Roids and Rage

Sometimes in sports it is hard to get around the headlines and the most interesting headlines recently involved the goings on in college basketball and major league baseball.

First we take note of last Tuesday night's brouhaha in the Atlantic 10 where the St. Joseph Hawks defeated the cross-town rival Temple Owls 63-56. The game featured both non-stop bitching at the refs by Temple's coach, the notoriously highly strung John Chaney, and by exceptionally rough play in the second half. The meltdown during his post-game press conference was remarkable even by Chaney standards.

During said conference Chaney admitted to being so frustrated by the failure of the referees to whistle the visiting Hawks for allegedly setting numerous moving screens on his helpless Owls that he sent in a "goon"-his words-to mete out rough justice. Said goon, seldom used 6'8", 250 lb. Nehemiah Ingram, did so with ruthless efficiency and set the land speed record for fouling out in the process after collecting his 5th foul in 4 minutes.

The next day, Chaney apologized for his "reprehensible" behavior and suspended himself from participation in the upcoming game against Pittsburgh. The problem is, it was subsequently revealed that one of the St. Joseph's kids that got popped by Ingram during the hack-a-thon ordered up by Chaney, wound up with a broken arm and is lost for the season.

Chaney's behavior was not just "reprehensible" it was stupid. He forced a kid-and these are still just kids folks- to choose between disobeying his coach and starting World War III under the boards. An opposing player is lost for the season due to the deliberate acts of his player. He has exposed himself and his employer to liability. And according to Hawks coach Phil Martelli the worse thing Chaney did was refer to of his players as a "goon."

"That was a mistake." Martelli said. " That kid is somebody's son."

As is the young man with the fractured elbow. You can't swing a dead cat in Philly without hitting a lawyer. There's a good chance his parents are consulting with one even as we type.

Look, we at TMFW have seen much basketball in our day. We do not blanche at spirited play that crosses over into the realm of the physical. Stuff happens out there on the court. High words are exchanged. It was ever thus. But the coaches are there to keep a lid on that stuff not instigate it.

John Chaney should be suspended by either Temple or by the Atlantic 10 Conference for the rest of the season and post-season. If they do not, they are complete and utter cowards.

Turning to the Boys of Summer, one of the questions put to Barry Bonds during his coming out party with the press the other day concerned whether he thought taking performance enhancing drugs was "cheating." To which he replied:

" I don't know what cheating is. I don't believe steroids can help your eye-hand coordination, technically hit a baseball. I just don't believe it."

Which is completely disingenuous.

If getting the ball in play was all about hand-eye coordination and contact, Bonds might have a point. But if we possessed the Popeye like forearms that Bonds owns, we would sure wait that extra split-second longer to get a good look at a pitch that might be fooling us, reposing trust that we could generate sufficient bat speed to turn misshits into long foul balls if not shots to the opposite field.

And if we are illegally using a controlled substance to gain and maintain that power, well yeah, that's cheating. Duh.

But steroids aren't even the drug of choice in baseball. It is amphetamines. Greenies. And everybody does them. And guess what? So ubiquitous is their use during the 162 game grind that is the regular season that the Player's Union would have gone to war over testing for this substance. And the suits at MLB didn't press the point in order to get the deal done on steroids.

Is this a great country or what?

So just remember. Next time you see a batter fidget in the batter's box, the next time you see a pitcher not named Rick Ankiel throw one over the backstop, consider that it just might be more than nerves. It might be better living through chemistry.