MITCH BLATT

Last week, Busch family member and the son of Cardinals owner (and very properly named for such an aristocrat) Adolphus A. Busch IV criticized Mark McGwire, Bud Selig and the Cardinals organization in an eight-paragraph statement.

I ignored it at the time, but one section sticks out at me for the sheer idiocy of continuing to ban Pete Rose when nearly ever home run leader of the past decade has been a cheater:

“Mark McGwire chose to take performance-enhancing drugs nine of his 18 years in professional baseball,” the statement continued. “He was paid millions while perpetrating a fraud. So how is it MLB Commissioner Bud Selig gives him a pass and welcomes McGwire back to the very game he betrayed?”

- St. Louis Today

Amazing.

Photo: AP

When Mark McGwire got around to talking about the past, he finally admitted to using steroids.

The news was greeted with a collective yawn.

Now some days later, I’m thinking, would Barry Bonds get elicit the same reaction if he admitted to taking steroids?

I know there’s a lot of differences between the two, and I will point those out in the rest of the article. The similarity is that both of them took steroids to set home-run records, and both of them, basically already admitted to it: McGwire, in front of Congress, and Bonds, in front of a grand jury.

Bonds has received by far a lot more media coverage and fan hate.

Well, for one thing, he was already enough of a “bad guy” before taking steroids, so that’s one thing driving it.

And he does actually hold the single-season records and all-time records for home runs. It just so happens that he had the misfortune of breaking the record when steroids was a big news story, and Big Mac’s run came before that.

With that comment, there is a question of what drives the media: Obviously Bonds’ home run spree helped drive the media conversation on steroids, and McGwire’s did too, but not to the same degree.

In 1998, McGwire was found with andro in his locker, and he admitted to taking it. The media narrative turned to steroids for a short time after that, but the most people in the media seemed to push away the steroid aspect. Andro isn’t steroids, and they didn’t seem to want to entertain the idea that McGwire could be taking steroids, or that andro was in a similar sphere to steroids. People seemed to want McGwire to break the record and didn’t want their fun dampened.

Then when 2008 rolled around, certainly we knew more about how rampant steroid-use was, and Jose Canseco had published his book, so of course there’s gonna be more scrutiny.

Furthermore, Bonds’ story also involves America’s justice system, and Americans like a good law and order case. The back-and-forth between Bonds and the prosecution made for a good story, but the case has been indefinitely postponed since last February, presumably because the feds can’t get enough evidence, what with Bonds’ trainer refusing to speak.

Then there’s that last small difference between Bonds and McGwire, the one I haven’t mentioned yet, but I know most of you were thinking about it when I wrote the headline. I don’t know if race has anything to do with it, and I don’t think there’s any reliable way to tell. I’ve already noted a lot of reasons why Bonds legitimately gets more negative coverage than McGwire. I hope race isn’t another factor, and I’m certainly not going to say that it is, having already said that “I don’t know if it is,” but when you think about the two narratives, that’s obviously something to think about.

(And if anyone wants to misquote me, they can go back and read that last paragraph.)

Photo: Reuters

MITCHELL BLATT

Baseball just keeps getting hit with more steroid news, and somehow we are supposed to be surprised, and the game isn’t supposed to be pure.

The latest bad news for baseball is that Manny Ramirez tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs the same week that Selena Roberts released her book accusing A-Rod of having taken steroids ever since high school.

It’s another reminder that baseball’s numbers for the past decade or so are fake and inflated. But what isn’t?

Just a few years ago, the Schiller Home Price Index was up to 180. It had risen about 70% between 1995 and 2005. The Dow Jones average had risen by about 350% in that same time period. America is based on fake inflated numbers.

The financial markets are fake. Home values were fake. Reality TV is fake.

Now we know that A-Rod was engaging in pitch tipping to his opponents in exchange for them tipping him, so there are more fake numbers there. But, baseball’s not the only sports with fake numbers.

The University of Toledo has had some players indicted in a point-shaving scheme. And if steroids are a problem in baseball, imagine how much they must be used in football.

Despite years of cheating and breaking federal law, players like A-Rod and Giambi continue to play baseball with little repercussions beyond public embarrassment. This consequence-free existence is paramount to current American events as well.

Run your car company into the ground? Have a bailout. Make stupid financial deals with irresponsible loans and derivative trading? Bailout.

