Is it going to be worth it?

Everyone this side of Tony La Russa is taking shots at Mark McGwire.

Former pitcher Fergie Jenkins, catching great Carlton Fisk, White Sox skipper Ozzie Guillen, former Cardinal slugger Jack Clark, even a convicted steroid dealer are either not exactly buying what McGwire is selling or flat-out saying that his return to the game is a disgrace.

Without naming La Russa, Guillen also perhaps took a shot at the St. Louis manager who defended McGwire for years, and even now insists he knew nothing about his slugger’s steroid use.

“When people say, ‘I don't know what happened,’ we're lying to ourselves,” Guillen said.

La Russa and the Cardinals will do everything within their power to protect their new hitting coach, but I don’t think the controversy about McGwire's past is going away anytime soon.

Heading in the right direction

The work that Gay Culverhouse (see column below) and others have done to draw more attention to the cost of rushing NFL players to action after they’ve suffered concussions is bearing fruit at other levels of the game.

According to The Associated Press, “At least a half-dozen states are considering measures that would toughen restrictions on young athletes returning to play after head injuries …”

Last year, the AP notes, Washington state passed what is considered the nation's strongest return-to-play law. Players under 18 with concussion symptoms can't take the field without a licensed health care provider's written approval.

Other states, including California and Pennsylvania, have similar bills pending. This is to the good.

Friday column: With time at a premium, she thinks of others

Gay Culverhouse doesn’t have time to dance around the issue.

Not the time, not the inclination.

If the NFL didn’t already know this, it learned it in late October when Culverhouse, daughter of the original owner of the Tampa Bay Bucs and also a past team president, told a congressional hearing what she’d discovered about her former players.

They “walk through our lives looking like old men crippled by arthritis and, in some cases, dementia,” she said. “My men have headaches that never stop. They cannot remember where they are going or what they want to say without writing it down. Some are on government welfare. Some are addicted to pain medications. Some are dead.”

It was the death of one-time Tampa Bay lineman Tom McHale — a 45-year-old with brain damage resembling a boxer’s — that spurred Culverhouse to contact former Bucs.

What she found appalled her, so much so that she began advocating for increased health benefits for ex-players, advising them about the benefits that do exist, even filling out forms for those former players who unable to do it themselves.

When she’s not advocating, she’s attacking the NFL system that underlies these serious, long-term injuries. Her weapon? Simple truth.

Calling the NFL a “cutthroat business,” Culverhouse said, “One of the things you as a committee need to understand very clearly is the fact that the team doctor is hired by the coaches and paid by the front office.” If that wasn’t clear enough, she added, “The doctor is not their medical advocate. He’s not even conflicted. He knows who pays his salary.”

To Culverhouse, simple economics drives the decisions on whether a player takes the field or not, and that, she says, has to change; the league must stop treating players as “a disposable commodity.” To that end, she founded her Player Outreach Program, designed to help all former NFL players.

“Safety must come first,” she told the hearing. “Business comes second.”

Under pressure, the NFL has taken small steps in that direction, including instituting stricter guidelines for when players should be allowed to return to action following head injuries.

In October, Culverhouse, who suffers from blood cancer and renal failure, told The New York Times that doctors had given her six months to live.

So she probably won’t be around to see any further improvements.

But when they do occur, the woman former Bucs tight end Jimmie Giles said is “like Gandhi to us” surely will be a part of them.

Contact Jim Gordon at gjames43@msn.com.

The word will come to me in a minute ...

Gosh, I thought, upon hearing that John Edwards had admitted being the father of a child with Rielle Hunter, I guess he finally decided that manning up was the right thing to do.

I should have known better.

Last week Mark McGwire admitted he used steroids in his playing days. Why? Because he needed to come out of hiding to function as the St. Louis Cardinals’ new hitting instructor. So really, then, he had no choice.

And Edwards?

Well, his admission came on the eve of a 20/20 program in which his former aide Andrew Young — who had provided cover for Edwards by claiming to be the child's father — was expected to tell the truth to promote his book, The Politician.

In other words, Edwards, like McGwire, had to choice.

There’s a word to describe Edwards that I can’t quite bring up. Let’s see, it sounds like “scrum,” but that’s not quite it. Too many letters. Maybe “rum.” No, too few letters. It will come to me eventually, I'm sure.

Theees eees schmartness, yes?

So.

