minutes of weather in a 22-minute ‘news’ report.”

Thanks for indulging that little rant. I do it so you don’t have to.

Anyway, here are the other stories you can expect to read (and then hear) about this week from Clearwater:

Pat Burrell’s health, outlook for 2007, whether he can “protect” Ryan Howard and his thoughts on Mike Schmidt’s assessment of his game. No, there will be no shortage of Pat Burrell reports this spring/season.

The bullpen – specifically, who is the set-up man. Will Antonio Alfonseca or Ryan Madson be able to fill that role or will the Phillies have to make a trade to get that much-coveted reliever?

Who is the odd man out in the rotation? Is Jon Lieber on the block or is Adam Eaton going to the ‘pen? To a lesser degree, can 44-year old Jamie Moyer continue to rack up the innings and be an effective fifth starter?

Better yet, can 23-year old Cole Hamels continue to pitch as well as he did to close the 2006 season or is he doomed to suffer another injury? Has Brett Myers really “matured” or will he resort to his old habits when the new contract and season settles in?

Ryan Howard and the long-term contract issue… Let’s see if he turns out to be more like Willies Stargell and McCovey than Joe Charboneau or Bob Horner.

Charlie Manuel’s contract. In the last season of a three-year deal most fans would be content to let the skipper walk away. However, most fans don’t go into the Phillies’ clubhouse.

Who is going to be the every day catcher?

Who is going to be the every day third baseman?

Most importantly, are the Phillies really ready to challenge the Mets and the Braves in the NL East?

So many questions and a lot of fun trying to figure out the answers.

Oprah, Thome. Thome, Oprah

From the, "Yes, I have now seen everything there is to see in this life and there is no longer a need to climb Mount Everest or visit the Taj Mahal," comes Jim Thome's appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show. While visiting the show as member of studio audience, good ol' Jim kept up with Oprah in a conversation about, well, let's go to the video tape:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUfpLdoKKf0]

On another note, once -- back in 2004 -- while Thome and I were in the course of a casual conversation he used the term, "butthole."

Ah yes, those are the things I remember the most.