The government runs up a trillion dollar deficit helping their irresponsible friends and they finance it by printing more fake money based on no value backing. They think they can just create value out of nothing and use it to “stimulate” the economy back to excessive levels while the American consumer continues to spend more money than they take in.

Baseball may be fake, but that’s just in keeping with it’s tradition as America’s national pastime.

Mitch Blatt: I think you were a little too quick to rush to judgment on A-Rod taking steroids because Derek Jeter said yesterday that we should give A-Rod the benefit of the doubt.

Scott Jacobs: lmao

SJ: Uh oh.  Jeter better not be on ‘roids.

MB: Perhaps he misrembered when he confessed.

SJ: lmao, it’s such a joke.

MB: He might escape bonds’ fate though since he did confess, and people still hate Bonds more than him anyhow.

SJ: Yeah, this is true, but he’s still a cheater. Like I said in my article: if you cheat for 3 years, I don’t care if you were clean for 14.

MB: Yeah i already hated him so I’m going to pile on, but if I look at the whole steroid era objectively I kind of have mixed feelings.

SJ: It’s a joke, a total joke

MB: We don’t know how many sluggers were doing it, and on some level, I am a moralist, rationalizing decisions like that.  If everyone was doing it, than the circumstances change somewhat.

SJ: I don’t think so.  If everyone kills someone that makes it okay? If everyone robs a bank that makes it okay? If everyone rapes a girl that makes it okay?

MB: Well first, each of those situations has a more implicit outcome on other people.  Whereas steroids just boosts you up and then makes it harder for others to compete, it would be like the feds printing more money for themselves, not like robbing a bank.

However on a larger level, if everyone is doing something and it is accepted by society, than that makes it right, because right and wrong is basically created by society.

SJ: To some degrees that’s true.

MB: I mean a communist would look at America and say all of us are evil for engaging in capitalism.

SJ: This is true.  Here’s my take: A-Rod takes us for idots, he lied to 60 minutes, and he claims he doesn’t know what he puts in his body.  Bulloney!

MB: Yeah that’s certainly BS.

SJ: Athletes kill themselves to ge in peak physical condition.

MB: And his claims against the Sports Illustrated reporter probably are too.

SJ: He knew exactly what he was putting in his body.

SJ: Yeah, the claims on Selena Roberts are way out of line if untrue. He bashed the crap out of her journalistic integrity.   He was desperate, and he needed someone to take the fall with him. Who better to attack then the writer?

And you think he went on the air under his own good conscience and remorse? No, I’m sure Scott Boras forced him to do that interview right away, and A-Rod went with it. What really grinds my gears about this whole mess is that A-Rod is the highest paid player in the game, and it makes me sick to think that the games highest paid player was cheating.

MB: What’s worse: the home run king cheating, or the highest paid player?

SJ: Here’s the thing about Bonds: he dug himself a hole early on before any of this ever happened, because he was an arrogant, all about me player, who the media hated. The media wanted him to fail.  He was a jerk to them.

MB: Yeah and because he denied it and because he was earlier on than the others, and because he lied in front of a grand jury, not just to the media.

SJJakes: Right. And because he was pompous; he wasn’t a likable guy. At least McGwire and Sosa were likable during their glory run.

MB: I fail to see how A-Rod is likable…

SJ: Um, I think there’s two schools of thought: he’s generally accountable for mistakes he makes, he’s never done anything stupid with the law (up until now), and he’s been a freak of nature ever since he broke into the league at the age of 18.  But none of that matters now.

MITCHELL BLATT

As Barry Bonds approached the home run record, fans were booing him, throwing syringes at him, and his 756th home run ball was branded with an asterisk.

Now that Alex Rodriguez is approaching the home run record and has admitted to using steroids, will he face the same fate?

Probably not. By admitting to using steroids early, he has dodged the denial process that makes fans so angry. Everyone knows that Bonds used steroids, and the evidence keeps piling up, yet he will not take any blame, so that just fuels so much rage against him.

After years of failed denials by others, A-Rod–or more precisely, Scott Boras, I assume–knew that denial wouldn’t work. (Instead he accused SI reporter Selena Roberts of breaking into his house.)

Fans are still going to be mad at him–and rightfully so–but he may not face as much pressure as Bonds did when he broke the home run record.

Obviously admitting his roid use takes a lot of scrutiny off of him, but he has other things playing for him as well.

