Poor, Persecuted Pedro
"Idiot wind, blowing every time you move your mouth. Blowing down the backroads headin' south.
Idiot wind, blowing every time you move your teeth. You're an idiot babe, it's a wonder that you still know how to breathe" Bob Dylan, "Idiot Wind"

In the midst of a news firestorm surrounding the Sammy Sosa and The Corked Bat epic, a little voice of idiotic reasoning was heard wailing in the wind the other day that the only reason there is such media controversy over one of the most prolific homerun hitters in our generation getting busted in mid-game for and admitting to using a corked bat was because of "racial bias" by the media.

Pedro Martinez, an unabashed spinmaster and outspoken purveyor of all things Dominican now wants us to believe that "If it was [Mark] McGwire, it would still be a big deal, but not like this."

Poor Persecuted Pedro has an ailing memory. Apparently, his collected history of racial bias in the media, as a matter of convenience, doesn't account for the media's protracted braying and indignation over Mark McGwire's use of androstenedione. McGwire was using what was then, a legal nutritional supplement, a fact that never slowed sports journalists from using their columns to castigate him with their stertorous moral preaching.

"We might be Latin and minorities, but we're not dumb," Pedro brayed further. "We see everything that happens." he says ominously.

If the vision of Poor Persecuted Pedro and his Dominican Martyr Brigade wasn't so already slanted by the pale, skewed light of his misplaced sense of racial bias, perhaps Peter Gammons wouldn't have had to issue a statement denying Pedro's absurd allegation that claimed Gammons said "We don't want the Latin [expletive] to be in front of the TV all the time." in justifying why Zito won last year's Cy Young instead of Pedro the Oppressed.

Even Pedro's lone claim to legitimacy, that the media should spend as much energy noting that the rest of Sosa's bats were clean as they did on questioning Sosa ad hoc on the corked bat, limps woefully out of touch with reality. The sad reality of modern media is that a story is sold based on its sensationalistic qualities. It simply isn't sexy, and thus, not as marketable, to note, amid all the hype and hysteria, that all of Sosa's other bats were clean, just as amid the tsunami of controversy that followed the revelation of McGwire's use of andro, no one led their headlines with "McGwire Uses Legal Nutritional Supplement."

It isn't racial bias in the media, it's the bias in the media against truths that inconvenience the sale of the hype. Maybe Pedro, in his paranoid, delusional world, is just too tainted by his own self-appointed stupid to see that.

*****

There was plenty of controversy surrounding Nets coach Byron Scott's decision not to double team MVP Tim Duncan in Game One. In response, Scott spat out "I don't listen to people who write papers about how to guard this guy, because unless you're seven feet and you're writing for the newspaper and you're guarding Tim Duncan, you can't suggest anything to me as far as how to guard him," he said. "You can't tell me how to guard him."

That's quite a lengthy criteria for telling Mr. Scott how to do his job. Fortunately, it wasn't only the people writing the papers who were complaining. In discussing Scott's decision not to double team Duncan, Kenyan Martin noted "That's not our game plan, to come out and double him right off, but if [Duncan's] got it going, a fool wouldn't do it." Someone who IS seven feet, David Robinson, admitted "I did kind of expect [Mutombo] to come in and play a little bit more. When you've got a big 7-foot-3 guy on the bench, it's kind of nice to be able to bring him in."

Hmmm. In Game Two, Mutombo and Jason Collins got more face time against Duncan, Kenyon Martin was paired off against David Robinson and there was alot more sagging in the lanes. Result? Nets win. While Scott had been demonized in the local press as being as stubborn as Pat Riley when it comes to making team adjustments, it speaks volumes of Scott's coaching ability (and sanity) that he gave in to common sense and changed the defensive strategy against Duncan. Of course, Duncan's season-long charity stripe choking coming to fruition in a 3 for 10 effort last night didn't hurt either.

It may seem odd but there are probably alot of Nets fans out there rooting for Tony Parker to shine in this championship series. If Parker proves he's a legitimate point guard, the Spurs have no real cause to waste money paying Jason Kidd the megabucks to come to San Antonio and thus, Kidd is more likely to stay on with the Nets. The one thing I never really understood, as Kidd hems and haws about whether or not he would stay in New Jersey citing that his one criteria as being the desire to play for a team with a shot to win the title, is who the hell is he playing for right now? Don't the Nets have a legitimate shot to win the title?

*****

Today is a big day for New York sports. Funny Cide, the local horse with the local ownership, goes into the Belmont with a legitimate shot at winning the Triple Crown and Roger Clemens, the old horse in pinstripes, goes into the staid envions of Wrigley Field with a legitimate shot at winning his 300th game. Will either succeed?

One thing in Funny Cide's favor is that he is a gelding. Having been neutered, unlike other stallion champions, there is no future of wild times at the ole stud farm at the end of this rainbow. Winning races is the only thing he has to look forward to.

As for Clemens' start, it doesn't get any better than today's game for hype and pressure. Today he will face Kerry Woods, the man who tied his 20 strikeout game record and who idolized him growing up. He will face a cork-less Sammy Sosa, who has not homered in his last 14 games. He will face destiny, which has thus far laughed in his face.

Since predictions are for the well-informed or the fools, for the record, I'll only note that I'll be rooting for Funny Cide to win and Sammy Sosa to tag a fat homerun on to Waveland Avenue off Clemens in another no-decision fade out.