MLB Commissioner Bud Selig may have just taken the title of worst commissioner in the history of professional sportsaway from NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and for that he gets the Sports Climax Bitch-Slap-of-the-Week.

In a sports world where the NHL relies on verifying with video footage that a puck is in the net and the NFL that two feet are inbounds on a TD pass, after yesterday’s interview, Selig appears to be comfortable allowing human error to continue to create controversy in his sport.

Selig has been saturated in controversy over the past few decades with many accusing him of ignoring the steroid abuse issues that were prevalent and obvious during the 1990’s when Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa were playing home run derby.

We know how Selig has managed to skirt around issues involving  several other situations including the Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds perjury investigations and the uncovering of A-Rod and several other player’s syringe use.

The more recent issues surround the blatant, game-changing calls that his umpire crews have been making. Some of these blunders, like those made during recent playoffs, have sent hard-working organizations home packing earlier than they should have been.

More recently the Jim Joyce “three-blind-mice- I-have-my-head-up-my-ass” call that took a perfect game from a young Detroit pitcher now has center stage.

That said the buzz about expanding the instant replay had gathered more steam than a locomotive; that is until yesterday when Selig all but squashed the concept.

In an interview with the AP, Selig said he will continue to look at expanding the use of instant replay in baseball, but doesn’t think it will happen this year—if at all. WTF!

“I doubt it, but I wouldn’t ever say never. It’s worked out well.”

SLAP! That line deserves a good bitch-slappin’. What has worked out well? Allowing crews to make blunders that advance the biggest market New York Yankees to another playoff series?

Wouldn’t determining the correct winners for the fans as often as possible be considered working out well?

Making changes that limit mistakes and blunders your blind umpire crews seem to be making on a more consistent basis would be considered working out well.

On another note, these calls have affected our country’s legal gambling systems. Some of these calls have affected the final score or winners as in several MLB Playoff games in the past meaning the people who have wagered on that game have been cheated.

Logical minds who run the NFL and NBA and even Bettman’s NHL have realized how advantageous it is to utilize video replay technology but Selig continues to hide behind some sort of curtain that many of us cannot figure out. How could he not want to reduce those occurrences and limit mistakes?

Selig went on to say in the interview that he “wants to do what I think is best for the sport.”

If that were true Mr. Selig than many people would say then you should resign.

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Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax, LLC

DETROIT – Let’s play a name game, ‘Bill Buckner’. Okay now that you have the image of the star Red Sox player letting the dribbler through his legs during the 1986 World Series to allow the New York Mets to get up off the mat and defeat the Boston Red Sox, let’s toss another name out there, MLB umpire ‘Jim Joyce’.

Joyce has been calling balls and strikes behind the plate as a full-time major league umpire since 1989 and before last night was known and respected enough to be involved in two World Series, 11 other playoff series and a pair of All-Star games.

But after last night’s Bill Buckner moment, Joyce will forever be remembered for altering MLB history with one of the most asinine, missed calls in the history of sports.

With two outs in the 9th inning at Comerica Park in Detroit, young starter Armando Galarraga was one out away from pitching the first perfect game in the Detroit Tigers franchise history.

The final batter hit a ground ball, the play was made at 1st base and as the crowd and players were ready to erupt in celebration, Joyce called the runner safe.

After the game, replays clearly showed the runner was out and the game should have been over. After the game, Joyce apologized to Galarraga and the Tigers.

Apology NOT accepted.

Why, because that play wasn’t even close by umpire standards. These guys nail split-second plays at first all year long. This runner was out by almost a half-step. If the play were even closer, in a situation like that with a perfect game on the line on a home field, only a moron like Joyce would make that gaffe.

MLB Commissioner Bud Selig has the power to reverse Joyce’s blunder since the umpire admitted he made the incorrect call and the replays verified the runner was out:

“It was the biggest call of my career, and I kicked the shit out of it. I just cost that kid a perfect game.”

ESPN reported that Selig would likely consult with his top advisers before reversing the call and I believe he will do the right thing and give the franchise their first perfect game. This reversal would have no bearing on the final 3-0 score in the shutout over the Cleveland Indians.

While we await Selig’s decision, Joyce is scheduled to be behind the plate in Detroit for this afternoon’s game between the same two teams, hope his skin is as thick as armor.

Like Buckner’s play that rocked the baseball world, still to this day, this timing of Joyce’s blunder may follow the umpire around for the rest of his career.

The gaffe also gives a ton of ammo to proponents for expanding the instant replay for MLB.

An anti-Joyce Facebook page was created shortly after the game and a website called firejimjoyce.com was launched.

In the meantime, welcome to the Bill Buckner Hall of Shame, Mr. Joyce.