First, Bonds’ steroid use broke earlier than most of the other controversies. Since he was so good and the shock of steroid use was so new, he became the face of steroids. Now the fact that A-Rod used steroids is largely greeted with yawns.

In fact, Jose Canseco helped him in 2007 by spreading the rumor that A-Rod took steroids. Since people had heard it from Canseco back then, it was already embedded to some extent in their minds, so it was no shock when it was reported as fact.

Despite A-Rod’s image as an overpaid Yankee, no one can come close to Bonds’ negative perception in the media. That the media didn’t get along with him did him no good.

Finally, Bonds might be escaping some scrutiny now that he retired, but, perhaps his biggest mistake was lying in front of a grand jury. If you lie to the media, they stop caring after you retire, but since he committed a federal crime, he has to keep facing stories like earlier this week when new evidence was released against him including failed steroid test results.

Since the fans hate Bonds so much, A-Rod’s approach of the home run record may largely be cheered just because he is less hated. It’s like they asked in South Park, would you rather support a giant douche or a turd sandwich?

SCOTT JACOBS

Sometimes you want to go up to an athlete and ask them, “how stupid do you think I am?”

Alex Rodriguez confessed to using, well something illegal, but he couldn’t put a name on it, because apparently he didn’t know what he was putting in his body.  Damn I hate when great athletes say that.  You know why?  Because these are guys who treat their bodies like their temple.  They watch everything they eat.  Sure they have trainers, and nutriotinists, and other guys of that nature, but you mean to tell me that guys as good as A-Rod had no clue, none, whatsoever about what they were putting in their temples?  Yeah, right.

A-Rod claims he was young and stupid.  Yup, they always seem to resort to that.  But what really bothered me was when A-Rod said he had never even heard of guys taking performance enhancers while he was with Seattle.  He can’t possibly be serious.  Allegations were flying left and right in the late 1990’s that performance enhancers might be taking over our best athletes, and enhancing their performance to superhero levels.

“I was naive,” Rodriguez said.  Yup, and he’s still naive if he thinks we believe that he never knew what he was doing.  And the idea that he had no idea about the stuff before flocking to Texas, is just absurd.  Absurd I tell you.

I give A-Rod credit: he said he did it, and came out quickly with it.  But then he went on to attack SI’s Selena Roberts who helped write the story, saying she did things like tried to break into his home.  Roberts denies this, and SI stands by her as well.  You could sense desperation in his voice.  “Please love me,” felt like the overall message to his confession.  “I’m the golden boy,” because he couldn’t possibly do any wrong.

But I’m not buying it.

He’s an idiot.  He not only made a mistake, he made many mistakes.  He knew he was doing something illegal, but he was surprised to hear he failed a test?  How does that add up?  He wants to move on (of course he does), but something doesn’t sit right with me when it comes to steroids boy being the guy who has the largest contract in pro sports here in the states.

That’s what bothers me.  He’s the face of the sport, the guy chasing down Bonds’* record.  He wants to be the best, and he sad as much.  But this won’t soon be forgotten, nor should it.  Three seasons cheating?  That sounds like three years of cheating if you ask me.  Not 14 seasons of playing baseball the way it should be, and 3 seasons of goofing up.  Could you imagine if the government said, well, you robbed a bank for three straight years, but for the first 37 years you didn’t so we won’t put you in jail.  No.  That would never happen.  Same deal with A-Rod.  He did it, he screwed up, in my eyes, if we’re disregarding the McGwires, Sosas, Palmeiros, and Clemens from the Hall, then A-Rod should be right there with them.

This isn’t about second chances.  If A-Rod did it for one year, and then was like, what am I doing, it’d be different.  He did it for three seasons, if not more.  He screwed up, but hekept doing it. I can’t feel sorry for a guy who doesn’t learn from his mistakes.

It will be interesting to hear what Roberts says in the coming days and weeks about A-Rod’s allegations.  They are major allegations.  They are cries of blame her, not so much me, and they sound desperate.  He sounds scared.  This little thing he had going as baseball’s savior is over.  He’s just as dirty as the rest of them.

That doesn’t make him a bad person.  But it does make him stupid.

And Alex, if you’re reading this: We’re not nearly as naive as you think.

Good luck getting yourself out of this one.

Photo: AP/ESPN

MITCHELL BLATT

Sports Illustrated reports Alex Rodriguez tested positive for steroids in 2003.

