Things have slowed down here a bit on TMC. I’m rapidly trying to finish my dissertation (yes, seriously), and the holidays in general seem to bring a malaise in sports, with all this goofy anticipation for the bowl games and the NFL playoffs. My apologies to all you loyal readers out there, as well as those of you who are just here for the gratuitous pictures of Jeff Garcia’s wife.

Our apologies to Ray Lewis for the whole Jewish thing. Props to Blogimore Ravens for calling the Baltimore PR department on that. I do find it interesting that, after KSK picked up our initial story, the Wikipedia entry got edited down. Of all the things to make up, why would someone make THAT up?

I haven’t had a chance to talk much about the aftermath of the Mitchell Report, the comments from players regarding their alleged steroid use, etc. The story  has now been beaten into the ground for a solid week, so I don’t feel the need to say a lot more about it. However, I will make this comment — the responses we’re seeing now from players, the union, and from baseball itself, are utterly and completely worthless. We’ve witnessed a fundamental alteration of the game of major league professional baseball over the last 20 years, and no amount of reportage, or apologies, or stricter “enforcement” of bannination of substances will ever get it back. It’s been asked why there’s such a furor over steroids in baseball, but not in other sports. No, it’s not a conservative conspiracy (incidentally, can there be a “Steroid Truth” movement, just like the “9/11 Truth” movement? That’d be funny). Rather, the reaction or overreaction to this situation is grounded in the fact that baseball, above all other sports, survives nationally on its players’ yearly statistical outputs. One of the common complaints of the Mitchell Report was that it only named certain names, and some players got shafted while others waltzed through. Well, there’s the problem — no one can be trusted. Therefore, no one’s statistics can be trusted. Baseball encouraged the abuse of steroids, players were all too happy to oblige, and now there’s a 20-year shitstain on the records of the one sport that couldn’t afford it, due to the nature of the game.

We haven’t done a link dump in a while, so here goes:

— Purdue. Lost. To. Wafford. Now that’s entertainment! (Friends of CJD)

—  Busted Coverage is running a blog bracket. Go vote for our friends, including Epic Carnival, at this link. Sadly, we are not included in the competition…but we would be next year if you go to Ballhype and give us some love. I’m not begging or anything, I promise. (Busted Coverage)

— Everything you never wanted to know about HGH but were forced to find out. (Cobra Brigade)

—  Stuart Scott has a lot more wrong with him than just a busted appendix. (Awful Announcing)

— The NCAA handles the live blogging issue the same way it handles everything else — by throwing a 300-pound book of rules and regulations at it. (We Are The Postmen)

— Getting their freak-out on in L-Town. (Epic Carnival / More Credible)