You’re John Drew, Kyle Griswould or Brandon Putnama — a freshman athlete at the institution of high learning known as Duke University.

You’ve read about and seen — it’s everywhere, you can’t miss it — NBA star Gilbert Arenas mess up his life by playing with guns.

You’ve read about and seen — I’m guessing you do follow SportsCenter, right? — three Tennessee basketball players mess up their careers by playing with guns.

So … you …

Play around with a semi-automatic pistol — actually fire some shots in the air — in an early-morning incident on campus, and get yourself kicked off your football team???

Well, yes, you do and now beside losing your spot on the roster, you’re facing felony charges.

John Drew, Kyle Griswould, Brandon Putnam, you are brilliant — positively brilliant.

A sweet move

In my Friday column, I mentioned athletes, including tennis players, who had had given money for Haitian relief. I should also point out something Kim Clijsters did on her own for another cause, pre-quake.

After winning Brisbane International title — a tune-up for the Australian Open, Clijsters donated her entire winnings, $37,000, to Brisbane's Royal Children's Hospital, which she had visited the week before.

“It changes you, it stuck with me for days," said Clijsters, shown above with her daughter Jada. “It's terrible to see kids (suffering). There were boys and girls Jada's age, 17 months and 3 years old, with brain tumours and everything.
You wonder how it was possible for a young baby like that and it's not easy."

Clijsters said she hoped her "small” donation would encourage others to support the public hospital.

Friday column: Giving a darn about more than a score

Last week we learned that Mark McGwire took steroids.

This week we learned that John Edwards really is Quinn’s father.

My head be spinning.

I know what you’re thinking: Hey, people are people. And right you are. So I shouldn’t have been surprised Sunday when the aforementioned Mr. McGwire got a standing-O from Cardinals fans in his first public appearance since his tearful TV admission.

Any more than I should have been surprised when the Giants faithful cheered Barry Bonds or the Red Sox — and later the Dodger — faithful cheered Manny Ramirez. After all, fans just want to have fun, and winning — even by proxy, even with the help of a steroid cheat — is fun.

More than fun, actually.

In 2008, Drake Bennett wrote an article for the Boston Globe quoting studies that said, in his words, that “fans are not only happier when their team wins, they feel smarter, more athletic, luckier, and even more attractive.”

So what we’re really doing when we stand up and cheer for our favorite player on our favorite team in our favorite sport, is saying, “Please make me feel better about myself.”

Which might sound a bit pathetic, but the emotion involved is unquestionably powerful. Who doesn’t want to feel better about themselves?

Of course, there are other ways to accomplish that.
It’s long been understood that one of the best ways to feel better about oneself is doing something for somebody else. Jesus said it. Confucius said it. Mohammed said it.

One of the simplest expressions of the idea came from Booker T. Washington: “If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.”

The ways to lift someone else are myriad — they can be as simple as a phone call or a ride to the doctor’s office — but in some emergencies, like that of the Haitian earthquake, they often involve money.

Which brings us back to the world of sport.

The NBA and its union are contributing $1 million to help Haiti. Major League Baseball is pledging the same. The NFL and its union are giving $500,000. The NHL has donated $100,000.

Individual athletes have gotten involved. For example, Alonzo Mourning and Dwyane Wade of NBA fame started a Haitian relief fund and by the first few days had gathered $800,000 in pledges from 27 athletes.

At the Australian Open, Roger Federer organized an exhibition of top tennis stars that raised $185,000. Players also made individual contributions.

Rooting for a team that scores more points than its opponent may be an time-honored American way to self-satisfaction, but it has competition. Vince Lombardi famously said, “Winning isn’t the everything — it’s the only thing.” When it comes to feeling better about oneself, I think substituting “giving” for winning is closer to the truth.

Contact Jim Gordon at gjames43@msn.com.

As long as we're clear here

Let me get this straight.

USC is facing possible NCAA sanctions — possibly severe — for violations in its basketball and football programs. So it hires Lane Kiffin to be its new football coach — the same Lane Kiffin whose program in one year at Tennessee was cited for six rules violations and is under investigation for its use of student hostesses in recruiting?

OK then. Just as long as we're clear.

Kiffin, 1st ad

Lane Kiffin has done some classless things in his young and so-far unproductive coaching career, but nothing more distasteful than having his staff — on its way to the left coast — contact Tennessee recruits to suggest they may not want to show up for their first day of classes this week but instead consider coming with them to Southern California.