Yawn.

Any educated person who follows sports already knew this. Jose Canseco reported in 2007 that A-Fraud took roids. (ESPN) Unfortunately, not many educated people follow sports. Most people thought the 12th all-time home run leader could have never taken steroids. Canseco was a liar, they said, apparently not having heard about his first book, Juiced, which exposed the steroid problem and named lots of players who were later proven to have taken steroids.

Juiced Sports Blog wrote in 2007 that A-Rod didn’t deserve the home run record. Still think he does?

• As always, thanks for taking the time to give me some of your time. I hope I entertain you with my take on the past few days in the world of sports.

• New York Yankees Senior Vice President Hank Steinbrenner said yesterday that baseball is unjustifiably tagged as the only sport with a steroid problem and he alleged the epidemic is far worse in the National Football League than it is on the diamond.

“I don’t like baseball being singled out,” said Steinbrenner. “Everybody that knows sports knows football is tailor-made for performance-enhancing drugs. I don’t know how they managed to skate by. It irritates me. Don’t tell me it’s not more prevalent. The number in football is at least twice as many. Look at the speed and size of those players.”

Surely Steinbrenner chapped a number of asses with his controversial allegations and I imagine that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell would now love to duel with big-Hank in a “Mexican Street Fight.” Nevertheless, it’s usually refreshing when a man of significance speaks his mind instead of being neutral and politically correct. Steinbrenner called the proverbial spade a spade and the NFL knows it.

• Roger Clemens’ Yankee jersey was unceremoniously removed from the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center last week in direct response to the cloud of steroid suspicion surrounding “the Rocket.” The museum’s brass illustrated the art of addition by subtraction here and their entire establishment instantly rocketed-up (pun intended) in class by removing any link to the lying Texan.

• Does anyone else see Clemens’ horrifically abrasive lawyer Rusty Hardin as an unsightly blend between Dallas Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones and Jim Carey’s character in Dumb and Dumber?

• The Reverend Al Sharpton remarked last week that federal investigators had better hold Clemens to the same standards that they have former San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds.

“When I see a contrast between how you treat a Clemens and how you treat a Bonds, that is a civil rights issue,” said the polarizing clergyman.

Although Sharpton generally drives me to whiskey, I couldn’t agree with him more in this case. Pasted below is an excerpt from an entry that I posted on January the 9th of this year.

“If Clemens does eventually get elected into baseball’s Hall of Fame, Barry Lamar Bonds, 43, had better be enshrined as well. If Clemens does ultimately make Cooperstown and Bonds doesn’t, then sadly America as a whole is as racist as many proclaim.”

I am often offended at Sharpton’s penchant for making everything an issue of race. But, in this instance, all I can say is, “Amen, Reverend.”

• Yankees left-hander Andy Pettitte held a press conference in Tampa, Florida Monday to discuss being named in the Mitchell Report and being forced to speak with Congressional investigators earlier in the month. Despite the fact that he looked as nervous as a hooker in a cathedral, the southpaw seemed forthright and genuine and I applaud his moxie for publicly owing up to his sins. Pettite was wrong for what he did and he will face a lifetime of skepticism for the decision he made to utilize human growth hormone. Still, it is a genuine shame that so few ballplayers have had to face the music when so many of them have shot steroids into their cheeks. I suppose that is what happens when the Director of the Boston Red Sox is appointed to conduct the investigation. Conflict of interest, anyone?

• John Rocker, a flash-in-the-pan jackass who has been out of baseball since the ripe old age of 28, again flapped his gums last week and revealed how much of an untalented Neanderthal he actually is.

“Bud Selig is a clown,” said the moronic hick from Georgia. “He should do the entire world a favor and kill himself. He is a certifiable idiot.”

This is simply a vintage case of a midget calling a munchkin short. Rocker is one of the least appealing athletes in the annals of sports and it is pathetic that such a disgrace ever made it to the professional ranks to begin with. In reality, if John Rocker kills himself, he will do “the entire world a favor.”

• Thanks again for reviewing my material. Without your readership, I’d have no reason to write.

