November 16

Wild Win in Drug Palace

The Minnesota Wild beat the Edmonton Oilers 4-2 Thursday night at Rexall Place (or the Drug Palace as I like to call it) to snap a two game skid and win their second straight against the Oil. Marion Gaborik, back in the line-up after missing several games with a sore groin, scored his fifth goal of the season in the second period and added an assisted Mark Parrish's goal in the third. The Wild will wrap up this four game road trip tonight against the Vancouver Canucks at GM Place (or the Garage). This is the first meeting of the season for Minnesota against Shamu who is 3-0-1 in it's past four games and 2-6-1 at home this season. The Wild won the season series last year 5-1-2.


Bonds Lied, Cheated?

What most of the public thought to be true hit the public airwaves Thursday as Barry Bonds was indicted on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice, stemming from his testimony to a federal grand jury four years ago that he had not knowingly used steroids. The All-Time Home Run King faces a maximum of 30 years in prison if convicted on the four perjury charges and one obstruction of justice charge being brought against him for allegedly lying under oath. An arraignment has been scheduled for December 7th at U.S. District Court in San Francisco with a trial unlikely to begin until late next spring at the earliest. "During the criminal investigation, evidence was obtained including positive tests for the presence of anabolic steroids and other performance-enhancing substances for Bonds and other athletes", the indictment read, before detailing parts of Bonds testimony in December 2003, with the allegedly perjured statement underlined.

Up until now, there was never a positive test on the record that Bonds used steroids , and if its true that there is a positive test out there then this really is not only a sad day in baseball, but professional sports for two reasons. The most important being that he lied, and that he had extra help in breaking the most cherished and sacred record in all of sports. Granted it will be several months before this case goes to court and we the public find out more info on the case, and remember that in America your still innocent until proven guilty, but with an already huge "Did He" cloud hanging over him before Thursday, it's not looking good in the public eye for the current Home Run King. This does beg the question if now a team will sign him, but I think it's safe to say that no one will envy the job of Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig over the next year.


The A-Rod Watch is Over.

It appears as though Alex Rodriguez is coming back to the Yankees after all. New York and A-Rod reportedly have reached agreement on the outline of a 10-year, $275 million contract that would include additional bonuses if he sets the career home run record wearing pin stripes. The deal will not be finalized until the Yanks draft the agreement with Rodriguez's agent, Scott Boras. Apparently one final order of business concerns just how much money A-Rod, who has 518 home runs, could earn if an when he surpasses Barry Bonds career home run record of 762 (and counting).

This of course does come as a surprise after the report from Boras came out during the World Series, and it being later reported that it would cost at least $350 million to even schedule a meeting with A-Rods agent to get the services of his client.

The most suprising twist in this saga came when Rodriguez, without his agent, talked with and negoated a contract with the Yankees by himself to stay in the Big Apple. In todays game of agents representing players and getting the biggest contract possible, most of the time just so the their cut or commision is bigger at their clients expense of talking them into moving to a different team and city even though they might be happy where they are.

You have to give credit to A-Rod for wanting to stay in the Bronx and going against his agent to do so, as he could have gone elsewhere and gotten at least $300 million.


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