We’re not exactly believing either one

So.

Mark McGwire has no idea what steroids he was taking all those years.

Right.

That’s a pretty unbelievable claim, but only slightly more ridiculous than that of former USC football coach Pete Carroll.

Southern Cal is looking at the possibility of major sanctions against its football program for violations involving Reggie Bush, violations that occurred on Carroll’s watch. These could be sanctions that cripple the program for years, but Carroll insists that that prospect has “nothing” to do with his decision to flee one of the best college programs in the nation and take a job coaching the mediocre Seattle Seahawks.

“Nothing.”

Right, Pete. Right.

This is news to us

I got a news release sent my way Thursday saying the Postal Service had issued new stamps in celebration of the Year of the Tiger.

2010 the Year of the Tiger? We’ll see.

2009 certainly wasn’t.

On the other hand ...

The Huffington Post is reporting, based on a tweet from Def Jam co-founder Russell Simmons, that Tiger Woods is paying for a cargo plane with a mobile hospital to be sent to Haiti.

If Woods really wants to make 2010 the Year of the Tiger, that would be a great way to start.

Friday column: McGwire's story — where's the truth?

If we’ve told lies, you’ve told half-lies and a man who tells lies, like me, merely hides the truth, but a man who tells half-lies has forgotten where he put it. — Dryden to Col. Lawrence in the 1962 film Lawrence of ArabiaThough they came in a well-planned and no doubt expensive PR campaign, Mark McGwire’s confessional tears and angst I judge to be genuine.

It’s his words I have a problem with.

Let’s start with “I wish I had never played during the steroid era.”

The truth is, McGwire helped create the steroid era. If you believe the authors of Game of Shadows — and I do — the adulation showered on McGwire during his 70-home-run season goaded an envious Barry Bonds to go chemical. ESPN investigative reporter T.J. Quinn says that several players told him they were led to the juice based on McGwire’s “endorsement” of it. McGwire saying he wished he’d never played in the steroid era is like Ken Lay saying he wished he’d never worked during the Enron era.

Next on the list: “I did this for health purposes. There’s no way I did this for any type of strength use.” Which goes along with his absurd claim that if he had never juiced, he would have hit all those dingers anyway.

The truth is, even if you grant McGwire’s premise — and I don’t — then the healing properties of the drugs still helped him get off the injured list and onto the field, which resulted in more home runs than he otherwise would have hit.

Which brings us to his statement, “There’s not a pill or an injection that’s going to give me — going to give any player — the hand-eye coordination to hit a baseball.”

Perhaps so; but let’s follow a simple equation: Steroid use equals muscle; muscle equals bat speed; bat speed equals home runs. With increased bat speed, you can wait longer on a pitch and drive it farther. Balls that would die on the warning track go into the seats. How difficult is this to understand?

McGwire robbed Roger Maris of his single-season home-run record, and as he did so, used the Maris family as a feel-good prop. If he really believed he would have hit those 70 home runs in 1998 without the ’roids, why did he feel it necessary to call Maris’ widow and apologize?

Then there’s the excuse about why he didn’t come clean at the 2005 congressional hearing: He was afraid of prosecution. Fine, but as Quinn points out, by 2006 such prosecution was no longer possible, yet McGwire stayed silent.

I feel for McGwire; I do, and what I hear and read in McGwire’s words strikes me less as artifice than self-deception. When it comes to the truth, the complete truth, he’s not hiding it — he’s forgotten where he put it.

Who is Gilbert Arenas?

Recommended reading: Saturday's Sally Jenkins sympathetic-yet-tough piece in the Washington Post on the Wizards' troubled star.

Of his attempt to play the locker room gangster, Jenkins writes:

"What a weak-willed, fraudulent gesture, to pretend to be someone lesser instead of someone better. And that's the deeper offense that Arenas has committed; it's what underlies our anger at him, and our sorrow for him, and our bafflement. The most winsome, talented young man in town is indefinitely suspended from the NBA, and facing a grand jury, because he stepped down instead of up. He didn't have a strong enough sense of self to shrug off a quarrel, and had to go one-up on the dumbest guy in locker room."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/08/AR2010010802166.html

Uniters, not dividers

Recommended reading: Bill Finley's New York Times piece on Palestinian-American Niveen Rasheed and Lauren Polansky, who is Jewish.

