There’s a scandal going on in the Italian sporting world that makes our Barry Bonds/steroid thing look like an afterschool special about “drugs are bad” or “Jenny eats something.” If this was happening in America, to the NFL… your entire life would’ve changed because of it. ESPN would’ve been in “special report” mode for two straight weeks now, and Bob Ley wouldn’t have been able to leave the air, shower, or shave during that time.
In this SI article, they describe soccer team “Juventus” as the New York Yankees of Italy. And the former own, Luciano Moggi, I suppose would be the Italian Steinbrenner. Anyway, this Moggi character was running an incredible ring of corruption. In fact, I’m fearful that if he reads this post, I’ll wake up with Barbaro’s head in bed next to me.
Anyway, Moggi could evidently decide which refs did which games, which players were selected to the Italian team, and who would and would not be given yellow cards. He had everyone on the take. He’s also accused of “locking up” a referee who didn’t officiate a game the way he was supposed to. Surprise, surprise, Juventus has won the last two titles in Serie A, the top division of Italian soccer.
Imagine if this was the Yankees, and what the coverage of that would be like. Steinbrenner with umps in his pocket, deciding which ones did his games, and kidnapping one of them because they let Jeter get behind in the count. Baseball would never be the same.
An AC Milan player is quoted in the article as saying that he believes the last two seasons should be completely wiped off the books. Really, I don’t know what else they could do. That’s the only reasonable solution… every single thing that’s happened in the last two years is that league is tainted like a Barry Bonds home run hit with Sammy Sosa’s bat at Coors Field with a juiced ball. Asterisks just won’t do here.
Matthew LeCroy, third-string catcher for the Washington Nationals had some issues yesterday. I’m sure you’re aware by now. With LeCroy catching, the Astros just started stealing on him at will. Half the time, LeCroy didn’t bother to make a throw, and when he did, it sailed into centerfield. It happened again and again. The Astros finished with 7 stolen bases, and LeCroy with two throwing errors.
Miami showed up in full-on “We’ll take a split” mode, and Detroit was still holding on for a narrow win at the end. Detroit’s effort level certainly superior to their Game One effort… for about 70% of the game. They came out, made the hustle playes, rebounded well, and (gasp) executed crisp offensive sets, making the extra pass when necessary. They were fantastic. For about 70% of the game.
The Cleveland Cavaliers are going to have to make some moves this offseason, and the biggest decision will probably revolve around Zydrunas Ilgauskus. 
Here were Richard Petty’s thoughts when Janet Guthrie attempted to qualify for a NASCAR race in 1976. It’s a quote from Janet Guthrie’s book, actually:
