Fanning the Fires: The New York Times quoted Peter Roby, director of the Center for the Study of Sport in Society at Northeastern University in Boston, today as saying, "I think people would be devastated to think that 1998 is not what we thought it was, that it was in some way a fabrication of the truth." The Times of course was referring to the allegations that Mark McGwire had used steroids to achieve his massive musculature in such a short period of time.

Who, one must wonder, are the "people" Roby is referring to? Six-year-olds? Did anyone ever NOT THINK that any of these players were doing everything they possibly could to build the bodies that allow them to earn the collosal sums of money they are paid. Senator Ted Kennedy called McGwire and Sosa "working class heroes" at the end of the 1998 season. And maybe they were. Working class people know you do what you gotta do to get ahead and stay there.

NOTE: Baseball may be a working class sport for people who play it, but if you've bought a ticket lately, you know it isn't a working class sport for the fans. By the way, have you been to the sporting goods store lately to buy a bat or glove? Not to mention officially sanctioned major league memorabilia. Talk about your credit card debt!

If congress is really concerned about looking into steroid use, they should take a gander at high school programs around the nation.

Forty Years Ago Today: President Lyndon Johnson addressed a joint session of Congress and asked for new legislation to guarantee the right to vote for everyone. Today's neo conmen will tell you they want to roll back history to void free love, drugs, and anti-war protestors. Get real! It's the civil liberties, free speech, and democracy movements they are really opposed to.

The anti-war folks hated LBJ, but he was the last liberal president this country had.