Barry Bonds: Say No to Drugs

Upon my recent trip home to visit my parents for Christmas...and with the Mitchell Report on MLB steroid use still fresh on my mind, I was excited to go through some of my old baseball cards and memorabilia to help relive that time in my life. And as luck would have it, I did most of my collecting just before and as steroids really became a problem in baseball. As such, I was saddened to find what was once a treasured collection, that if re-sold, would maybe help me put my kids through college...looks now more like a cheap donation for the steroid user's hall of fame.


Which leads me to wonder, what am I supposed to do with this crap now? An autographed Jose Canseco baseball bat? I have a better chance of putting my kids through college by taking the bat out of the case its in, and letting them actually use it in the backyard...in the hopes that they can get a college scholarship to maybe play some day.

If there is one value that these steroid-era relics do offer, though, it's the small glimpse at the change of appearance over the years that some of these juicers showed. I mean, you can't look at an old Barry Bonds baseball card when he played for the Pirates and not laugh. Speaking of...amongst all the overproduced late 80's and early 90's Topps and Donruss cards I own, there is one autographed card that is so rare and absolutely so hilariously ironic...that it bears showing here.

Before Barry Bonds was a steroid using dick-head...he was a very young, talented and kind individual. He even touted arm bands during some games that said "Say No to Drugs", and he appropriately passed that message along to his young and impressionable fans (like me). Honestly, I don't really blame Barry for using steroids, as he was just a small portion of a big problem and was only using to stay competitive with his peers. He was simply a product of the era that he was in...and can only really be blamed for taking it way too far.

If the Mitchell Report was good for one thing, it was that it put some other names and faces into the mix besides Barry's. Because the belief that this report even offers us a small glimpse as to what actually happened all those years, is being naive. Now we know for certain that it was less of problem, and more of an epidemic. To think that this many players' names still came out with absolutely NO cooperation from players and trainers, gives you a rough idea of how bad it actually was.

Luckily for me (and my wallet), as baseball hit its all time low (the 1994 strike on through to the steroid "chicks did the long ball" era) I started doing better things with my time, like chasing girls. I just couldn't stomach to watch any of those players as they hacked away at some of the most storied records in baseball. It made me sick to see one of my favorite players growing up, Mark McGwire compete with Sammy Sosa, to break the Roger Maris home run record, as fans, team owners, and baseball execs sat idly by, lapping it up.

Looking back now, I'm glad that I'm able to enjoy baseball again like I did when I was young....and without any grudge. I'm not dumb enough to think that the game is completely clean, but hopefully younger players coming up now will see that there is some accountability for those actions, and that nothing is worth the risk of tarnishing your name and legacy forever. So here's to hoping that the Hunter Pences, Jacoby Ellsburys, and Delmon Youngs of the future don't blow up into over-sized Macy's Thanksgiving Parade Floats and start hitting home runs at an ungodly pace...and ruin some other kid's baseball card collection.

Top 5 1998 Randy Moss Moments

In the next few weeks, as the NFL season winds down...you'll be hearing more and more talk about the Patriots quest to not only go undefeated, but to also beat the single season scoring record by an NFL team. In 1998, the Minnesota Vikings, led by veterans Randall Cunningham, Chris Carter and Gary Anderson...as well as the promising and controversial rookie, Randy Moss...set the NFL record for most points scored by an NFL team with 556 points. The Vikings finished the regular season that year with a record of 15-1.

With 5 games left this season, the Patriots need 115 points to break it...which may seem unlikely, but with the way this team is rolling, it's not at all implausible. The Pats would just need to average 23 points per game over a 5 game span to do so...which they would probably need to do anyways, to keep their perfect season alive.

At this same point in that memorable 1998 season, the Vikings had 348 points thru 12 games...which isn't even close to what the Patriots have now at 442 total points. However, the Vikings went on a tear scoring 208 points in their last five games to set the record.

As a Moss and Vikings fan, I'm not at all surprised that he might once again have a hand in breaking this record. Let's take a look back at that historic rookie year for Moss, and highlight some of his best moments from that record breaking season.

Top 5 Moss games in 1998

Week 1 - Vikings 31, Bucs 7
In his first game as a Viking, Moss made a huge splash catching 4 passes for 95 yards and two TD's. His first NFL touchdown, appropriately enough, was a 48-yard long toss down the left sideline from QB Brad Johnson. As he came down with the ball in the end zone, the defender got a hand on it causing Moss to juggle it just a bit, but he finished the grab and afterwards celebrated by doing his own impression of the "Lambeau Leap", jumping into the arms of Minnesota fans in the crowd. He also added a 31-yard TD later in the game that helped put the Bucs away in that game for good.

