Sports Views

Everyone knows that Giambi's coming off the juice was the single-most biggest obstacle he faced this season. It's just plain lazy, and somewhat irresponsible, for the Associated Press to pretend it isn't so.

Barry, you’ve actually been lucky. If BALCO owner Peter Conte had not agreed to a plea bargain, you might have been hauled into open court and asked some pointed questions about your use of performance enhancing substances. And you can’t just stonewall, or not answer questions, or go on the offensive like you’ve done everytime the media has broached the subject. Look at Jason Giambi; he had to come clean (no pun intended) under oath because he didn’t want to be the best home run hitter in prison.

My AL fantasy team is on a heck of a roll. All season I’ve struggled to find right handed starting pitching, a first baseman and coverage at third base. Then, I picked up Jason Giambi just before he got hot, Kevin Millwood came back, Barry Zito learned to throw again and somehow we picked up steam. The Hackers have won 10 straight and are winners of 28 of the last 40 games.

Now Tino is back (picked up as nothing more than a back-up player) and on a home run streak of the kind he hasn't had since he hit 46 dingers in Pinstripes the year he was runner-up for MVP. The man who was paid a gazillion dollars to play first base, Jason Giambi, meanwhile hasn't done anything in two years. He hasn't even been average, he's been horrible. I don't wish Giambi ill will but it looks like a test case for karma when the man who was deemed over the hill and who had supposedly seen his best days (Tino) is outperforming the man who he was replaced by.

Redman stifled and confused Yankee hitters over and over, but the end result was the Yankees rallying to tie the game. The game was won by the Yankees because of one blown call on the double play attempt that would have ended the game. The call later triggered an apology by the umpires as they admitted to the missed call. The missed call prevented Mark Redman from sustaining a great win, and Jose Mesa from getting another save preserving a 5-4 win. Instead the blown call helped the Yankees tie the game and later win it on Jason Giambi’s two run homer in the bottom of the 10th, Mazeroski style.

In the wake of a steroid scandal and below average play, Nike did not renew its endorsement deal with Yankees first baseman Jason Giambi.

Foeget about Jason Giambi. Look at Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez this year. He is down from 215 pounds to 187 pounds. We cannot prove that he was ever doing steroids but it is an interesting exercise in journalism to read the comments of players, teammates and managers as players shrink before our very eyes.

Last fall, I posted after the brawl in Detroit regarding the idiocy surrounding the rash of fan-related incidents of violence in American sports. This week, the fans in Oakland have added another notch to their incredibly disgusting behavior record; a fan threw a beer at Jason Giambi and hit him in the head as he was walking off the field after flying out. I hate the Yankees as much as anyone does, and after his run-for-the-money and steroid-apology-that-wasn't-an-apology, I take pleasure in watching Giambi fail. This, however,...

Okay, I’ll admit that the past two weeks of putrid baseball have made me grumpy, but if I hear one more manager or player question why A’s fans would boo Jason Giambi, I’m going to blow a gasket. For those athletes who don’t quite understand what it means to be a fan of a team, let me explain it to you in terms that you can better understand.

And speaking of the mighty who have fallen, the Yankees are said to be mulling a demotion to Triple-A for Jason Giambi, the slumping, no-longer-BALCO-abetted former slugger who would be, at $15.5 million, the highest-paid athlete in the history of minor league baseball. With the possible exception of Michael Jordan.

Though stooge of the day Jason Giambi is only hitting .196, his 18 walks put his on base percentage at a respectable .386. So if anyone says he’s taking up valuable roster space for the Yankees, the answer is staring Joe Torre in the face (and looking like A.J. Soprano in the process) ; Giambi should bat first. Once he walks, pull him for a pinch runner!

To be perfectly honest, it was nice to see Jason Giambi hit such an important home run. Some of the Sox fans seated near me were insufferable, heckling well-behaved Yankee fans and pouring chants of “BAL-COE” down on Giambi. People were more confused than anything as Giambi lumbered around the base-paths. “How could Giambi hit a home run off of Schilling?” He stuck his chest out defiantly and gave an emphatic fist-rock to Jorge Posada, who scored on his home run and was waiting for him at home plate. As it should have, that one felt...

“Fans are the same yo-yos who named Jason Giambi to the American League All-Star team last year,” a Vatican spokesman said on the condition of anonymity. Thanks, but no thanks.”