BREAKING NEWS: Edinson Volquez has been suspended 50 Games

If you saw my earlier post you probably did look around for any updates and an update just came from Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated.

reds pitcher edinson volquez suspended 50 games for PEDs. story up on si.com soon.

Well there you have it, it is quite a shame too because Edinson Volquez had a very big year in 2008. Jon Heyman now has posted his story.  Early reports are saying that Volquez can serve the suspension while on DL. This makes him eligible for return in June when his injury was supposed to keep him out until July. So he loses 50 games pay but he wasn't going to play those 50 games anyways. It is a loophole but I don't really see how they can avoid it but everyone who gets Tommy John Surgery can take PEDs now and know this.

On a related note, keep in mind that Volquez was traded for Josh Hamilton who has a well documented substance abuse history but has not been suspended since he cleaned up and returned to baseball.

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BREAKING NEWS: MLB PED suspension imminent!

Looks like we'll be talking about steroids for the next little while. During the World Series last year I wrote about there not being many names released from the "steroids list". After the A-Rod story broke last year I figured we would have seen a couple of more names too. I am honestly shocked that we haven't seen names get leaked one or two at a time every couple of months.

There does seem to be a Performance Enhancing Drugs related suspension coming very soon.  There is no word on who the player is but that didn't stop some people from accusing players but the story was first reported by Will Carrol of Baseball Prospectus yesterday.

"PED suspension coming." 

It was a simple tweet but it ofcourse has created a wide spread scramble as everyone tries to figure out who the player involved is. He posted some more details in his column yesterday adding that the player is reportedly a pitcher and the player began an appeals process about a month ago. Just moments ago Craig Calcaterra of NBC Sports reported that the player involved is a National League pitcher. This really does have me curious. Which pitcher could it be? Anyone have guesses?
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Laffair II Bake Shop‎ in East Brunswick is a joke

Customer Review:
Lafair II  Baker Shop
312 Rues Lane, East Brunswick, NJ 08816-3609
(732)390-1717


We placed an order on behalf of someone here a couple of weeks ago. It was for a 6 year old boy's birthday. We selected a Spongebob Cake from their catalog that after all decorations and toys cost us $135. We had paid in full ahead of time. When we got there to pick up the cake, it was all wrong. Instead of looking like the cake in the picture it was a purple cake with flowers and Spongebob toys on top of it. When asked their response was "the person who took the order should have told you that we don't do that cake anymore." This obviously drove me crazy because the cake was in their catalog and they had a week to call and let us know of any changes but instead someone at the bakery thought it was a bright idea to have a purple cake with flowers for a 6 year old boy without asking us.

I spoke to the owner and got them to change the cake so it looked more like what we had ordered. This process took about an hour and we waited for the cake at the bakery. The owner told us she would give us a discount on the cake as she rightfully should have. It is Customer Service 101. While the cake was being changed though she sneaked out the back door of the bakery. I only noticed because I was looking outside the window of the bakery and saw her driving away.

We finally got the cake almost an hour later. When I asked about the discount the employees had no idea what was going and the owner had told them nothing. One of the employees claimed that the owner had to "leave to go to a funeral." The least they could have done was come up with a better excuse. For about 10 minutes they kept telling me that the owner's husband was in the back and he would come out to see how he could help. He never did. Instead two sons of the owner who were probably both in middle school came out and said they couldn't give me a discount. At this point I couldn't take it anymore and had to make a scene and couldn't care less what their other customers thought.

We finally managed to get $25 back. The cake wasn't for me or I  would have left it there and gotten all my money back as their attitude was completely unprofessional. I don't know how you can run a business while using such ridiculous practices. If you know of anyone who's thinking about placing an order there....CONSIDER THIS YOUR WARNING.


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"Okay, Houston, we've had a problem here..."

"Houston, we have a problem."

Those words were made famous by Tom Hanks starring as astronaut Jim Lovell in the 1995 Ron Howard movie "Apollo 13". It was a great line for Hollywood but the line it was adapted from was just as dramatic and the dangers very real. On April 13th 1970, Jim Lovell and his crew were nearly 200,000 miles away away from earth when he said "Okay, Houston, we've had a problem here..." Know one knew for sure what exactly had happened at that point but an unprecedented rescue mission was immediately underway. Everyone involved knew the dangers of manned space flight but up until this point nothing of this nature had ever transpired. We've seen the movie and even read up on it but it is an incident that has largely been forgotten by the world. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that no one died and they did manage to get the 3 astronauts back to earth.

The whole Apollo program was a great advancement for science. Man walked on the moon way back in 1969 but unfortunately we've been no where close to going back since 1971. We've heard all the arguments against space travel. We've heard everything from the economy to funding for other programs. What people fail to realize is that those Gemini and Apollo programs effected technology back on earth too. The money spent on research for those missions had other practical uses for every day life just like any future manned space flights would. For decades every American administration has spent a ridiculous amount of money on national defense. There are so many people working in the military industry whether it is building planes, weapons or body armor. There are so many people working in this industry that war almost becomes a necessity to justify it and so do the ridiculous defense budgets. I mean where would all these people go if the defense budget was cut like every other program? Why can't we redirect some of this money towards NASA and their research?

Earlier today Neil Armstrong who was the first man to walk on the moon, criticized President Obama's space policy. The views do hold some weight as Neil Armstrong doesn't really speak publicly much anymore and for him to do it on this anniversary is pretty significant.

Where do you sit on manned space flight? Do you want to see it happen again? Do you see it happening in your lifetime? 



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Nike Tiger Woods Commercial

Have you seen the new Tiger Woods ad Nike released today?

 I'm not usually one to support using people who have passed on to your advantage and making money but you have to agree that as creepy at this is, it is still powerful stuff. Darren Rovell of CNBC reported earlier today that the ad was shot a couple of weeks ago on Tiger Woods' home course in Orlando.

Tiger Woods' returns to the golf course on Thursday at The Masters. ESPN's coverage starts at 4 PM Eastern tomorrow but they will air Tiger Woods' tee shot at the first hole live at 1:42 PM on Sportscenter. While Woods has been away from the golf course his ability as a pitchman apparently hasn't been tarnished that much, sales of Tiger Woods merchandise are actually up at Golfsmith this year.

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