My Interview with Dan Naulty

Who is Dan Naulty and why should you care what he says? That was my initial reaction to an article I saw written in the N.Y Post earlier in the week. The piece talked about Naulty's remorse for having used performance-enhancing drugs while playing for the Twins and Yankees in the late 1990's.

Naulty is now a pastor in Littleton, Colorado. Far away from the bright lights and big stadiums he preaches to youngsters about the dangers of performance-enhancing drugs. In my conversation with him, he spoke about a time when he wanted to take his own life. That was the hopelessness this man felt while using these drugs that he only took to "improve" his life. Two or three times in my conversation, Naulty used the word "cheat" to describe his methods for climbing the ranks to the big leagues.

He seems like he still isn't at piece with himself some 8 years after he last pitched in a Major League game. He says he wants rosters of all the teams he played with from the Yankees and Twins with names and phone numbers attached. He wants them so he can apologize to each and every guy that he feels was perhaps cheated or held back because of his own(Naulty's) drug use.

I could have spent 25 or 30 minutes talking with Dan Naulty, but unfortunately due to the time constraints put on my show at Sirius, I only had 15. I hope to talk with Dan Naulty again. His journey to improve his life continues even now. Spiritual improvement is proving to a longer road than that of a man trying to make it in Major League Baseball.

"The Straw Man" on "The Rocket" on "The Factor". My Thoughts??

I just got done watching Darryl Strawberry on "The O'Reilly Factor" on FOX NEWS. The "Straw Man" says Roger Clemens is innocent and Bill O'Reilly(surprisingly or not so surprisingly) agrees with Strawberry but it seems they agree for different reasons. Strawberry is basing his opinion on the fact that he played against Clemens on the same field and feels he is a guy of integrity. O'Reilly took the perspective of "Innocent until proven guilty."

I'd hate to ever agree with O'Reilly, but he make a good point. Clemens has been convicted in the media. Lets take a moment to think about why this is happening. You have this cloud that's been hanging over the game for the past few years thanks in large part to Barry Bonds and his continued denials on whats been documented as pretty lengthy performance-enhancing drug use. You combine that with the collective holding of one's breath that was forced on us by the 20 month investigation which culminated in the releasing of the Mitchell Report and you have a media that's out for blood.

I was one of the members of the media who received the long-awaited report just seconds before Senator George Mitchell stated his findings. And the goal of the media was clear: FIND NAMES

Nothing else mattered. The impact on kids, the impact on players and the impact on the game and its history were an afterthought. All we did was scan for the names. And when we found the big ones, we immediately started texting our respective media bases to tell them which ones we found. Forget what it said in terms of the evidence against the players listed. All we wanted were the names. That's what was sensational and that's what would grab headlines.

Who knows what kind of pressure was put on the two trainers that served as the major source for the Mitchell Report. In some cases we have cancelled checks. In others we have packing slips. In the case of Clemens we have one persons word versus another. And the last time I checked, it would take a lot more than that to convict someone in a court of law. Now granted, this is not a court of law and its largely a court of public opinion and when all is said and done, peoples careers and their legacies will be based on the opinions of a selected few in the form of the Baseball Writers Association.

I do not have a HOF vote. Maybe someday I will but its unlikely. Based on the information I have in front of me, Roger Clemens is still going to the Hall of Fame. I don't have a single positive steroid test or any test for that matter that shows he had an illegal substance in his system. The same cannot be said for Barry Bonds. So before you start to say it's a "white and black thing," take that into consideration for moment. All I have is one trainers word. From accounts I have read on the Mitchell Report, trainers were the most vulnerable to brow-beating from the staff put together to investigate on behalf of Senator Mitchell. The trainers unlike players(who have the MLBPA) were often questioned for lengthy periods of time and forced to sometimes guess whether or not they thought a player used steroids. How admissible would that be in a court of law??

Just because I believe Roger Clemens is a Hall of Famer doesn't mean I believe he is absolved. It just means that as of today, I don't have enough evidence(circumstantial or otherwise) to say a guys whole body of work should be thrown out the door because of the word of one person. But I will say this: Should further evidence come out(circumstantial or otherwise) that proves "The Rocket" did indeed use the juice, I will use my bully pulpit(the airwaves at ESPN Radio) to ensure he never gain acceptance into Cooperstown......... That is unless he buys a ticket like the rest of us.

