Here’s a baseball trivia question almost guaranteed to get you beaten up in the barroom after you ask it.
Who’s the only person to play for the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team, the New York Rangers hockey team and the New York Knicks basketball team?
The answer is Gladys Gooding, that wonderful woman who played the organ at Madison Square Garden and Ebbets Field.
OK, it’s a trick question, But there’s nothing really tricky _ or for that matter, trivial _ about the next question.
Who holds the Major League Baseball record for most home runs in a season?
The answer is Roger Maris, who hit 61 in 1961.
Who says so?
I do.
Don’t be telling me that Barry Bonds holds the record with 73 or that Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa have each hit more than 61 homers in a season. I don’t want to hear it.
It is my considered opinion that Bonds, McGwire and Sosa used steroids. It is also the opinion of anybody else who has a brain.
The players are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, but in the law of common sense they are anything but innocent.
In short, they’re cheaters. They didn’t come by all their home runs honestly.
It has often been said that life imitates baseball (and, I suppose, vice-versa). Both have their heroes and their villains _ good guys and bad guys, if you will.
Bonds, McGwire and Sosa are bad guys. Maris was a good guy, even if he did shoot the fans at Yankee Stadium a bird one night while they were booing him.
Hank Aaron is a good guy, too, and the answer to another trivia question.
Who will hold the record for most Major League career home runs when the current season is over?
Again, don’t talk to me about Barry Bonds, the poster child for "Better Ballplayers Through Chemistry."
Bonds is a jerk, a vainglorious liar undeserving of any cheers he receives from misguided fans.
Aaron will be the real record-holder until Alex Rodriguez hits his 756th home run sometime in the next decade.
When Aaron played, he was all about class and dignity, much like the players who joined him in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown last weekend, Cal Ripken Jr. and Tony Gwynn.
McGwire, whose cowardly, feckless testimony to a congressional committee about his steroid use was painfully embarrassing to witness, was denied entry into the Hall of Fame during this, his first year of eligibility.
He is unlikely to be elected next year or the year after that by the sports media members who vote on who gets inducted.
Neither should Sosa or Bonds when they become eligible, because, like McGwire, they are cheaters.
It’s very simple, really. Aaron, Ripken and Gwynn are good guys. Bonds, McGwire and Sosa are bad guys.
Baseball, of course, hasn’t cornered the market on bad guys when it comes to professional sports.
Right now, the most vilified person in the whole country may be Michael Vick, who plays quarterback for the National Football League’s Atlanta Falcons.
Well, more accurately, Vick used to play quarterback for the Falcons.
Soon, he’ll be playing defendant in a Virginia courtroom.
A federal grand jury in Richmond indicted Vick and three other men on charges related to a dogfighting operation on property owned by Vick, who has unconvincingly denied knowing what was going on there.
The 19-page indictment says that Vick, one of the NFL’s marquee players, was at the vicious fights and bet on them.
Tony Taylor, one of the men indicted with Vick, has already made a plea deal to testify against the quarterback.
The indictment alleges that in April, Vick and co-defendants Purnell Peace and Quanis Phillips were incredibly cruel to dogs that didn’t fight well enough.
The men "executed approximately eight dogs that did not perform well in 'testing’ sessions by various methods, including hanging, drowning and/or slamming at least one dog’s body to the ground," the indictment says.
Vick was also allegedly consulted by Peace before Peace electrocuted a dog.
If Vick were a drug dealer or wife-beater or some other plague on the human race, it’s unlikely there would be the furor we’re seeing now.
But woe unto anyone in this country who abuses an animal, especially a dog.
Vick’s lucrative contracts with Reebok, Nike and Rawlings have been suspended or canceled.
He is unlikely to play for the Falcons this season, and even if he’s not in prison, his career is in deservedly serious jeopardy.
The American public has determined that Michael Vick is a bad guy.
For disillusioned fans, making certain they’re cheering for good guys has sadly become anything but a trivial pursuit.
