The Zimmermann Note

Read the Mitchell Report

I have scanned some of the pages to see if my favorite players are on it. Of course the bombshell is that both Roger Clemens and Andy Pettite are on it but also includes the likes of Miguel Tejada, Eric Gagne among others. It will be interesting to see what the fallout from this is.

It is also interesting to see how different players have been treated regarding it. Jason Giambi came clean and for the most part has not had the issues that could be surrounding him now. Tejada has denied involvement as has Clemens and Pettitte earlier when their names were brought up.

What is notable is the amount of New York Players past and present that have been on the list and we are not even close to naming some of the Florida players, (Ivan Rodriguez anyone?)

For some players the punishment of being on the list will be enough to keep them out of the Hall if they were not going to be a shoe-in. Clemens is another story entirely as he has in the last 5-6 years gone to lengths that many figured would never occur again. Clemens 354 victories especially the numbers after 40 are pretty amazing.

Is he Hall of Fame Material though? What is happening with baseball is the crippling aspect that our greatest players have also been the greatest failures. The list goes on and on. Pete Rose, Bonds, Clemens, Palmeiro, Mark McGwire etc. have all cheated the game one way or another. Should they be welcomed into the Hall?

The other question of course would be the borderline cases of clean players? Are their numbers more impressive now?

Frank Thomas should be a shoe-in based on his no-steroids approach. His 500 Home Runs and counting will mean much more today than maybe in years past. Also it should be mentioned that since we do not know the full extent of all the steroid abuses over the years, how do we treat anyone in that category? Can we assume that just because A-Rod isn’t bloated that he could be a roids user as well? As Mitchell explained, this report was only based on the findings that had become known and does not mention the number of people that might still be using Steroids, or even Human Growth Hormone which at this time is still not detectable in drug screenings.

I am happy to see that there were no significant names on the Sox that were listed. Jim Parque was listed although it seems that was done after he left the Sox.  His career ended over the fact that he got injured and could not throw a fastball above 88. I have a feeling this is why he went this route. The other player, Scott Schoenweis was also listed as having drugs sent to Comiskey but he was always a bum anyhow and had a bad attitude.

I must be mad. Kenny Williams is just receiving lumps of coal on his voyage of reassembling the team this offseason.

Listing of Grievances

1. Not signing Torii Hunter, albeit 90 million is a lot for him.

2. Not getting Miguel Cabrera in a trade, which really would have opened the floodgates for additional trades.

3. Losing Kosuke Fukodome to the Cubs even though they offered more money to Fukodome.

4. Losing out on the Aaron Rowand Sweepstakes. They did not want to give him a 5th year.

Fact is that the Sox have little to offer this offseason. They made a lot of predictions of big things but the Kenny Williams bandwagon must be losing his focus. All I can say is that some of the stuff that went on with Buerhle and Dye could have rubbed off on other players. I can also see why Rowand was not going to waste his time only signing a three or four year deal, however, at the same time, Rowand will have difficulty even getting close to those numbers in San Fran. That team has no offense period compared to the protection he got from the high powered Phillies.

 Still I am thinking of getting a season ticket package this season. 13 games would be really awesome. 

From Silicon Alley Insider 

Basically the YouTube Clips from the Zeppelin shows have become blocked and the claims are that this is from Warner Bros., however, there seems to be no official word regarding this as of yet why this is occurring.

Interesting story nonetheless and something to follow-up on.

The Scotsman 

There’s life in the legend yet as Led Zeppelin hit new high
JULIA KUTTNER
AT THE O2 IN LONDON
ALMOST 20 years since they last took to the stage together, Led Zeppelin drowned out the commotion accompanying the most hyped concert in a generation with a blistering two-hour set.

More than 20 million people had applied for 18,000 seats for the charity gig at London’s O2 arena and one Scottish fan was rumoured to have paid £83,000 for two tickets.

The legendary band’s 12-year reign of guitar blues and rock earned them worldwide worship in the shape of 300 million record sales.

And last night Led Zeppelin landed their mothership and fulfilled their promise.

Before the event, guitarist Jimmy Page had implored fans not to compare the charity show to others in the past and had insisted the concert would be a one-off.

Surviving members Page, singer Robert Plant, and bassist and keyboard player John Paul Jones were joined by the late John Bonham’s son, Jason, on drums.

The fundraising event was for an education project in memory of Ahmet Ertegun, the Atlantic Records boss who signed the band in 1968.

After the lights went down, newsreel footage of a 1975 performance in Tampa, Florida, was projected onstage.

With thousands of fans worked into a frenzy, Bonham began thumping the skittering beat before the surviving founders joined in on Good Times, Bad Times.

In jeans not quite as famously tight as they were 27 years ago, Plant still had the energy to strut his 59-year-old body across the stage. However, he mercifully kept his shirt buttoned up.

The 20-minute long Dazed and Confused raised stadium rock to a new level.

With tickets featuring a face value of £125, if you thought the audience had dug into their pension funds for a big night out you may be right.

But there was plenty of punching the air by fans who wouldn’t have been walking in 1980, the year John Bonham died.

Since then, Led Zeppelin have performed only a handful of gigs, including Live Aid in 1985 and an Atlantic Records anniversary show three years later.

By their own admission, each reunion was a shambles, so anticipation ahead of last night’s set at was high.

It was chance to revisit a time when rock was king, the record industry was at its peak and Led Zeppelin were its all conquering leaders.

After more than an hour the bulk of the fans got what they seemed to want most – a rendition of Stairway To Heaven.

Plant seemed to shake away the years and get livelier as the show went on. And two hours in the band were still running on full engines as they launched into the shuddering opening of Kashmir.

Whole Lotta Love had the crowd screaming out every word along with a passionate Plant. And the furiously fast finale of Rock n’ Roll had the arena whipped into a frenzy.

An emotional Plant thanked the fans, but had Led Zeppelin enjoyed the experience as much as their 18,000 lucky followers?

This morning millions of rock fans will be crossing their fingers and hoping for a positive answer to that question.

THE SET LIST
Good Times Bad Times

Ramble On

Black Dog

In My Time Of Dying

For Your Life

Trampled Underfoot

Nobody’s Fault

No Quarter

Since I’ve Been Loving You

Dazed And Confused

Stairway To Heaven

The Song Remains The Same

Misty Mountain Hop

Kashmir

Whole Lotta Love

Rock’n’Roll

From everything that I have heard about this, it sounded like an amazing evening. 

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,315194,00.html

You have to love this story, however, it makes me sad that someone that is so out of it is able to land themselves a Nationally Syndicated Television show like the view.

Mitt Romney wants to be the religious conservative that is not a religious conservative.  Mormonism has also become a very difficult issue for Americans and Romney to deal with. While Kennedy might have had problems being a Roman Catholic in the 60s, I think that the difference between Catholicism and Mormonism is that Mormonism is slightly askew in its beliefs, especially the issue of Polygamy, as well as some of the views of the Mormon Religion which is not truly Protestant or Catholic but falls outside both of these groups. Mormons in their own way are looked at as a “Cult” in some sects of the Christian faith and by these same people not really considered Christians whatsoever.

While all three groups do share the bible as a source for their beliefs, Mormons also use the book of Mormon and that is where the problems truly exist.

How do you pretend to be a man of faith within a party of faith that does not trust your faith?

I have to be honest with you that I am not much of a hockey fan or I wasn’t but I ended up sitting around and watching the Blackhawks play Phoenix today and was visibly surprised just how good they were. What was even more special was watching the Hawks on their home ice on television, something that hasn’t happened as far as I have been alive.

It is something to be excited about in this city where the Bears are struggling and the Bulls look like a farm team.