You've Been Paged.

"The Rocket" Fires Back. Or Does He??

So it only took 6 days but Roger Clemens finally released his own statement through his agent Randy Hendricks in response to his being included in the recently released Mitchell Report:

"I want to state clearly and without qualification: I did not take steroids, human growth hormone or any other banned substances at any time in my baseball career or, in fact, my entire life," Clemens said Tuesday in a statement issued through his agent, Randy Hendricks. "Those substances represent a dangerous and destructive shortcut that no athlete should ever take.

"I am disappointed that my 25 years in public life have apparently not earned me the benefit of the doubt, but I understand that Senator Mitchell's report has raised many serious questions. I plan to publicly answer all of those questions at the appropriate time in the appropriate way. I only ask that in the meantime people not rush to judgment."

Clemens emphatic denial almost mirrors that of another player destined for the Hall of Fame until controversy struck. Pete Rose spent years denying that he placed bets on baseball before finally coming clean well over a decade later. He threw himself at the mercy of the court of public opinion and Commissioner Bud Selig. End Result?? Pete is still on the outside looking in. Selig was probably his best chance at getting back into baseball even in some limited form. Whether guilty or not, "The Rocket" now faces years of the same questions along with giving years of the same denials. Clemens obviously sees the alternative as a damaging blow to his legacy if not the death nail in any Hall of Fame hopes that remain following the release of the Mitchell Report. Admitting guilt would make it unlikely that "The Rocket" would be enshrined in Cooperstown.

"The Rocket" has made his denial and says he will say more at the appropriate time. I will be waiting Roger. I only hope your explanations hold more water than "The Hit King's" did.

Some thoughts on the reaction to the Performance Enhancing Drugs Scandal in baseball.

I've sat around for a couple of days on all of this and then I saw Michael Giltz's blog on Huffington Post today and felt compelled to respond.

For me, this all starts with a basic question. Why do we or in this case I watch sports?? I view sports as entertainment. I view sports the same way I would watching a Russell Crowe movie. I go to be entertained. Athletes should not be put up as role models for children. Former NBA great Charles Barkley said this best years ago when he said "I am not a role model."

It's been said throughout much of this steroids investigation that its important to rid the sports world of steroids because of the message it sends to our Nations youth. I agree with this. But the messages our children get shouldn't be from Barry Bonds or Roger Clemens. The messages our children get need to be from the home or from the school. If you rely on pro athletes to be the message of whats right or wrong in the world, then you get what you deserve.

For those that believe this is the worst scandal of all-time in baseball(such as my dear friend Michael Giltz), I would suggest they need to do a little more research. The "Black Sox Scandal" of the early 1900's was far worse. Players from the Chicago White Sox throwing the 1919 World Series against the Cincinatti Reds is slightly worse than an era where multiple people were using performance enhancing drugs. Why??Eight players were banned for life and the game was rocked to its core. While this current scandal is big, it doesn't rise to the level of the 1919 Black Sox scandal. Some players used and some players didn't. But who won and lost wasn't ultimately determined by who used H-G-H or steroids. If you can factually determine that World Series were won and lost based on who was using (especially when you don't know everyone that was using and when they were using) then we can have a conversation about it. But until then, stop calling this the worst scandal to ever rock baseball.

Sports is entertainment. I go to games when I want to be entertained. Sometimes I get to see good games and I am entertained and sometimes I go and see a game that is boring and filled with a lack of hitting and lots of errors and I leave feeling unfulfilled. The same way I feel if I go to see a bad movie or Broadway show. It's entertainment. You choose to go or not go. Nobody twists your arm and says you have to go and see a baseball game from your seat in a luxury box or your seat in the bleachers. If you feel so strongly that what has happened in baseball is so terrible, then you won't go to the game. Otherwise, your giving the same lip service that Commissioner Bud Selig has been giving for years on the steroid matter. Your going to continue going to the game but bitch and moan all the way through it?? That seems to contradict your feelings on the game. Why would you spend the money to support a franchise that knowingly employs cheats and destroys the integrity of the game??

