Category NHL

Sox ’04 Banner Tainted? NO

Danny Vinik 9 Comments

Manny’s steroid use opens up a whole new box of questions, but the biggest one of all deals with a team he’s not on and season five years ago:

Is the 2004 Championship (and 2007 for that matter) he won with the Boston Red Sox tainted?

100% absolutely NO!

NO

NO

NO

NO

AND NO!!

 

I’m a Red Sox fan. I’m biased. Even so, I still can’t see how the 2004 Sox’s playoff run was tainted and here’s why:

  1. Manny is one player. One important player, yes, but one player nonetheless. Pitching wins championship, not hitting. Schilling was  a horse in the playoffs. You remember Dave Roberts’s steal. You remember Schilling’s bloody sock. You remember Papi’s walk off hits. You don’t point to something about Manny specifically. He played well. He hit well, but by no means did he carry the team. With him off steroids, that 2004 Red Sox team would still have won.
  2. Is it really cheating if everyone is doing it? Okay, yes it is, but let’s look at that Yankees’ roster that lost in the ALCS to the Sox in 2004. Alex Rodriguez? Steroids. Gary Sheffield? Steroids. Ruben Sierra? Steroids. Kevin Brown? HGH. Those are the known guys. I don’t doubt that many other players on that team were juicing. That’s not to say anyone else on the Red Sox wasn’ton steroids, but why does Manny taking steroids take anything away from the Red Sox’s playoff run if A-Rod and Sheffield, the Yankees’ sluggers, were both on ‘roids as well? It doesn’t take anything away. The playing field is still even and the Red Sox are still the rightful champions, without an asterisk.
  3. Manny wasn’t actually THAT good in the playoffs. He was good. He was real good in the 2004 postseason, but he was not unstoppable. Batting average? .350. On-Base-Percentage? .423. Those are pretty great. Yet, Manny had just two home runs and struck out eleven times. He had just five extra-base hits, but 16 singles. Tell me this, how much do steroids help on singles? If he wasn’t on steroids, he’s still hitting those steroids and probably those home runs (I dont’ know their distances unfortunately). Steroids didn’t make Manny hit well in that postseason, because Manny didn’t hit for power in the 2004 playoffs. Manny made Manny hit those singles, because Manny was born to hit and steroids just added slightly to that. His steroid use doesn’t change a thing.

That’s all pretty straight forward. So far, no player’s steroid use has caused anyone to doubt a team’s success. Keyword: team. Teams win. Players just make up a team and Manny was one player. This shouldn’t even be a debate: The 2004 Boston Red Sox were, are, and forever will be champions.

Capitals vs. Penguins Can Get Better

Danny Vinik 1 Comment

APTOPIX Penguins Capitals HockeyWhat’s better than Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby  facing off in a playoff series? How about both of them scoring hat tricks in the same game?

Yes, that happened last night and it really is an extraordinary event. Hat tricks aren’t that uncommon. They occur maybe a couple times a month in the regular season and every once in a while in the post-season. But two in the same game by arguably the two best players in hockey? That is something special.

The Capitals took the game 4-3 and lead the series 2-0, but now Washington most leave their home town and head out to Pittsburgh, where the Penguins’ fans will surely be ready. If this series heads back to the capital tied at two games a piece, get ready to start talking about the greatest series ever.

For that to happen though, Evgeni Malkin must step up. Crosby and him are the soul of this team. Without one, the Pens don’t stand a chance against the Capitals. Malkin must make his presence known, both physically and on the scoreboard. The other two stars in this series have four goals each. Malkin? Zero.

Hockey fans are so excited for this series, because of what it can become. A heavy-weight showdown between the league’s best. But that isn’t guaranteed to happen. The Capitals could easily enter Pittsburgh, win a game, and head home and lock the series up. That would be such a disappointing end to a series with such possibilities. Continue reading “Capitals vs. Penguins Can Get Better” →

Brashear’s Cheap Shot Unacceptable

Danny Vinik 3 Comments

Watch the above clip and tell me that Donald Brashear should be allowed to play in the NHL this year. He’s a big, hard-nosed player, who occasionally takes liberty with hits, but this was too far. Way too far. Brashear viciously elbowed an unaware Blair Betts in Game 6 between the Washington Capitals and New York Rangers. Betts had played the puck a few seconds earlier and even if the hit hadn’t been an elbow to the head, it was late. It was a dangerous cheap shot and Brashear shouldn’t be allowed to play in the rest of the playoffs or next year.

Give him a year suspension.

That kind of play has no place in sports so if that is how Brashear is going to play, then he has no place in sports. Betts was knocked unconscious and needed significant help just getting off the ice. It was an elbow right to the head. Forgetting about the game and Betts’s career for a moment, Brashear’s antics could have paralyzed Betts. An elbow that hard right to the head could certainly change a man’s life forever. Continue reading “Brashear’s Cheap Shot Unacceptable” →