Tomorrow, I'm attending a day-long conference at the University of Texas, my alma mater, by the McGarr Sports Journalism Symposium on "The Illicit Quest for Excellence: Athletes and Performance Enhancing Drugs." Obviously, it's a subject matter that has been thoroughly covered, but a solid list of panelists include the writers of Game of Shadows: Barry Bonds, BALCO and the Steroids Scandal, thus my interest is piqued. The full list of panelists is as follows:
- Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada: investigative reporters, San Francisco Chronicle, and authors of Shadows
- T.J. Quinn, investigative sports reporter, The New York Daily News
- Howard Bryant, Washington Post sports reporter, and author of, Juicing the Game: Drugs, Power, and the Fight for the Soul of Major League Baseball
- Richard Justice, sports columnist, Houston Chronicle
- Gary Jones and Greg Jacobson, reporters, Dallas Morning News
I mention my attendance to the event primarily because I'm writing this at 10:00 PM so I can go to bed around midnight for the first time probably two months. I'm something a night owl, so I had to tire myself out so I could sleep on a regular schedule and get up at 6:00 AM to shower, eat, read the paper, and get there early enough to find parking on campus for the day as well as make sure I compensate for traffic. I will report back on the Symposium tomorrow as I eagerly await meeting Justice face-to-face having interviewed on the radio show I used to have when I was in school. In the meantime, I'll engage in a popular blogging practice, known as a link-dump. I've decided to title this semi-regular activity "The Adventure of Linking" as a play on the title of a popular Nintendo game from 1988. Without further ado, the debut of "Linking":
– A great piece by John Walsh of Hardball Times on the dearth of Left-Handed Catchers with some solid explanations as to why it is such a rare phenomenon.
– Given the popularity of a particular ABC Sunday Night soap opera, this guy's name is funny. Maybe if he hits big in the majors, as John Sickels suggests he could, then he might be able to get close she with whom he shares a name.
– It may just be a matter of time before Barry Zito departs Oakland, so how about Seattle?
– Is just me or are these fingers huge? Maybe he bought them so he'd have space for rings, but fortunately, he's been without for some time now.
– I'm neither a Mets nor a Red Sox fan, yet this could be the greatest thing ever made.
– An excellent expose on the tomfoolery being committed by the Detroit government with regards to the future of Tigers Stadium. As a native and a life-long Tigers fan that spent many a summer nights at the Corner, this severely angers me, but I'm glad Brittain brought it to light.
– While funny, this is probably a sad commentary on the times we live in.
– The first ever blogger?
– Some might say that this is gratuitous, but I'd contend it's actually really,really,necessary for the success of this debut.
Baseball By Paul 
Leave a Reply