• Former Atlanta Braves relief pitcher John Rocker, a village idiot who alienated the city of New York with his racist and homophobic comments, became the latest outcast to finger New York Yankees superstar Alex Rodriguez as an abuser of steroids. On Monday, the obnoxious hick from Georgia claimed that in spring training of 2002 a doctor hired by the Major League Baseball Players Association instructed him and his then Texas Rangers teammate on how to juice-up in a way that is “not going to hurt you.” This is the second time since December that A-Post-Season-Out has been accused of utilizing synthetic testosterone. In the immediate aftermath of the Mitchell Report, Jose Canseco, a dishonorable speaker of truth, said he was flabbergasted that A-Rod wasn’t among the 83 names mentioned in the Director of the Boston Red Sox investigation into performance enhancing drugs.

“All I can say is the Mitchell Report is incomplete,” Canseco said. “I could not believe that (Rodriguez’s) name was not in the report.”

As mind-numbing as it is, in this distorted day and steroid age, Canseco is baseball’s answer to “Honest” Abe Lincoln and if he says the purple-lipped pariah took a banned substance then he likely did.

• Generally, I am not a conspiracy theorist. After reading Gerald Posner’s book “Cased Closed,” I think Lee Harvey Oswald was Jack Kennedy’s lone murderer that terrible afternoon in Dallas, Texas. I am also not a member of the “9-11 Truth Movement.” I think 19 members of Al Qaeda commandeered 4 commercial aircrafts on 9/11/2001 and that’s that. But, with A-Rod’s conspicuous omission from Mitchell’s report, I wonder if a conspiracy is not in our midst. Can one not fathom Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig politely asking his investigator to keep his paws off the heir apparent to his sports all-time home-run crown? Rodriguez, who has 518 round-trippers at 32 years of age, will likely surpass Barry Bonds, the face of steroids, and his 762 lifetime dingers somewhere in the vicinity of the year 2012. Selig needs a dirty Rodriguez as much as he needs a case of herpes and I am confident that he’ll go to great lengths to keep A-Rod’s drug results cleaner than Danny Tanner’s kitchen floor.

• By the way, for those keeping record at home, the Red Sox mediocre pitcher, Daisuke Matsuzaka, has recorded more postseason RBI’s (2) than A-Rod has since game four of the 2004 ALCS. Rodriguez has one RBI since that timeframe.

• Wednesday on Capitol Hill, tarnished baseball icon Roger Clemens exhibited the least impressive performance in a court of law since Stanley Rothenstein’s public defender graced us with his stuttering-self in “My Cousin Vinny.” Under oath, rogue trainer Brian McNamee said he injected Andy Pettitte with human growth hormone and, when pressed, the lefty-ace acknowledged that McNamee was being straightforward with his account. After having his ear placed against the proverbial stove, McNamee revealed that he also injected Clemens better-half, Debbie, with HGH and the pitcher’s wife reluctantly admitted that McNamee was speaking with candor. Are we truly to believe that McNamee is lying solely regarding his accusations towards Clemens? I think not. Clemens is a disgraceful excuse for a husband, friend and ballplayer.

• Since its Valentine’s Day, one needs to wonder what Knicks owner James Dolan and his Head Coach Isiah Thomas have planned for the night. I’ll bet they are going to share a bath in a heart-shaped tub and listen to the sexual melodies of Marvin Gaye from a Bose sound system.

• Genuine thanks to you all for giving me some of your time. I hope I am able to entertain you with my rapid take on the week that was in the world of sports.

• Tarnished baseball legend Roger Clemens and controversial trainer Brian McNamee met with congressional investigators this past week in preparation for their February 13th hearing on steroids in front of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Clemens and McNamee have conducted an intense smear campaign against one another designed to discredit and slander the other man’s word before Wednesday’s much-anticipated testimonials. To date, McNamee has dominated the mudslinging war by providing the feds with vials that allegedly contain traces of steroids and human growth hormone, as well as blood-stained syringes and gauze pads that purportedly contain Clemens DNA. For good measure, McNamee reportedly told investigators that he also injected Clemens better-half, Debbie, with HGH before she posed in a bikini alongside her portly husband for a 2003 Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition photograph. McNamee preserving the noted evidence could simultaneously be the sketchiest and most pertinent proof since Monica Lewinsky revealed her semen-stained dress and it may be the smoking gun that lands Clemens in a “Federal pound-me-in-the-ass prison.” On the positive side for “the Rocket,” he recently shed his frost-tip haircut. That bodes well for the notorious headhunter because such manes are likely very popular behind bars.

