The cloud of suspicion gets a little more gray

Much to the chagrin of Brett Favre, who reportedly won’t return to professional football, the sports story of the day on Thursday was, obviously, Manny Ramirez and the 50-game suspension he was given by Major League Baseball after a failed drug test.

Truth be told, I was a bit taken aback by this news, only because Manny never seemed like that kind of a guy. Sure, he was quirky and had his moments of brainlessness, but performance enhancers? No way.

In his defense, which came in the form of a written statement, Manny says he “saw a physician for a personal health issue."

"He gave me a medication, not a steroid, which he thought was OK to give me," the statement reads. The former Red Sox slugger goes on to say he’s been tested, and passed, 15 times in the past five seasons.

I don’t believe Manny when he says he unknowingly took HCG, or human chorionic gonadotropin, the drug reportedly found in his system and is banned by Major League Baseball.

To compound the issue, it’s getting harder and harder to believe that any major leaguer is clean. Albert Pujols could very well hit 50 or 60 home runs this year, and the same could be said for Ryan Howard, Prince Fielder, Carlos Pena or Carlos Quentin. But when and if they do, that cloud of suspicion will be lurking.

And what are we supposed to think of sluggers who now are having trouble at the plate? I doubt I’m alone in thinking David Ortiz, a good friend of Manny who has a grand total of zero homers through 29 games, has taken steroids in the past. The same can be said about Miguel Tejada.

Thursday was indeed a bad day for baseball.

NBA playoffs have stepped it up

This year, the NBA has promised "amazing" in its playoff promos, and I have to admit, for once, the NBA is delivering on that boast.

Of course, most eyes around these parts are fixated on the Boston Celtics, and rightfully so. With Kevin Garnett out and Paul Pierce suddenly looking very old, the C's are no longer the dominant force they were at this time last year, or even earlier this season. While that can be maddening for Celtics fans, it has made for more entertaining games and series, so far.

The seven-game first-round set with the Bulls featured seven overtime periods and more "holy crap" shots and moments than the NBA playoffs have seen in a long time.
While I'm not a Celtics fan, I am a Ray Allen fan (I still resent my home-state Milwaukee Bucks for trading him to Seattle for half a season of Gary Payton in 2003, the dumbest trade the Bucks have made in my lifetime) and it's been fun to see him shoot the lights out.

But other series have been nearly as entertaining. Hate him or love him, one must be impressed with what LeBron James is doing with the Cavs. They look unbeatable, and so far this postseason, they have been.

Out west, it's hard to ignore Kobe Bryant and the Lakers, especially when they lost at home to the Rockets in Game 1 of the conference semifinals. Now tied at one game all, that series will continue to get interesting. And honestly, who saw the Denver Nuggets coming this season?
Let them serve as a lesson to all NBA teams: When you have Chauncey Billups, do not trade him. This is a lesson the Celtics and Pistons learned the hard way.

Let's hope the amazement of these NBA playoffs continues.

No. 4 in purple?

Allow me to preface this blog entry by making it clear that, as a Packers fan, I don't want Brett Favre to be the quarterback in Green Bay anymore. And I think most Packers fans feel the same. 

That said, Favre will be dead to me, and many of my green and gold brethren, if he signs with the Minnesota Vikings and plays with them in 2009. We'll feel more betrayed than Tony Soprano did when got the notion that his mom tried to have him killed. 

Last year was irritating, but the fact was, the Packers didn't want Favre and the offense did just fine without him (they had the NFL's eighth-ranked offense). And seeing Favre in a Jets jersey, while strange, wasn't inherently offensive. Plus, the better the Jets did, the better the compensation the Packers received in the trade with the Jets.

If he joins the Vikings out of spite toward the Packers, which seems to be his primary motivation, there can be only one reaction from Green Bay fans, and they'll make it clear on Nov. 1 when the Vikings visit Lambeau Field.

BOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

Good possessions are nine-tenths ...

After watching Monday night’s debacle at TD Banknorth Garden, I think the Celtics are in for a series with the Magic. Yes, Orlando has the best player on the floor in Dwight Howard, but the Celtics are the superior team. That, however, was far from evident after a 95-90 loss in Game 1.

Trailing by as many as 28 in the second half, the Celtics cut the deficit to three in the waning seconds but couldn’t get that big stop or the big shot. On countless occasions in the second half, I found myself saying, “Man, that was a wasted possession.” On two straight trips down the floor, and likely to the chagrin of coach Doc Rivers, Boston settled for Rajon Rondo 17-foot jump shots.

That’s not going to get it done in the Eastern Conference semifinals against a team that won 59 games. Paul Piece had 23 points, but he and Ray Allen went a combined 9-for-30 from the floor. Allen was 1-for-7 from behind the arc.

The Celtics are still going to win the series (in another seven-game series), but the sooner they figure out that every possession counts, the better off they’ll be.

More proof that boxing is dead

Did anyone see the Manny Pacquiao-Ricky Hatton fight on Saturday night? I didn’t, for two reasons.

1. I’m not paying $50 to watch a fight on pay-per-view.

2. I’m certainly not paying to watch one 92-pound boxer fight another 92-pound boxer.

This is a perfect example of why not many people really care about boxing. The sport's premier weight class (heavyweight) has nothing to offer, and the fight of the year (so far) is the so-called pound-for-pound best fighter in the world vs. a white British guy. And it doesn’t last two rounds, which should come as no surprise.

Pay-per-view killed this sport. It was bad enough when it was just on HBO or Showtime, but then all you had to do was go to a buddy’s house to watch it. Now, even if you did get some friends to come over and chip in toward the $50, would you have been happy you spent that money?

On the other hand, if the fight had been on network, cable or satellite TV, would you have watched? 

I would have.