This Is Why I Don't Watch Around The Horn

Followed by why I don't feel so bad about watching it this time, followed by why I may track down and beat Tony Realli with my shoes.

While arguing whether or not Albert Pujols would be the single-season home run king if he hit 62 home runs this year, JA Adande said this in the most matter-of-fact way conceivable:

People want to pretend to close their eyes and pretend that the steroids era never happened, but it did. You can't do that. You have to recognize Barry Bonds as the home run king.

If you're going to blindly recognize Barry Bonds as the home run king, that's pretending he never took steroids. If you do that for guys like Sosa, McGwire, etc. that would be pretending the steroid era never happened. So JA is arguing that you can't pretend the steroid era never happened, while tacitly pretending the steroid era never happened. Bold.

Tony Realli unleashed this (paraphrased) piece of terrible:

Like it or not baseball wasn't testing for steroids back then. You can't say he cheated because he didn't test positive for steroids. Maybe he cheated, but you can't blame him because baseball wasn't looking for steroid users. So it really wasn't illegal.

Jackie Mac called him out on using semantics, which he is. Tony responded by saying "Well is it semantics or is it accurate?". Jackie Mac probably then responded "ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING RIGHT NOW?" but they edited that out. Here are the problems with Tony's argument:
-Steroids are illegal in the United States. Baseball does not need to ban a substance that is illegal in the United States. So yes steroids really were illegal in baseball.
-Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, and the Big Mac are not culpable for not cheaters because baseball wasn't testing them and they weren't caught. Maybe in an American court of law this argument works, or maybe not depending on Bonds's perjury trial, but not for recognizing record holders. Allow me an analogy: Let's say a man beats his wife. You can see all the bruises, typical marks, etc. It is painfully obvious to all involved. Do you need the police to come in and arrest him before you decide that he's a bad husband? I don't.
- Only a contrarian shitheel would make this argument. Everybody knows Bonds, Sosa, and McGwire cheated. To say that they might not have is the kind of attitude that got baseball in this mess in the first place. Instead of debating whether or not they cheated, debate whether or not 73 dirty homers is better than 62 clean ones. That's a legitimate debate.

After fervently whipping me and Jack Mac into a mode of attack (pure poetry there folks), they switched into an uninteresting debate over what it meant that Lou Piniella was voted the least popular manager in baseball. That led to this:

Woody Paige: "It doesn't matter that Lou Piniella was voted the least popular manager in baseball. I was voted the worst sports columnist in Denver. It just means people are talking about you."
Tim Cowpie: "When was this Woody?"
Woody Paige: "Ummm… about two weeks ago."

Kudos Woody, you finally won an award you've deserved a long time. As for the poll, who gives a shit. The only players that have to like you are the ones on your team.

And back to why I hate ATH, courtesy of the artist formerly known as stat boy:

"Don't blame Bonds for not getting caught. Blame baseball."

Bonds is a perjury trial away from getting caught. I don't have to give him a reprieve because baseball didn't care to catch him or was too incompetent to do so. If a little kid is a turd and his parents don't care to punish him, the kid is still a turd. The parents are turds, too. And so are the people who make excuses for the kid's lousy behavior. Do you see what I'm getting at?

I would declare Albert Pujols's 62 as the single-season record. Yes he could be cheating, but he's only put on 20 pounds since his rookie year. A-Rod has put on 38. Barry Bonds has put on 50. Based on those numbers, I'd say he's clean. And unless anyone has evidence to the contrary, I would then have to call him the single season home run king.