ChicagoSportsBlogs : Non Compete

John Kruk is an idiot. He doesn't believe Roger Clemens' trainer when he says that he injected Clemens in the ass with HGH. That's what Brian McNamee claims in today's Mitchell Report. McNamee is what we call in the modern era, a snitch. Clearly McNamee didn't get the Stop Snitchin' memo. I can only imagine all the noise coming out of Boston tonight. I can hear the furor of keyboards clacking away at all the major Boston blogs. They get to bask in the Yankee's shame while brushing the dirt off their shoulders. I guess technically both Sox teams are 'clean'. Further, both our championships are un-tainted. I'm positive there was a collective sigh coming from both SoxNation and the White Sox faithful. Andrew over at southsidebaseball.com has some pretty good questions that I'd like to answer. (Link was back there) Here goes:

So what of the names that come up? Would something like the Sox’ 2005 run be lessened? What if it were just a bit player or two whose name were splayed across the headlines? Could it become situational? If Player A wasn’t a regular, or wasn’t a starter at their position, or was just call-up, or was just OK at their job, does it sting less?

Yes. Our 2005 World Series Championship would be tainted. In this town? Are you kidding? We hold that championship up at every opportunity afforded to us. The Bears suck, but at least the Sox got a championship. Yea, the Cubs signed FukyouOno but we still have a White Sox championship! We can't cure cancer, but fuck it at least I'll go to my grave with memories of an awesome parade down LaSalle Street for that White Sox championship! All praise Ozzie!

As far as if there is a difference between say, Pablo Ozuna being nabbed with steroids and Paul Konerko I guess I've got to concede this point. It would have been much, much worse if they named Crede, or JD, or even Frank Thomas. Speaking of Frank, his name appears in the Mitchell Report 3 times:

First on page 11, Mitchell name drops Thomas as being one out of 5 players that actually did do an interview. He was described as being helpful and informative. The Big Hurt? Helpful? Regardless, my biggest fear was that my favorite White Sox player of all time (yes, more so than Greg Luzinski) was going to be on this list. Thankfully, Frank is clean and I say that with a straight face. It would have been pretty sad to see Thomas included with the likes of cheaters like Sosa, Big Mac, Palmeiro, and Mo Vaughn. I'm sure the folks in Boston are happy that Big Poppy and Manny weren't on the list as well.

A lot of people are going to say that this list isn't all inclusive. Others will say that I am being naive about the fact that this report is 100% accurate. It has to be 100% accurate, right? I don't believe you can slam someone with a serious accusation like drug use without more than hearsay as evidence. Or could you? Innocent until proven guilty...or in possession.

I'm going to see if I can get a few special guest writers to cover the legal and medical sides of this story. I'm still not convinced that drugs like HGH aren't being used LEGALLY to support someone's post operation recovery. But that's why I write crappy blog reports while the doctors are out saving lives. And batting averages.