Week 5 - Vikings 37, Packers 24
In week 5, Moss made his first trip to Lambeau Field as the Vikings faced their toughest task yet. Not only were the Packers riding an impressive 25 game win streak at home, it was also raining for the duration of the game. With the game tied at 10-10 in the 2nd quarter, Moss hauled in a 52-yard touchdown pass from QB Randall Cunningham...capping off a 4 play, 76-yard drive that put the Vikings ahead for good. Moss also added a 44-yard TD in the 4th quarter and finished the day with 190 receiving yards for 2 TD's. But it was Cunningham who ultimately stole the show, passing for 442 yards and 4 TD's...single-handedly ending the Packers home win streak.

Week 12 - Vikings 28, Packers 14
In week 12, it was the Vikings turn to host the Packers with this game having heavy implications of who would take the top spot in the NFC North division. Moss had a huge day, piling up 153 receiving yards on 8 catches...but didn't find the end zone until the 4th quarter. With the Vikings holding onto a 20-14 lead late in the game, Moss sealed the win with a 49-yard TD catch. In his first two games ever against the rival Packers, Moss had amassed 13 catches for 343 yards and 3 TD's...and helped the Vikings end the Packers three year dominance of the NFC North division. Take THAT, Packer fans!!


Week 13 - Vikings 46, Cowboys 36
In week 13, the Cowboys welcomed the Vikings for their annual Thanksgiving Day game in Dallas. With both teams playing on short rest (Vikings played Sunday, the Cowboys had just played on Monday night) it didn't take long for the Vikings to get things started. On their first drive of the game, the Vikings went 80 yards on 4 plays, culminating with a 51-yard TD catch by Moss on a flea-flicker from Cunningham. The Cowboys, who were without Pro-Bowl cornerback Deion Sanders, got lit up fast and early as Moss added a second TD still in the first quarter, on a 56-yard pass. In the 3rd quarter, Moss added one more TD on yet another 56-yard pass. He finished the day with 163 yards on 3 catches, all for TD's. On the nation's largest stage for the first time, Moss was able to show the world his big-play making ability.

Week 14 - Vikings 48, Bears 22
With fellow WR Chris Carter out of the game early with a calf injury, Moss stepped up into the leading role and shined...but not in his normal fashion. In the 1st quarter Moss got the scoring started on a 6-yard TD pass from Cunningham. In the 2nd quarter he added another TD on a 3-yard pass, giving the Vikings a 27-0 lead at the half. In the 3rd quarter, Moss caught his 3rd TD of the day on a 34-yard pass. For the 2nd straight week, Moss had caught 3 TD's in a game...giving him a total of 14 TD catches on the season, breaking the previous record for TD catches for a first year player.

By seasons end, Moss had 69 receptions for 1,313 yards (an amazing average of 19 yards per catch) and 17 TD's and as such, was honored as Rookie of the Year. Not to be out shadowed though, was the year that Vikings kicker Gary Anderson had, making all 35 field goal attempts and all 59 extra point attempts he tried, making him the first kicker to have a perfect regular season. However, the same perfect leg that helped carry them through the year, would also ultimately be there downfall.

After cruising through the regular season and first round of the playoffs, the Vikings found themselves in the NFC Championship game against the Atlanta Falcons. With just over 2 minutes left in the 4th quarter and holding onto a 27-20 lead, the Vikings sent the still perfect Anderson out for a 38-yard field goal that if made, would have given the Vikings a two possession lead, and most likely the win. However, for the first time all year, Anderson missed a field goal. After the miss, the Falcons proceeded to drive the ball 71 yards, on 8 plays for a TD and sent the game into overtime. In OT, the Falcons again orchestrated a 70-yard drive, this time setting up a game winning 38-yard field goal by Falcons Kicker Morten Anderson. With one kick, the Vikings season was over.

What was supposed to be an amazing match-up between the Vikings and the Broncos for the title, instead became yet another boring, lop-sided Super Bowl pairing. The Broncos beat the Falcons handedly 34-19, and in his last season, the Bronco's John Elway was able to hoist the Super Bowl trophy for a 2nd year in a row...much to the detest of Vikings fans everywhere.

So with no Super Bowl ring to show for it, all that is left to remember that 1998 Vikings team by is the record for highest scoring team ever. And even if that record is broken by the Pats this year, that Vikings team will always be remembered as one of the most explosive offenses in the history of the NFL.

When Did Good Become Boring?

It's Official. America has lost its passion for a good butt kicking. Gone are the days when we enjoyed a fundamentally sound and well-balanced team, kicking the crap out of another team. That's right, folks...good has now apparently become boring.

