Giambi

[WharfRat]

Wharfrat, he hasn't owned up to anything and he hasn't taken anything "like a man." He took it like a crying little selfish pathetic girl.

This has been addressed, I'm not gonna rehash.

And even though in most years this is a fairly meaningless award, I think this year it shows just how corrupt baseball still is. It DOES matter what someone has come back from. If a player beat his wife and kid to a pulp and missed 80% of the season because he was in jail, and then came back the next year and played a full season - is he supposed to be a Comeback Award winner?

I doubt people would vote for a child-beater. I wouldn't.

And as far as me singing a different tune if Giambi was on the Indians and playing a key role in them making the playoffs, you couldn't be farther from the truth. I would be completely embarassed if Giambi were the reason the Indians made the playoffs. I would much rather Northern Ohio not appear to be a "win at all costs even if it means cheating" part of the country. The Yankees have a great tradition of winning (even if recently it has been subsidized by substantial salary spending well above and beyond the league norm). I would think true Yankee fans would say, "You know what, I'd rather us just take a year off from the playoffs than to have a goon like Giambi tarnish our team and our home even further." Instead, people like you just HAVE to get your annual October pick-me-up. I support the Indians and hope they win and all, but I am not so personally vested in them that I just collapse if they don't win. I root for the Cavs and the Browns too, and none of the three has ever won a National Championship in the 33 years I've been alive. Believe me, I can handle a missed playoff run just fine.

What is this, a joke?? The Yankees tried to void his salary. They couldn't, so they were stuck with him. I'm sorry if I'm not enough of a "true fan" to just walk away from the team for a year. So yeah, I rooted for them to make the playoffs. Are you saying I should have rooted against them? No, it's not because I "had" to have my October fix, nor because I'd "collapse" otherwise. It's because this is what fans DO. Giambi came clean, great. He's still in the pinstripes, I'll support his comeback, and I'm glad he's doing it clean now.

Do me a favor bud: don't make generalizations about people based on the team they root for. Makes you look like an a$$. And what the hell does "part of the country" mean? Are you saying because the Yankees have the highest payroll, then New York is awful, while Cleveland is a mecca of righteousness because the Tribe spend less? What are you smoking? Also, why are you telling us about the Cavs and the Browns? Does that really matter in this discussion?

And you know what else makes you look stupid?

I didn't want to bring this up. But The Tribe had a cheater this year. They did, really.

His name is Rafael Betancourt. He tested positive for a banned substance and was suspended.

So I guess it must have been a tough season for you, not following the Tribe and not rooting for them during the playoff run, since everything they did this year was tarnished. At least, those 54 games he appeared in. Right? Didn't you feel embarrassed every time they took the field, because of that guy in the bullpen? Because you wouldn't come on here, play high and mighty, when all along you were just a big ol' hypocrite, right? Right?

The people of Baltimore showed some class when they booed Palmeiro. Unfortunately, the people of San Francisco did no such thing with Bonds. He probably will be the Comeback Player of the year next year and it will be a complete joke, just like this year.

Where's the love for Yankee fans? If you want boos - didn't we boo Giambi plenty? Selective memory?

A commissioner in the past banned 8 players from the league for life for cheating and we haven't had players throwing a game since. All it would take would be for tough "chemical improvement" standards to be set and equally tough punishments to be handed out to a handful of players and all of this crap of "who's on and who's not and who's clean and who's not and who's comeback is legit and who's is not" would be a thing of the past.

I think this is a good idea, so long as you account for false-positives. Wouldn't want to ban anyone mistakenly.

As for Mr. Atrophying Testicles with a Giambi-lover sig, your comments carry absolutely no weight in a discussion of this topic.

Neither do yours, hypocrite.

[Nuclear29]

If Giambi was playing on say the Tigers and he never was involved in any steroid talks and just had an off year instead of a tumor in 04 then I could almost guarantee you he wouldn't win it. This award(like most) is pretty much determined by the media, not what stats or intelligent people in the baseball world think.