Many would think the two Princeton basketball players would have reasons to be at odds with one another. They're anything but. What they care about, Finley writes, "are winning games and fostering a friendship that trumps whatever religious or ethnic differences may exist."

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/08/sports/ncaabasketball/08princeton.html?ref=ncaabasketball

A pointed response

Latest rumble on Gilbert Arenas’ little gun joke was that it took an even more serious turn than was thought. There are reports that when Arenas laid out four guns in the Wizards’ locker room and invited Jarvis Crittenton to choose one, Crittenton surprised Arenas by throwing one of Arenas’ guns to the floor and producing his own, into which he inserted a round, while singing.

Meanwhile Arenas, while saying all the right things through his lawyers, has continued to say and do all the wrong things himself, including his continued ill-advised tweeting and his taking the court for a recent game while pointing his fingers at his teammates as if they were guns (ha-ha).

All of which got him suspended indefinitely. Arenas seemed to expect such a turn. After meeting with the law Monday, Arenas said he feared NBA commissioner David Stern more than the authorities because he was “mean.”

Two comments:

1) Stern might or might not be mean, but he can’t put Arenas in jail. That the authorities can do.

2) Stern might or might not be mean, but he’s not stupid — stupid enough to allow Arenas to continue to tarnish the league’s reputation without responding both quickly and decisively. The difference between Stern and Arenas is that Stern — whatever else you think of him — is an adult.

Such good news

So.

The car carrying the four University of Tennessee basketball players arrested on drug, alcohol and weapons charges was a rental belonging to a friend of one of the players.

Trumpeted T. Scott Jones, who represents the friend and her family: "There are no NCAA violations here."

That still leaves the little matter of the two semiautomatic 9 mm handguns — loaded magazines for each — the bag of marijuana and the open container of alcohol that were found.

But no NCAA violations! Whew!

Friday column: It would all make sense in an alternative universe

Man is said to be a rational animal, though one wonders in a world where New York City spends taxpayer dollars to teach people how to shoot heroin and a Saudi program tries to rehabilitate terrorists with art therapy.

Thank God for the world of sports, that bastion of sanity, where:

* The Washington Wizards’ Gilbert Arenas can store four handguns in his locker at the Verizon Center and justify this violation of NBA rules by stating he wanted the weapons out of his house because of the birth of his third child.

You were worried about the safety of your third child, Gilbert? What were your first two, chopped liver?

* Florida coach Urban Meyer can flat-out lie about his recent hospitalization for chest pains and claim he did so to protect his children and his football team.

What’s more dishonorable than using your kids as an excuse? I’m guessing, Urban, your lie was actually designed to keep your next batch of recruits from straying to other programs.

* Gilbert Arenas (yes, same fellow) can get into an argument over a gambling debt with Javaris Crittenton, bring out guns from his locker, tell his teammate to choose one, and explain it away by saying he has a “goofball” sense of humor.

Right — nothing funnier in the African American community than gun violence, Gilbert.

* After four of his players are arrested on gun, drug and alcohol charges, Tennessee men’s head basketball coach Bruce Pearl can tell women’s coach Pat Summitt he’s sorry “if” his team has tarnished the good image she’s worked hard to build.

Any apology with the word IF in it is worthless, Bruce.

* Urban Meyer (yup, same one) can resign one day, citing health concerns and the importance of being there for his family, then turn around and unresign, claiming his change was a family decision.

Using your family as a crutch for what YOU want to do is really getting old, Urban.

* University of Tennessee athletic director Mike Hamilton can sound as though the school is doing something about its problem athletes, saying he wants to “make sure we’re doing everything possible in the education process to make sure our student athletes understand exactly what our expectations are …”

You mean you have to EXPLAIN to your … um … student-athletes that your expectations don’t include them getting arrested for drugs, alcohol and firearms?

We’ll turn the floor over to one Alvin Jackson, a pitcher who had the misfortune to toil for the worst team in baseball history, the 1962 Mets. One day after five straight Mets errors, his manager — in order to spare his sanity — decided to relieve him, but neglected to inform him of that fact. As Jackson walked back to the mound to start the next inning, he heard the PA system blare, “Now pitching for the Mets … Ray Davialt!”

Jackson threw up his hands and yelled, “Everybody here crazy!”

Indeed.

Contact Jim Gordon at gjames43@msn.com.