New and Notable 2

Since the historic Curbing endorsement of Gov. Mike Huckabee, he has not only risen in the polls but has received a corresponding barrage of derision from the media and other politicians. The forces behind this deluge, however, are primarily Republican politicians and conservative media outlets. Many Democrats feel that Huckabee would be an easy kill in the event he were nominated. They would like to avoid the same mistake Republicans made with Howard Dean in putting the kibosh in for his nomination. Considering that Huckabee is not likely to implode on national television as Dean did, many Republicans are scared that with all his religous baggage and comments, Huckabee is not electable. Therefore, they want his run to end now and not in November. While I understand their concerns, I have little doubt that Mike is the best man for the job. Should he emerge as the Republican candidate, he will with greater exposure win over the American people with his ideas, charisma, and solid character.

The Mitchell Report along with its media coverage has been from its inception laughable.
1) For months now we have been hearing nothing but hype regarding the Mitchell Report - ''the names that we will hear are going to shake the game of baseball to its core!''. Not only have there not been many suprising names, there has not in fact been even one. Roger Clemens, who has become the poster boy for the report- is an old name. There has been much speculation about the Rocket for years, not to mention the Jason Grimsley bust along with good pal Andy Pettite. After these Roid heads and HGH heroes the most original name invoked in the Report was Barry Bonds.

2) After months of hype the media has been unwilling to admit that the report was a major letdown. Screaming headlines punctuate every newscast, newspaper, and website as if 97% of the league had been implicated in the scandal. Prepared headlines are ubiquitous even though they are inappropriate to the reality of what has occured. One headline in particular - "Guess Who's Smiling?" depicts Clemens scowling and Bonds laughing. The implication was that Bonds was happy that others are now under scrutiny. The article fails to mention that Bonds should be furious that while he's facing federal prosecution simply for being obnoxious, 92.6% of baseball players (most of whom are juiced) were not implicated in the steroid scandal which leads to my next point.

3) There is no way that this Report is comprehensive. Getting one New York Mets club house boy to squeal hardly constitutes a thorough and comprehensive investigation. Mitchell should have made no pretense that he even scratched the surface or that he was even moderately successfull in his probe. For goodness sakes, he did not even have any subpoeana power! No wonder no one spoke to him other than The Giambino.

4) Mitchell recommended that the Commissioner not take punitive measures against players named unless he deems the conduct so egregious that he must do so in order to preserve the integrity of the game. (As if there is any left.) What does this mean? That the player injected both cheeks?