No One Elected into Baseball HOF (You Can Do That?)

If only we could do this with politicians.

The baseball writers who decide who goes into the Hall of Fame effectively concluded that no one gets in this year. They failed to elect anyone into the HOF for a 2nd time in 4 decades. Notables failing to get in include Barry Bonds (36.3%), Roger Clemens (37.6%), and Sammy Sosa (12.5%), all of which mentioned were on the ballot for the first time. There was also Mike Piazza (57.8%), Curt Schilling (38.8% ironically) and Mark McGwire (16.9%). Craig Biggio with 68.2% of the votes was the closest to get in that didn't. You need 75% of the vote to get in.

On initial tries, the steroid and PED users aren't getting in. Sure, many of them will have plenty of other chances at it but it just seems really bad when some others where there have only been rumors about PED use like Mike Piazza aren't allowed to get in. Eventually, the best of the Steroid Era should be allowed into the HOF. Even in an era of drug use, there were the best of the best. It's way too early to tell if any of them will be enshrined but it would be a real shame if no one gets in two years in a row.

P.S. Let's open the PED Users Hall of Fame. Viagra users need not apply.

Roger Clemens' Independent League Comeback

Jamie Moyer is old and managed to come back (sort of). Why not a PED using Roger Clemens?

Jut when you thought that Roger Clemens was done with baseball for life, he makes a career comeback that Brett Favre and Michael Jordon would envy. The last time that Clemens pitched was in 2007 for the Yankees. He then went off on a "I didn't take drugs" tangent and we haven't seen him since. Now, however, Roger has decided to come back and to prove that he is still worth something to a Major League Team, he signed an independent league contract with the Sugar Land Skeeters of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. Clemens pitched for them earlier today with Major League Scouts looking on and did pretty well going against players that weren't good enough to be on a minor league team. He pitched 3 1/3 innings striking out 2 and allowing one hit.

So why is Roger Clemens hoping to make a Major League comeback? Does he miss the game? Does he miss the spotlight? Does he like pitching for the Astros? (No, that can't be it) Or does he simply want to push back his eligibility voting for the Hall of Fame? Definitely the last one. With the way the Hall of Fame voting is going for the known PED users, Clemens has a better chance of getting in by delaying his eligibility by playing for a small while and pushing the clock back another 5 years. A smart move for a guy who said about getting in or not "It's not going to change my life either way." I must say that this seems to be a pretty big career move.

So will someone give Roger Clemens a chance in the Majors again? The Astros might. They have nothing to offer Houston so a 50 year old attraction might bring in the crowds. They are one of the worst teams in attendance that getting a feces throwing monkey would drive interest. The monkey seems to be busy though so Clemens is their best option available.

Lance Armstrong Stops Fighting Doping Allegations

There was never quite a story like Lance Armstrong. A man who had cancer that fought it and beat it then winning the Tour de France 7 times. The one blemish on that story was that occasionally there were outsiders saying that he was doping. The issue kept coming back and Lance Armstrong has always refuted time after time. This time however was one instance too far.

The US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) had been looking into Lance Armstrong and actually filed drug charges against him. Armstrong tried to fight these charges in a lawsuit saying that the USADA did not have jurisdiction but all attempts at that were thrown out by a judge. Armstrong decided against fighting through the USADA arbitration process and gave up. Armstrong is done fighting drug charges basically saying he has had enough. He once again declared his innocence, said the USADA was leading an "Unconstitutional Witch Hunt," and said he wanted to continue his work raising money for cancer research.

As a result of this, the USADA will now seek to strip Armstrong of his 7 Tour titles and will most likely be able to do so. They will also ban him from the sport for life.

So why give up now? It could be a number of things: he really is tired of fighting these accusations, he saw he wasn't going to win the case and just quit, he doesn't want to go broke fighting it, or he actually did cheat. I tend to think he did cheat but probably wouldn't swear on it. The sport of cycling is too corrupt and the recent winners of the Tour having their titles stripped away because of drug use makes me think that there can't be anyone that can win this thing 7 times in a row.

In the respect to cancer research, I hope that Lance Armstrong will be able to continue to help the cause. But in any other regard, he's still human.

P.S. I really don't care whether or not Lance took drugs because cycling is just so boring but why is everyone so eager to defend him? Where was this for Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds? The minute a baseball player's name is dropped in PED use, everyone assumes guilt immediately. Why not with Lance? Why must we hold Lance Armstrong as infallible?