the shrewdness of apes

training for the 20 Ks

ESPN Classic was showing Roger Clemens' first 20 strikeout game yesterday and t.s.o.a. was immediately struck by how different (read: skinny) the man looked 18 years ago. everything about him was slimmer, from his head to his legs. everyone keeps pointing to the way Barry Bonds has filled out over the years as a testament to the hormones everyone "knows" he's been taking, while completely ignoring the fact that this is the way bodies react as they get older, especially when you abide the strict training regimens that these two gentlemen use to turn the excess mass into muscle. i don't believe there's been a single accusation of steroid use for Clemens even though his transformation is remarkably similar to Bonds' (the pictures below don't do the best job of showing it, but if you saw that 1986 game yesterday you would understand), so allow me to make the first: if Bonds is on steroids, then so is the Rocket Man. at the least it explains the bat throwing incident if not his obsession with children whose first names begin with K, one of whom is named similarly to the wife. but wouldn't the steroids have withered his genitals? hmmm......

a bigger asshole or just bigger?

[Update, 5:15 pm] in today's Under the Knife on Baseball Prospectus, Will Carroll says: "Yes, steroids would help pitchers. It's always been my understanding that steroids, used properly (and yes, there is a proper way) would benefit pitchers MORE than it would hitters. Not only would they increase strength, but the drugs could be used to assist recovery, something pitchers definitely need to worry about." watch out, Roger, the evidence is mounting.