• Robert Montgomery Knight, 67, resigned this past week as the Head Coach of Texas Tech University. Knight, who quit on his team with the most career coaching wins in NCAA Division I history (902-371), is renowned for running clean programs (not one of his squads was ever sanctioned for recruiting violations) and graduating the large majority of his players. Regardless of his vast pedigree on the sideline, Knight is a miserable bully whose accomplishments are dwarfed by his hideous behavior and treatment of others. Knight’s callous and offensive statements and actions are innumerable. While coaching the U.S. team at the 1979 Pan American Games, Knight assaulted a Puerto Rican police officer over a dispute regarding a practice facility. In 1993, he kicked his own son Pat in the huddle of a game at Assembly Hall in Indiana leading the Hoosier faithful to jeer their inexplicable “hero.” In an April 1988 interview with Connie Chung, Knight said “I think if rape is inevitable, relax and enjoy it.” The mentioned is a very, very brief exemplification of the malevolent individual that Knight really is. Bobby Knight was a great basketball coach. Bobby Knight never was and he never will be a good man. As Kent Harvey said when he was an IU freshman, “Hey, Knight. What’s up?” Luckily for the world of collegiate athletics, “the General” no longer is.

• University of Illinois athletic officials apologized for their fans behavior Thursday night in an 83-79 double overtime loss to arch-rival and 14th-ranked Indiana (19-3, 8-1) and their superstar turncoat Eric Gordon, 19. Gordon, a freshman guard who reneged on a verbal commitment to play for the Illini in late-2005, endured some of the vilest treatment since William Wallace meet his English executioners toward the end of Braveheart. Despite the hostile road environment and his shoddy play early, Gordon scored 18 second-half points to lead the Hoosiers to a colossal Big Ten victory. A crucial win like this is yet another reason to believe that the month of March will be very kind to the Hoosiers and don’t be surprised if Kelvin Sampson’s crew is singing “One Shining Moment” come April.

• Former WBO Heavyweight Champion Tommy “the Duke” Morrison (47-3-1), 39, who tested positive for the HIV virus in 1996, is scheduled to fight Matt Weishaar Saturday night on a Top Rank-promoted pay-per-view card in Leon, Mexico. The Association of Boxing Commissions is urging Top Rank matchmaker Bruce Trampler to mandate a blood test despite the fact that Mexico does not require them for fighters. The deadly HIV virus, which can not be cured, is transmitted via infected blood, semen and vaginal fluid. Boxing is a blood sport. No matter how minimal the chances are of acquiring the HIV virus in the ring, it is categorically insane to even contemplate putting the Rocky V star in a bout.

• The Miami Heat sent iconic center Shaquille O’Neal, 35, to the Phoenix Suns this week in exchange for 4-time all star forward Shawn Marion, 29, and Marcus Banks. Many hardwood pundits think that the Suns banged the pooch with their decision to acquire the aging and fragile big man. I am not one of those pundits. Granted, the Phoenix Suns have been one of the elite teams in the NBA for years and their fast-paced offense is a thing of beautiful production. But, they have never been able to get over the proverbial hump and there is nothing to indicate that they would have this year without making a transaction of some genuine magnitude. The acquisition of Shaq will grant Amare Stoudemire with great protection down-low and I believe the Suns, being led by two-time MVP playmaker Steve Nash, will create serious match-up issues for every team that they meet from this point on. The Suns couldn’t win it all without Shaq. Now we’ll find out if Phoenix will rise to championship glory with Superman on its side.

• New York Knicks guard Stephon Marbury, 30, will miss the remainder of the season because of complications he’s encountered from ankle surgery he underwent 3-weeks ago. With Marbury on the sideline indefinitely, the Knickerbockers quest for a championship is in grave jeopardy. Ha!!

• After drinking like Mickey Rourke’s character in Barfly, my friends and I began to discuss the male soap opera that was formerly known as the WWF. During the bender, a fascinating question was broached by my friend, Latroy. Latroy wondered who was the most prominent and important grappler among the trio of “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, “Macho Man” Randy Savage and the “Nature Boy” Ric Flair. I entirely realize that I’m probably going to get a great deal of flack on my comment board for writing about a topic that many find to be such a reprehensible waste. But, if there is anyone with love for 80’s squared circle action, your feedback would be appreciated.

• Thanks again for providing me with some of your time. Without your readership, I’d have no reason to write.