When the Boston Red Sox swept the Colorado Rockies in the World Series this October, you heard the same thing from every "pseudo" baseball fan - this World Series was boring. Umm, did I miss something?

For the first time since 1998, the team with the best regular season record in baseball won the World Series. A rarity since the playoffs expanded to the current wild-card system. Not only that, the 2007 Red Sox were a great model for what MLB teams aim to have - a well balance of veterans and home-grown youth with solid hitting backed by strong pitching and defense.

In fact, their farm system and team model is quickly becoming the envy of the entire league, as they have developed an amazing number of productive players within their own system. Names like Jonathan Papelbon, Kevin Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia, Manny Delcarmen, Jacoby Ellsbury, Jon Lester...guys that not only held their own in the regular and post-season, but went above and beyond any expectations that anyone could have ever imagined.

These aren't the Yankees my friends, stuffing their pockets full of as many high-priced veterans as they could...this is a brand of baseball that is not only going to compete NOW, but can sustain itself for years to come. Ho hum, right? Yeah, REAL boring.

Let me just ask, when did we stop blaming the bad team for being bad, and start blaming the good team for being, well..too good?

Yes, America has always loved the underdog, especially as of late...but history proves that we love our dominating franchises even more. Think about it...The Dallas Cowboys, The 49er's, the Yankees, the Chicago Bulls, the Boston Celtics, The Lakers...we LOVED these teams, and we loved them even more when they won. We KNEW who was going to win, and yet we still rooted for them all the way.

I wasn't alive when the Yankees were dominating baseball in the mid-1900's, but isn't that supposedly why there are so many Yankee fans still today? Because we used to like a dominating team. You knew they would win, so rooting for them was easy, I guess.

Look at college football and the joke of a system they use to rank the teams...where your win/loss record is the only determining factor in the value of your team. We value the unbeaten in this sport more then any other...and yet it's not considered boring at all by most. But alas, the joke is on college football as it produces the most boring post-season format in all of sports...so perhaps it is flawed.

The greatest example of this new hate for the best in sports today, though, is with the San Antonio Spurs. A team I despise, but admire greatly. I think you can actually pinpoint this recent hate and boredom for great teams precisely on them. They epitomize the definition of getting it done, without the flare of an obnoxious, self-absorbed superstar. They play the game, and they play it right...which is now becoming something less and less valued for some reason.

Don’t get me wrong, I'm more in favor of seeing a good competitive match-up...where the game comes down to the final buzzer or even overtime. But this new fad of hating teams solely because they are good, and dominate their sport is a joke....because at our deepest roots, its what we really love.

I'm not sure if it's the resurgence of the Boston Celtics, who have won their first three games by an average margin of 16 points or perhaps the Patriots who have garnered complaints of running up the score at times this season, that was my inspiration for writing this...but it's true...as American's we've lost our appreciation for a good, dominating team...and are now going as far as to label them as boring.

Last I checked, these are professional athletes and coaches who get paid a lot of money to execute their game on the field, and when its done right...almost to the level of perfection, its still a thing of beauty in this sports fan's mind...no matter what team it is, or who they're playing.

The Minnesota Trifecta

There is a lot to be excited about in the city of Boston right now. The Red Sox captured their 2nd World Championship in 4 years, the Patriots are undefeated and look to make another historic run, and of course the newly remodeled Boston Celtics, who with the additions of Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen instantly go from one of the weakest teams in the east, to an obvious power house...and if you watched the Celtics 103-83 win in their season opener last Friday against the Washington Wizards, you saw it first hand. This team WILL compete.

Garnett shined in his first game as a Celtic, putting up 22 points, 20 rebounds and adding 5 assists. There was never a point in the game where he wasn't in control, and he never let up...continuing to jaw with his counterpart, Wizard's center Brendan Haywood, even late into the game when Boston had the game well in hand. The Celtics did have a little help from the Wizards though, as the DC team put up an ugly 0-16 shooting from 3-pt land. Unless Celtics coach, Doc Rivers finds a way to screw this up...there will be a lot to cheer about for Celtics fans this season. And oh yes, in case you were wondering that WAS Scot Pollard, of Sacramento Kings fame playing for Boston...known best for his outlandish hair and beard styles in the past.

But it wasn't the dominating performance of the Celtics, Scot Pollard's grizzly man beard, or the mind blowing commentary provided by announcer and former Houston Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy (I couldn't decide which he liked more, pick and rolls or the movie Fever Pitch) that grabbed my attention. It was the point that the announcers made about former Minnesota sports players and their recent insurgence into Boston area teams, and the immediate impact that they are having.

