I wonder about Pearlman though. Could anyone including Giambi actually be dummy enough to illegally obtain and use HGH while they are already a subject of and a target in a Federal steroids investigation. I would imagine that with the money Giambi makes he could find someone who is a member of a Bar in any state of the Union who would explain exactly what would be the result of that kind of stupidity.

Could anyone be that STUPID? It's not like steroids are addictive. He already has more money than any reasonable human could spend in 10 lifetimes. Why would he undertake that level of risk?

I'll give him the benefit of the doubt on the HGH issue right now. It's too bad Giambi got himself into this mess. My sense is he didn't need the roids to be a great player to begin with.

That said, I don't think Giambi himself is that stupid.

Great piece, Alex. You summarized this Yankee fan's feelings perfectly on Giambi.

Generally, it's the sort of thing I'd love to blog about, but I don't want to undermine my position with SI.com--sometimes you just have to be smart, even if it hurts. I'll definitely write about my impressions at some point--whether it is on the blog or somewhere else.

Man, isn't it a lot more fun to talk about Melky these days than ask the tough questions about Giambi?

Did you let on to Torre that you were the one who wrote the 'Curt Flood book' he happened to be reading?

Standing on the corner of The Grand Concourse and 161st Street prior to the game, I see two rather large men walking towards at a very brisk pace. The street was already packed with fans but I can still see that it's Michael Kay coming my way along with a rather large, hulking companion. As they come closer to me, I realize that this companion is Kay's BODYGUARD.

Now, I personally enjoy listening to kay, but I'm aware that there are many, many Yankee fans that simply don't like the guy. He's passionate but comes off a bit too smart for his own good.

Needless to say, as they pass by it occurs to me that one has to be doing something very, very wrong to be the hometown broadcaster at a hometown stadium and STILL require security to cross the street. Let's just be very clear, Michael Kay didn't need the bodyguard because he was scared of autograph-hounds!

BTW, his pic on yesnetwork.com doesn't show it but Kay is really B-I-G (read: chubby).

I just don't see it happening in this particular case with the support that guy has around him and given what is at stake.

Human beings will never disappoint you in their capacity to disappoint you. Believe me I am prepared to be disappointed. But Oye Ve that would be the mother load!

"Even if he flattens out or isn't as good a player for the next week as he has been, he's done so much in this period of time — in Boston, here against Boston," Torre said. "Once you do that, it's something you can fall back on. Over all, when you look at him, ability-wise, I don't think there's any question he can play up here."

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/08/sports/baseball/08sheffield.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

There hasn't been any difficulty for me in shifting roles from a blogger to a professional in terms of writing. They are different formats, of course. But even though I write from a personal perspective here on the blog, I have always tried to be balanced. So it's not like writing for SI has been a radical shift. At the same time, it's been a great learning experience writing for a wider audience. I'm fortunate to have a great editor at SI, who has been patient and extremely encouraging.

Also, nobody really knows me as a blogger in there, at least not the players, so there is no stigma there. Some of the media guys know Bronx Banter, but they also know me as a guy who wrote a book on Curt Flood and who is now writing for SI.com. It's a pretty insulated world, but I've found that all of the writers I've approached at the park--including Anthony McCarron, Tyler Kepner, Michael Morrissy, Bill Madden and Dave Anderson--have all been good guys. I know it is a very competitive beat covering the Yanks, and I have a good deal of respect for the regular writers, especially the beat guys.

The hardest part is not cheering in the press box, which is tough because it's hard-wired into me to root for the Yanks. But this is what you'd call a good problem to have.

11 Alex, I think you're walking the line between being a professional writer and being a passionate fan/blogger quite well. I envy the access, but I don't envy having to walk that line. Kudos man, you deserve it.

I'm already looking forward to the day when you share your impressions of the dugout.

18 Gooden and Strawberry had plenty at stake, and plenty of support, too.

Steroids ain't crack, but the success and accolades Giambi may have achieved via cheating can be mighty addictive for athletes. Hell, cheaters can get hooked on the game of cheating itself.

The Yankee fan in me likes to believe he's clean.

The Giambi fan in me looks forward to every at-bat.

I like to think of him as "not guilty by his association to Mattingly" - but that's as flimsy a defense as a fan can come up with.

I wonder how they got Grimsley's name and enough detail to run him to ground as effectively as they did. They are making a pretty good example of the guy; big enough and nasty enough for everyone involved to see. If you stomp on the floor hard enough the rats will run for other cover. This is going to get ugly.

I wonder how much feedback Mitchell is getting on this phase of the investigation.

24 Slice, There's a reason they refer to smoking a crack pipe as "sucking the devil's *ick". It's a whole other thing than roids. It's like Mathis and Sinatra, "you can't compare them".

The way things are now I imagine if a player got caught shooting steroids in the clubhouse they'd get the same reaction as if they got caught "suckin' the devil."

http://tinyurl.com/zhb4c

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTwDN3UBFms

You are right though, a needle in the ass, in the clubhouse, would have to be viewed in a similar light.

It is the height of bullshit that this, as a topic of discussion, cuts at the very heart of the game. I wonder how this compares to the Black Sox scandal in terms of imperiling the game of Major League Baseball itself.

Stewards and custodians of the game my ass. There is a great gulf between the right and wrong we're taught as kids and the way the world actually works but the level of cynicism as displayed by the powers that be in MLB as this scandal has developed over the last few years has been nothing short of disgusting.

I just hope it wasn't with the help of HGH.

About Giambi, could he still be on HGH? Why not? He cheated before, I don't see why he wouln't again if he thought he wouldn't test positive. I just hope that if he is cheating that he doesn't get caught that goes for all the Yankee players.

jkay, thanks for the link. I had heard about that guy running on the field from a Yankee message board.

I would say yes. I'm not saying Giambi specifically, but I think there are plenty of players right now that would risk getting caught in order to stay in the majors. The money they make (esp. for star players) is worth the risk.

24 "cheaters can get hooked on the game of cheating itself." I think that's a damn good point, SB

The millionaire players made billions for the billionaire owners by at least in part shooting that steroid crap into their bodies with, at minimum, the tacit approval of the owners. The players are the ones who will be hosed in this while the owners loose and suffer nothing. This is simply horse dung. The fact that these suddenly sanctimonious, self righteous bastard owners are running an investigation is a joke. If the Union had any stones they'd tell their membership to quit the needle and they would support them while they did so. They'd then tell the Mitchell Team to step off.