Sexson, Pettite or Griff I believe should've won it over him and were more deserving IMO. Sexson doesn't get it because he isn't a very big player in front of the media and doesn't get a lot of spotlight and for Pettite and Griff they never talk about them on ESPN or any other biased sports channel. Giambi playing on a team like the Yankees and having admitted to juicing are the main reasons he won this, he is just a bigger face in the media than the other guys.

\
Actually Junior won it for he NL. And rightfully so, in my opinion.

[bigken117]

I'm glad he's doing it clean now.

Saying Giambi is clean now is just as presumptuous as saying he's not, with no evidence.


If you played cards with a guy who won a ton of money from you, then you found out he cheated, would you ever trust him again? I wouldn't.

And this isn't an anti-Giambi bias because I think all athletes linked with Balco knew what they were doing, same with every player who tested positive, from RaffyB to Raffy P.

[Lofunzo]

Next years award will be to "SF Outfielder # 25" and I can promise you that the tone of this dicussion will be very different.
So much so, I am going to book mark this thread just to show the hypocrisy.

I agree that it will be different but I don't want to hear the race card get used. Make sure to include references to the fact that Bonds is generally disliked by the media and his teammates while Giambi is not. Don't get me wrong. There are idiots that hate Bonds because of the color of his skin but there are many more that hate him because of their experiences or perceptions of him.

[Lofunzo]

Pogo stop it, you're giving me and everyone else who reads this a headache. You know, and everyone else knows, what he was apologizing for.

You think he should have owned up to it by admitting to "steroids" specifically and given up $80 Million? Oh I guess he should have owned up to it $80 Million times. Then he would've been a real man.

Yes. Or at the very least made a humongous donation to an appropriate charity.

If we expect ballplayers to do that we're being unfair. They got that money from GM's and Owners who knew full well what they were doing when they signed those guys. Especially "The Most Obvious Juicer in the Game". For them to own up to it by giving those guys a reason to void their contracts would be moronic. It would essentially give the Teams a reason to be hypocritical with their signings, then throw up their arms and say "Well how could we know?"

You're right. The honorable thing for the Yankees to do would have been to recognize that their entire season was tainted, and, as a result, announce that they would sit out the playoffs.

And as for Yankee fans...well, let's just say I'm proud to be an Oriole fan, where fans know how to treat those who have used steroids and failed to take honorable action. I'm not at all surprised at how Yankee fans have reacted to Giambi's fauw apology. I have as low expectations for them as I do for Giambi.

You are wrong. How is their season tainted?? Please show me proof that Giambi took steroids this season and I will gladly admit that this season is tainted. Palmeiro failed a test this season. Giambi did not.

[Lofunzo]

I'm glad he's doing it clean now.

Saying Giambi is clean now is just as presumptuous as saying he's not, with no evidence.


If you played cards with a guy who won a ton of money from you, then you found out he cheated, would you ever trust him again? I wouldn't.

And this isn't an anti-Giambi bias because I think all athletes linked with Balco knew what they were doing, same with every player who tested positive, from RaffyB to Raffy P.

You make a point but it doesn't fly here, IMHO. With your example, you are assuming that security measures would be kept constant. With steroids, they have changed. They have a better testing policy now.

[Lofunzo]

And I am not going to say this again.......I don't care who you are or anything else, if you make stupid personal comments here, they won't be tolerated.

[bigken117]

So you think every player who used some form of illegal steroids this season got caught?

[Lofunzo]

So you think every player who used some form of illegal steroids this season got caught?

Not at all but I am not in a position to assume that he has, either. My guess for him and everything that he has gone through with this is that he hasn't used them this season.

[bigken117]

So you think every player who used some form of illegal steroids this season got caught?

Not at all but I am not in a position to assume that he has, either. My guess for him and everything that he has gone through with this is that he hasn't used them this season.

Well I'm not assuming he has, but I don't trust him. I think the people say "he definitely hasn't" and get bent out of shape when other posters accuse him are being just as hypocritical as those who say "He definitely is". Bottom line is we'll never know and nobody is definitely right.