…why baseball players are not facing the same penalties. Why they are not being asked about their substance abuse by federal prosecutors instead of by useless congressional committees. Why the judge felt it fit to sic the maximum sentence on a nursing mother when Barry Bonds is going scot-free. Why he thinks popping a female track star into prison is going to deter male baseball players who have been getting away with it for years.

If this stuff is illegal, prosecute. Everybody. If it is not, don’t sic federal prosecutors selectively and then slap on jail time for the lying.

That Marion Jones should serve time for lying to federal prosecutors, I don’t doubt. That there are, seemingly, some pretty heavy inequities here before the law, I do believe. The whole thing is disgusting.

Noooooooooooooooooooooo. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

H/t: Daddyman.

I’ve been waiting a long long time (though probably not as long as Rangers fans) for the backlash against A-Rod’s astronomical salary. Looks like it’s here. Aramis Ramirez, how does it feel to be more valuable than the highest-paid player in the sport?

Jim Hendry of the Cubs said: “He’s a great, great player. I know he has a longstanding relationship with Lou Piniella. Anybody would love to have him. In our situation we’re very happy with Aramis Ramírez at third. In the overall scheme of things, for the dollars it would take, we have other needs — in the outfield, speed-wise, maybe a little more pitching.

“For that kind of volume of dollars, I don’t see a way that would make any sense because we’re very happy with our guy at third. To commit that much more to one player and not address the other needs we have when we already have an All-Star caliber third baseman is really tough to do.”

Thanks, Jim Hendry. Now please find some guys to fill those holes before the owners seriously start considering putting Cuban at the wheel.

(Via Funkypundit.)

They must. Lest there be an opening for any sportswriter who can’t think of anything else or who has a Patriots bias to jump right back on that old “Peyton-can’t-win-the-big-game” bandwagon. It would be a shame if a Super Bowl ring isn’t enough to take the wheels off that wagon forever.

Update, halftime: That TD was a beautiful thing. That’ll teach you to leave Addai open, suckers. Which is something you shouldn’t have needed to be taught in the first place.

Update, after Colts’ second interception of Brady: Bra-dy’s ma-ad, and I’m gla-ad …

Update: 24-20 Patriots. Lord help our Colts.

I wish you much luck, Joe Girardi, you were always one of my favorites when you caught for the Cubs. But at the same time, I fear you’re actually going to need it.

Have your party.

I think this leaves my Cubs as the last goat in baseball.

At least I still have my Colts and their now world-beating QB.

I’m back from Boston, where my gracious hostess Petitedov and I saw tons of history and several varieties of Mike’s Pastry. A few things that happened while I was gone:

Funkypundit prognosticated incorrectly lied, Phils and Cubs died. Holy cow-hum.

Marion lied, gold medals died. I remember those Olympics. I believed her then. The article blandly says that two out of the other three relay team members have served doping bans since then–doesn’t say it’s for sure they doped at those Olympics. Doesn’t matter. Medals should all go to the second-place team. I used to be naive about this stuff. Now it’s starting to taint the concept of everybody at the top for me.

Latinos lied, DMV spied, Oregonian cried got its panties in a wad over the fact that most of the people taken up for fraudulent documents were Latino. Here’s a conundrum: Oregon law allows illegals to obtain driver’s licenses or state IDs as long as they have authentic documentation, such as a consulate card or a (frequently Mexican) birth certficate. Yet people are still using fraudulent documents, leading me to wonder if people actually want their real names on a license if they’re illegal.

Already, suspects who might otherwise have gone unchecked have been caught: they confess to buying Social Security cards in Montana, Los Angeles and Hillsboro; and they admit traveling from places such as Nevada and California, where illegal immigrants are prohibited from getting state identification.

No word in the article on whether they take their Oregon ID back to Nevada or California and live there awhile with a totally legitimate document supplied to them by the friendly state of Oregon. And the license clerks are the losers here–learn to properly identify a crappy Mexican birth certificate (“But the pink color, chipped ink and misplaced signature of the birth certificate still did not pass the test.”) or report somebody whose documents are actually genuine, even if it means they’re a genuine illegal. Until Oregon law begins to address their illegal status and not just their fraudulent documents, the DMV’s effort is valiant but only a half measure.

Via Ace, via Snapped Shot.

Holy cow. !!!

I love the Cubs, but ask me to pick my next favorite team and I have to go with the St. Louis Cardinals. Yes I KNOW they’re the Cubs’ traditional NL rival for Midwestern dominance. Yes I KNOW they won last year and so are even higher on the blacklist than usual. Yes I KNOW, I know, but who else am I going to root for, the American League? Please.

Besides, the Cardinals are cool. Bringin’ in the chicks with Stitch ‘n’ Pitch night, for practitioners of the needle arts, of which your humble blog hostess is one. Alas, though, it’s going to be a lot easier for knitters like Sarah than cross-stitchers like me, unless I were to gin up a small, simple, portable project rather than the enormous black hole of time and effort I’ve been avoiding working on for a year. Baseball and stitchery at the park–yeah, the Cards are cool.

And my Peyton. And, of course, my Allah.