That's ONE!

It's raining and flooding this morning. Another great day to be a duck or perhaps an alligator....definitely a fish. After yesterday's post, I thought that I would have great news about the car, but sadly.....yes....life support has been withdrawn. All that is going to be left of the car will be the parts. That's it...time to say good bye to something that lasted longer than some marriages...the car that has been my companion for 11 years. I will bravely play taps as it is taken to the great car heaven in the sky. As Bob Hope would sing: "Thanks for the memories...."

A bit maudlin, I know. But....the car has been so faithful, that I have to give it my gratitude as our time together ends.

On to other things....I have been meaning to blog about the recent steroid controversy to hit the major leagues and share what my perspective is.....here we go....

OK, by using performance enhancement drugs, these guys cheated. Yes, cheated...cheaters....prevaricators...liars....sneaks....they cut the long line to the majors by taking these drugs...then lying.....lying again and again and again. How does the MLB reward them? Well, they give them so much money that their debit cards will never be rejected again. Their weekly pay checks are greater than the the annual budgets in third world countries. They have more money to burn in their backyards than Bill Clinton.





Does cheating bother me? Uh- yeah! Back to my tennis days....sorry....but it applies here....no...no one in college took steroids or anything like that. BUT I was accused of cheating. Yes...I was called the Big "C"...a cheater. Here's the story......fade to a dream....I was playing a Friday match with my good friend Muscles....we were down 0-5...then my opponent hit the ball by my foot and it was clearly out. Since I called it 'out', it was our point. The woman on the other side of the net went nuts....."that's ONE!", she screamed at me. Huh? I was standing right here...the ball was out. Get over it.....after a few minutes, she hit another ball clearly out. I once again....called it 'out'. Going absolutely ballistic....she screamed: "Thats TWO!" and dropped her racquet. Was she going to fight me over a line call? Did I cheat? The answer to those questions are 'yes' and 'no'.  I said to her: "If I am such a great cheater...why are we losing 0-5? Obviously, I am lousy at cheating...." She continued to rant at me. This is actually the closest I ever got to being in a girl fight. Not that I was going to take a swing, but I felt that she was and I was going to have to protect myself using some of the moves that I learned growing up with 5 siblings.

Then Muscles who is 6 inches shorter than I am got angry. I'll never forget it when she said to the crazy woman: "YOU are belligerent. DO you know what belligerent means? It means 'war-like'. Well, this woman went nutso and started to scream at us. This time, I dropped my racquet and said to Muscles: "I'm out of here. She's more than belligerent, she needs some Vitamin P (i.e. prozac) and a net thrown over her head. As I collected my stuff, her partner calmed the situation and we started to play again. However, crazy girl began to hit every  ball with gusto at my head any chance that she got.

I  ducked rather than be hit in the face then I adjusted and was happy that she wanted to hit me, because I started to hit them back at her. I did not have to run or even move my racquet because she continued to hit the balls right at my left temple. I held the racquet in front of my face as the balls deflected for winners for the rest of the match. We started to gain momentum but ended the game with a loss. But while crazy lady continued her meltdown, we were able to win a few games for a respectable loss.

What did I learn from being called a cheater? Well, I did not like it at all. But looking back on it, I realize that if I needed to be in a foxhole, Muscles should be my wing man/girl. After all, this tiny bit of woman was ready to jump over the net and defend my honor....now, that's a friend. I also learned not to back down when I know that I am right, just because I am being bullied by a person who should be in a padded room or resting at some sanitarium in the mountains with guards to keep her from leaving the premises.

And what does this have to do with the MLB scandal? Hmmm...nothing really....I remembered the story and that's about it. All I can say is that these players cheated and took the place of a guy who did not and deserved to have that position. Enough said...time for me to get some work done.



Have a great day!