___
Sam Pollak is editor of The Daily Star. He can be reached at spollak@thedailystar.com or at (607) 432-1000, ext. 208.
Columns
Related Photos
Discussion
COMMENTING ON STORIES:
Welcome to our story comments feature. We welcome your thoughts and your opinions, including the unpopular ones. We only ask that you keep your conversations clean, civil and on the topic of the story you are commenting on.
Coinciding with our websites redesign, we launched our new story comments feature through Disqus.
Disqus gives users the ability to log into our story comments feature so that they may be able to track their conversations, receive emails when their comments get a reply or to even have your comments update onto your Facebook or Twitter accounts.
For the time being, our story comments feature will continue to have the ability to post comments anonymously. We reserve the right to require registration in the future using your name and verified email address.
Not all comments are deemed printable. Some are disqualified at the newspaper’s discretion for a number of different reasons. Please follow our Online Rules of Conduct at all times.
RULES OF CONDUCT:
We reserve the right to remove comments that are unacceptable, to wit:
1. False and inacurate statements.
2. Personal attacks. Explicit name-calling.
3. Harassing, harmful, vulgar, obscene and defamatory language.
4. Threatening statements or statements that suggest violence.
5. Hate speech of any kind.
6. Intolerant comments on religion, race, age, gender, sexual preference or disabilities.
7. Accusations of criminal activity.
8. Content that is harmful to children and minors in any way.
9. References to any type of sexual activity and other private matters.
10. Random and inflammatory statements that are off topic.
11. Advertising of any kind.
12. Typing in all caps.
WE ENCOURAGE REASONABLE AND COURTEOUS COMMENTS THAT:
1. Create conversation on issues of interest and concern to fellow readers and local community members.
2. Express opinions and contrarian views.
3. Stimulate debate with respectful language.
4. Stay within the boundaries of these rules.
WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO SUSPEND OR TERMINATE ACCESS FOR:
1. Violating any of these Online Rules of Conduct.
2. Deliberately disrupting discussions with repetitive messages, meaningless messages or spam.
3. Misrepresentation of identity or impersonating another user.
WE WELCOME:
1. Flagging violations of these rules that you observe to our attention.
MONITORING:
We monitor comments regularly Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Approval of comments outside of this time (including weekends) will be sporadic.
Welcome to our story comments feature. We welcome your thoughts and your opinions, including the unpopular ones. We only ask that you keep your conversations clean, civil and on the topic of the story you are commenting on.
Coinciding with our websites redesign, we launched our new story comments feature through Disqus.
Disqus gives users the ability to log into our story comments feature so that they may be able to track their conversations, receive emails when their comments get a reply or to even have your comments update onto your Facebook or Twitter accounts.
For the time being, our story comments feature will continue to have the ability to post comments anonymously. We reserve the right to require registration in the future using your name and verified email address.
Not all comments are deemed printable. Some are disqualified at the newspaper’s discretion for a number of different reasons. Please follow our Online Rules of Conduct at all times.
RULES OF CONDUCT:
We reserve the right to remove comments that are unacceptable, to wit:
1. False and inacurate statements.
2. Personal attacks. Explicit name-calling.
3. Harassing, harmful, vulgar, obscene and defamatory language.
4. Threatening statements or statements that suggest violence.
5. Hate speech of any kind.
6. Intolerant comments on religion, race, age, gender, sexual preference or disabilities.
7. Accusations of criminal activity.
8. Content that is harmful to children and minors in any way.
9. References to any type of sexual activity and other private matters.
10. Random and inflammatory statements that are off topic.
11. Advertising of any kind.
12. Typing in all caps.
WE ENCOURAGE REASONABLE AND COURTEOUS COMMENTS THAT:
1. Create conversation on issues of interest and concern to fellow readers and local community members.
2. Express opinions and contrarian views.
3. Stimulate debate with respectful language.
4. Stay within the boundaries of these rules.
WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO SUSPEND OR TERMINATE ACCESS FOR:
1. Violating any of these Online Rules of Conduct.
2. Deliberately disrupting discussions with repetitive messages, meaningless messages or spam.
3. Misrepresentation of identity or impersonating another user.
WE WELCOME:
1. Flagging violations of these rules that you observe to our attention.
MONITORING:
We monitor comments regularly Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Approval of comments outside of this time (including weekends) will be sporadic.