Copyright © 2010 Sports Climax, LLC

Jay McGwire and brother Mark haven’t spoken much since 2002 and with brother Jay’s book “Mark and Me: Mark McGwire and the Truth Behind Baseball’s Worst-Kept Secret,” scheduled to hit the bookstores Monday, don’t expect these two to exchange Christmas gifts any time soon.

In the book, Jay, an avid body-builder and heavy steroid user shares information with the world that up to this point, Mark has managed to keep away from the media, league and fans.

Jay told ESPN he reveals the details and types of performance-enhancing drugs he says Big Mac used during a three-year stretch beginning in 1994. He also suggests that Big Mac is dodging the truth since admitting his drug use days before Spring Training opened.

“Mark knows that he was getting stronger and bigger, come on,” Jay told ESPN. “He is coming across that it is only for health reasons, but he put on 30 pounds of lean muscle mass. That is why a lot of people don’t understand why he is not really coming out clean like that. Why not just admit it all? It is OK, everyone knows how powerful these drugs are.”

Back when it all started, Jay said he drove up to Sacramento with Mark and talked about the options and types of drugs available. “Mark asked a lot of questions. He was more concerned about something that is going to help him [get] healthy. At that time he had lot of foot problems, lower back problems. So we thought about getting him on HGH and Deca-Durabolin.”

As time went on, Jay said Mark’s drug menu expanded to include Dianabol, Clenbuterol, Primobolan and Winstrol.
“I just look at steroids as a shortcut,” said Jay. “It prolonged his career. He got some big contracts out of it”.

That he did as Big Mac extended his career and earned approximately $60 million between 1995 and 2001.
Jay compliments how his brother helped put Major League Baseball back on the map.

“He turned the game around. Come on, he got people in the stands. Remember when they’d go out and hit batting practice there would be 25,000 people for batting practice. That is neat. That is what baseball needed, but the steroid thing got way out of hand and Major League Baseball didn’t do anything and it got into the government.”

“I think he was freaky for a baseball player,” said Jay. “His forearms are 17½ inches. His biceps were 19-plus. That is pretty freak. His leg power is huge. If you see the before and after pictures, look back and look at them in ’98 compared to ’88. It is a huge difference. But I want to make it very clear it wasn’t just the drugs. People under estimate the training behind it. Mark busted his butt.”

During the interview with ESPN, Jay said Mark worked “ridiculously hard” sometimes as many as 6 times a week and that the changes were not just brought on by the drugs.

Seeing the payoff, Jay believes Mark’s enhanced physical stature and increased success at the plate convinced other MLB stars to get involved in steroid use.

“I think these other athletes, A-Rod, Manny, Sosa, they saw Mark way back in the mid-’80s. They saw him grow and grow and grow. He’s not the one telling everyone, ‘Hey, I’m doing steroids.’ But I think people assumed that he was doing something, so I think that he motivated a lot of people . . . the temptation is overwhelming.”

Jay also finds it odd that investigators never contacted him while exploring steroid use for MLB commish Bud Selig, even after the contents of his book leaked out last year.

“It’s funny, huh?” said Jay. “You’d think that you’d want to go to the core of the story. And no one has really suspected me. I’ve been the person all along.”

According to ESPN, Mark did not return phone requests left with his spokesman, Ari Fleischer or the St. Louis Cardinals. Mark is currently the hitting coach for his former team.

When Jay was asked about brother Mark not remembering what type of steroids or enhancers he used, Jay believes that to be untrue. “Yeah, he knows,” Jay said. “I just think he is coached. He didn’t want to talk about it.”

Copyright 2010 Sports Climax™

Mark McGwire decided to come clean and finally admitted using steroids throughout his career, including the year he broke the single-season home run record.

McGwire had basically fallen off the map since dodging the steroid question in front of a congressional committee in March 2005. Now that the former Major League Baseball player is preparing to coach this season for the St. Louis Cardinals he must have thought it was best to address the issue prior to the season to avoid a media circus when spring training starts (Google Alex Rodriguez).

During an interview with the Associated Press, McGwire apologized. “The toughest thing is my wife, my parents, close friends have had no idea that I hid it from them all this time,” said McGwire. “I knew this day was going to come. I didn’t know when.”

McGwire went on to admit using steroids and HGH throughout a decade and during the time he broke Roger Maris’ home run record in 1998.

“I wish I had never touched steroids,” McGwire said. “It was foolish and it was a mistake.”

According to the AP, McGuire called Commissioner Bud Selig, St. Louis manager Tony La Russa and Maris’ widow, Pat to personally break the news then called the AP for the interview.