First we have the lovable David Ortiz, who made the jump from the Minnesota Twins when they released him after the 2002 season. He batted .288 with 31 home runs and 101 RBI in only 128 games in his first season for Boston in 2003 and finished fifth in the American League MVP vote. Talk about an immediate impact, he's only led them to two World Series Championships in the five years he's been there...and luckily for Boston, they have the big guy tied up under contract forever.


Second, we have the always, or should I say formerly controversial star, NFL wide receiver Randy Moss...who didn't come DIRECTLY from Minnesota (he spent two very forgettable years with the Oakland Raiders) before coming to the New England Patriots. But perhaps no other former Minnesota player has had MORE of an immediate impact in New England sports then Moss has had with the Patriots this season. Thru the first nine games, he has 56 receptions for 924 yards and 12 TD's...and the Patriots only have the best record in the NFL, undefeated at 9-0 and fresh off a comeback win against the league's other best team, their rival the Indianapolis Colts. A game in which Moss excelled, racking up 145 yards and a TD. As I think back to what Minnesota received for Moss from the Raiders, LB Napoleon Harris, a 1st round pick in which Minnesota took Troy Williamson with, and a 7th round draft pick that isn't even worth mentioning...as a Vikings fan, I can only shake my head. Even more baffling was what the Patriots had to give up to the Raiders to get Moss (4th round pick, 110th overall in the draft). Are you kidding me? The only people that should be more upset then Vikings fans, are Raider fans. Sure Moss was nothing short of garbage in his two seasons with the Raiders, but after this season, that trade will most likely go down as one of the more lopsided in recent history.

Last, but most important in completing the Minnesota Sports Trifecta, we have the trade that brought former Minnesota Timberwolves star Kevin Garnett to the Boston Celtics. Not as lopsided as the previous two acquirements, as Minnesota did come out of it with a star to be, in the young Al Jefferson...but still huge. The Celtics instantly go from one of the league's worst, to a potential contender for the top team in the east. Kevin Garnett finally gets to compete, and Celtics fans can finally step foot back into the oddly named TD Banknorth Garden for something other then a mediocre hockey game.

As a Minnesota sports fan, this only made me think of other great things that we have given up and seen shine elsewhere. If you watched the second game of that NBA double header that night...you saw yet another successful contribution that we as Minnesota sports fans have given up, in the Los Angeles Lakers. You may have noticed that 60th anniversary logo the Lakers are wearing on their jerseys this season...that's because 60 years ago in 1947, the Detroit Gems moved to Minnesota and became the newly formed Minneapolis Lakers, starting their historic legacy as the NBA's premier team. From 1947 to 1960 the Lakers became one of the first dominating teams of the newly formed NBA league and were considered the first dynasty, winning the Championship five out of six years (1949, 1950, 1952, 1953, 1954). But after a few dismal years shortly thereafter, attendance was down and the team owner Bob Short packed up and moved the team to Los Angeles, giving the west coast their first professional basketball team. I'm not old enough to have been around for those years, but my Dad was and appropriately raised me a Laker fan because of it. He may have lost his team, but a move wasn't going to take the Laker fan out of him and he still cheers them on to this day. It was his early memories as a young boy that kept him a fan....either that, or it was the odd assimilation to the team colors of purple and gold, who knows.

And then there's hockey, which I'm not even going to get into because the move of the North Stars to Dallas probably stings the worst for Norsk fans. Dallas? DALLAS? Hockey in Dallas?! Oh, and they won the Stanley Cup in 1999 after leaving the "State of Hockey", too...of course.

But all is not lost for Minnesota sports fans...we have a TREMENDOUS young player in running back, Adrian Peterson who if his back doesn't get injured from carrying this dismal team...will be good for a long time. This last Sunday, Peterson set an NFL rushing record, racking up 296 yards on the ground for three TD's and single handedly brought back the Vikings in the second half to beat the fickle San Diego Chargers. Even Charger running back and stud himself, Ladanian Tomlinson had to sit back and appreciate the performance saying, "I was just sitting over there on the sidelines, and to have over 200 yards in the second half, that's impressive, I've never seen anything like it."

Chester Taylor, who?

So, it seems at least in the immediate present, the ever evolving story of dejected Minnesota sports fans will continue, as we are forced to watch some of our favorite former players do well with other teams in other markets. The Timberwolves are a bust so I won't feel bad rooting for KG to do well as a Celt...even though rooting for the Celtics goes against everything I was raised on, there's a lot to like about this Celtics team...and speaking on behalf of Minnesota sports fans everywhere....we ALL say, you're welcome.