August 6, 2007
The public determines who’s good, bad in sports
- Big Chuck D'Imperio
-
-
Upstate theme parks offered affordable thrills
I saw in the news last week that Disney theme parks are raising admission prices to almost $100 a person. Children (who Uncle Walt considers 10 and under) are now $86 a day.
Continued ... - Getting creative with gifts for grads
- Safety Patrol D.C. visits never get old
- My pal Brucie, savior of Sidney's hospital
- Catching a whiff of 'Vermont Vapor'
-
Upstate theme parks offered affordable thrills
- Cary Brunswick
-
-
Book-banning has a tendency to backfire
So what does the 1960s game show ``What's My Line'' got to do with the Bloomsday festivities occurring in Dublin, Ireland, this week? Surprisingly, there is a link.
Continued ... - Envisioning a world without terror
- We've become our own worst enemies
- Plenty of blame to go around for Bangladesh horror
- Obama is going against his word on Social Security
-
Book-banning has a tendency to backfire
- Chuck Pinkey
- Guest Column
- Lisa Miller
-
-
A view from above
Fire towers in the Catskill Mountains have always been destination points, built to capture some of the region’s best views. These sentinel stations served an important role for the earliest possible sightings of forest fires in the remote mountain ranges. But the fire towers and those who manned them fulfilled a multitude of other roles as well.
Continued ... - Being a parent is a constant learning process
- Healthy doesn't have to mean expensive
- A family era ends with close of Potter series
- Independent stores make up for loss of Borders
-
- Mark Simonson
- Rick Brockway
-
-
Don't play around with snappers
The other day, I was driving along Route 205 between Mount Vision and Hartwick. Suddenly, I had to swerve out of my lane to miss a huge snapping turtle. It was crossing from a large swamp on the left to some higher ground on the other side of the road.
- Emmons Pond Bog is pretty easy to enjoy
- Fishing has gotten a lot more complex
- Waterfalls are even better when you keep them to yourself
- Kids have sparkle in their eyes
-
Don't play around with snappers
- Sam Pollak
-
-
Justice Dept., IRS abuses worth screaming about
"If this had happened while a Republican was president, the liberal media would be screaming."
Continued ... - THIS WEEK'S POLL
- Using time off in the worst way possible
- Terror lives on, and there's no end in sight
- Remembering the glory of their times
-
Justice Dept., IRS abuses worth screaming about
- William Masters
-
-
Schreibman tops Chris Gibson on women's issues
As the time to vote draws near, we need to remember how money can run politics more than we can. Raising funds is a prominent (if not the dominant) task of getting elected. Raising issues is also crucial, but those efforts are subject to distortion and fear-mongering.
- Republicans feelentitled to allthey can garner An entitlement is a legal benefit available from the government to individuals who are within a defined category of recipients, such as needing insurance for unemployment or health services.
-
Romney focuses on self; Obama emphasizes unity
Mitt Romney criticizes President Obama for saying a person's success is rooted in his community, and is not all his alone. Romney belittles this with his belief in individual initiative. He is better at the put-down than the push-up.
-
Romney shows little regard for common man
The Republicans in Congress have voted over and over, 33 times, redundantly and uselessly, to rescind what they call Obamacare.
-
Scouts' gay ban creates problem where none exists
The Boy Scouts of America's "emphatic reaffirmation" of its vow to exclude any and all homosexuals from its hallowed ranks is ill-considered and pathetic, especially in view of its having reviewed the matter for two years.
-
Schreibman tops Chris Gibson on women's issues