I'm disappointed in whats happened to the game of baseball. It's not the game I grew up watching and chances are, it never will be again. This is the new era of baseball and you need to choose to except it for what it is or find some other way to spend the 3 or 4 hours you spend 60 to 80 days per year. In fact, to someone like Michael Giltz who feels so jilted and betrayed by whats happened, I would suggest going to watch high school sports. If you truly just want to watch athletes playing for the love of the game and nothing more, you can do it for next to nothing at nearly every high school in America. Otherwise, start understanding that professional sports is just that. It's a profession, where people make money, but also make mistakes. A profession where bosses are looking at the bottom line and in the process, do things that go against the morals we were brought up with. Guess what Michael?? It happens everyday in every line of work. It doesn't make it right and I am not justifying it.

You didn't like the way Andy Pettitte apologized?? I agree that it was half-assed but the only way to really send a message is to NOT GO TO THE GAMES!! You punish the ownership by not giving them your hard-earned money and you send a message to the players that you have had enough. Then again, you doing that is about as realistic as the chances of Andy Pettitte giving the sort of apology you are expecting.

Proud New Papa!!

So the doctor walks into the Grand Hyatt today just steps away from Grand Central and says:

"Congratulations Mr. Page!! You are the proud new papa of the "Cheaters Era of Major League Baseball."

I was fortunate enough today to sit 6 rows from former Senator George Mitchell as he gave his prepared statement outlining his findings in the Mitchell Report. Here was a man that brokered peace in Northern Ireland. He'll be hard pressed to ever find that sort of peace between the Major League Baseball Players Association and Commisioner Bud Selig.

A couple of things stood out to me today. Three press conferences were held. Senator Mitchell was at the Grand Hyatt at 2:00 PM EST. Commissioner Selig was at the Waldorf Astoria at 4:00 PM EST and MLBPA Chief Donald Fehr was in never-never land at 6:00 PM EST. On a day where the most important indictment of the games difficulties with regard to performance enhancing drugs was being delivered, you couldn't even get the three sides of the story to hold press conferences in the same hotel. Labor war is on the horizon for baseball.

Let there be no doubt. Cowboy Selig is going to do everything he can(even if its too late)to try and rid the sport of performance enhancing drugs, and be rest assured that Donald Fehr and the MLBPA is going to put up a fight. They're putting up a fight to protect players names and reputations, but even more so because Fehr is feeling jilted about the way this investigation was handled. Whether he is right or wrong, he's going to assert that much of this investigation was done in a way that was unfair to HIS players.

Something the commish said today during his press conference really got my blood boiling. It's something that best frames the "head in the sand" mentality that this guy posesses. Selig today(and I'm paraphrasing) when asked about the message thats being sent to fans and children of those fans when teams gave contracts to these players that have now been named in the Mitchell report(I.E. Andy Pettitte, Jose Guillen and Miguel Tejada) Selig responded "Well the owners didn't know these players would be named in the report." YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!! I spoke to former big league reliever Jeff Nelson today. He pitched with the Yankees and Mariners and the above mentioned players as well as with Roger Clemens. He said that while nobody saw guys shooting up with HGH or steroids, players knew it went on and it wasn't discussed. Names of players who have reportedly used this stuff has been discussed for the past several years. If we've been talking about it, do you expect me to believe that GM's and owners didn't know about it?? How dumb does Mr. Magoo(Selig) believe we are?? Check that.... He doesn't have his head in the sand. It's obviously buried up his ass.

Senator Mitchell spent 20 months and millions of dollars compiling the information for this report. He allowed journalists 16 minutes to ask him questions. I was one of the lucky few who asked him a question during a press conference that aired internationally on Thursday. During his statement, Senator Mitchell expressed his hope that Commissioner Selig would not punish those players named in the report, unless the player had done such damage to the integrity of the game that it could not go without punishment. I took that caveat to be an opening for the Commish to go after Barry Bonds and the records he broke over the past several years. I asked Mitchell that very question in a room full of my peers but he flatly denied having that motive.

A dark day for baseball has come to an end with some answers to our many questions. But new questions have arisen out of this day as well:

* In addition to Barry Bonds, baseball must now ponder how to handle the accomplishments of Roger Clemens

* How is baseball to punish those players named in the report for violations that took place 3 or 4 years ago?

* Will further investigations now take place or has the "naming names" portion of our program come to an end?

* Will my leather dress shoes from Zara ever dry out after all the sloshing through puddles that I did?

I guess we'll have to wait and see. One person that was happy today was President Bush. For one night on MSNBC's Countdown With Keith Olbermann, he wasn't the top story.