“It was a wrong thing what I did. I totally regret it. I just wish I was never in that era,” he said.

McGwire finished his career with 583 home runs, tied for eighth on the all-time list. His record of 70 home runs in 1998 only held up for three years then it was surpassed by Barry Bonds’ 73 homers in 2001. In addition, his resume includes 1987 AL Rookie of the Year and 12 trips to the All-Star Game.

Ironically this admission comes just days after the latest Hall Of Fame vote that saw McGwire get a mere 23 percent vote, well below the 75 percent necessary to make it to Cooperstown.

“This has nothing to do with the Hall of Fame,” he said. “This has to do with me coming clean, getting it off my chest, and five years that I’ve held this in. There’s no way a pill or an injection will give you hand-eye coordination or the ability or the great mind that I’ve had as a baseball player,” he said. “I was always the last one to leave. I was always hitting by myself. I took care of myself.”

He said he first used steroids between the 1989 and 1990 seasons, after helping the Oakland Athletics to a World Series sweep when he and Jose Canseco formed the Bash Brothers.

“When you work out at gyms, people talk about things like that. It was readily available,” he said. “I tried it for a couple of weeks. I really didn’t think much of it.”

He said he returned to steroids after the 1993 season after being told steroids might speed his recovery.

“I did this for health purposes. There’s no way I did this for any type of strength purposes,” he said.

McGwire’s 70 homers in 1998 was part of a head-to-head battle with Chicago Cubs Sammy Sosa who finished with 66. Sosa, like McGuire, has brushed off and denied using steroids thus far and was reprimanded when he was caught using an illegal bat around that same time.

Selig praised McGwire, saying, “This statement of contrition, I believe, will make Mark’s re-entry into the game much smoother and easier.” If anyone knows about damage control it’s Selig. The commissioner has had his hands full over the years with the New York Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez admitting using steroids, Bonds facing criminal charges accused of lying when questioned about steroids and Roger Clemens currently being investigated for possibly lying to Congress concerning his involvement in steroid use.

Rafael Palmeiro is another player who denied using steroids but then tested positive for one later that year.

“I’m sure people will wonder if I could have hit all those home runs had I never taken steroids,” McGwire said. “I had good years when I didn’t take any, and I had bad years when I didn’t take any. I had good years when I took steroids, and I had bad years when I took steroids. But no matter what, I shouldn’t have done it and for that I’m truly sorry.”

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Copyright © 2010 – Sports Climax

ATLANTA – While Barry Bonds prepares for his trial and Roger Clemens awaits word on perjury charges, Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig remains on the hot seat following New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez’ press conference yesterday in Tampa.While the media spends their time over-analyzing how much truth A-Rod’s statements contained, many people still question whether Selig has spent the past decade ignoring his league’s steroid abuse problem.

Selig is quick to deflect the blame.

During a Newsday interview, Selig continued defending his reputation, “I don’t want to hear the commissioner turned a blind eye to this or he didn’t care about it,” said Selig. “That annoys the you-know-what out of me. You bet I’m sensitive to the criticism.”

“A lot of people say we should have done this or that, and I understand that. They ask me, ‘How could you not know? When I look back at where we were in ’98 and where we are today, I’m proud of the progress we’ve made.”

“Starting in 1995, I tried to institute a steroid policy,” Selig continued. “Needless to say, it was met with strong resistance. We were fought by the union every step of the way.”

Many of us close to baseball assumed there was enhancement help of some kind during the 1998 home run race between Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire. Why would it suddenly be possible for not only one, but two players to breeze past Maris’ HR record the same year with one guy nailing 70 out of the park.

I remember driving down the interstate in Chicago during that summer of ’98 with my wife and most every day that week the numbers on the banner keeping tabs on Sosa’s race were increasing by the day, reaching far past Roger Maris’ record of 61. Sosa ended up with 66 that year, four behind McGuire’s record-setting 70.

When asked about that home run race, Selig continues to defend himself and the league. In diminutive defense of Selig, the MLBPA union and the owners did not implement a joint drug program until 2002 with that agreement allowing punishment starting in 2004 so his argument is that his hands were somewhat tied.

“It is important to remember that these recent revelations relate to pre-program activity,” Selig told Newsday. “Under our current drug program, if you are caught using steroids and/or amphetamines, you will be punished. Since 2005, every player who has tested positive for steroids has been suspended for as much as 50games.”

While receiving a little bit of help from icons like Hank Aaron, Selig remains in a difficult position, being asked to throw his players and league under the bus and may be forced to remain in the damage-control mode for many months to come.

The Commish could always consider deflecting some of the recent attention of the ’98 home run race by blaming Sosa’s corked bats.

Copyright © 2009 – Sports Climax