i am a sentimental man/boy, and i've come to grips with that. i'll tear up while reading sports illustrated articles, or at least start to, anyway. i'll choke up at various sentimental moments, whether in print or on the big or little screen. it's my nature.

it's also a bit embarrassing, of course, but that's my type. (i also get really really tense around violence to children and things like that...the drowning baby scene in a beautiful mind absolutely kills me...makes me shaky and all.)

the point is, i teared up reading the section's of ryne sandberg's hall of fame induction speech that i saw this morning. his sentiment, though overdone, was perfect. he was completely genuine, and i only admire him more now than i did when he was a player.

i wish that i had watched - really watched - him when i was younger. i don't think i necessarily understood the game at that point, outside of errors and home runs and game-winning doubles and strikeouts and things of that nature. (of course, if i were to be asked about guys who "respect the game," i'd just run through the laundry list of scrappy white guys, and then add juan pierre to show that i'm sort of paying attention.)

anyway, i thought his sentiment was admirable, and reflected things that should be said in this day and age.

now, his delivery was less stellar than my "reading it" delivery, but the words compensated for the lack of oratory skill.

i got teary-giggly when he talked about being together with grace (cut to gracie) and dunston for a full decade. i got giggly-giggly when he talked about dunston suffering 'pulled hamstrings' when nolan ryan was coming up.

i got teary-teary-giggly when he asked andre dawson to stand up, and called him the best he's ever seen. "the hawk did it the right way, the natural way..." what a statement. i think dawson will get in next year, and i think sutter will too. no reason for me to think that [outside of the hershiser/strawberry/gooden crop that becomes eligible], i just do.

what do i think about his 'more important things than the little red light on the dugout camera' comment? back and forth, is the answer. i do love sammy or, rather, i did love sammy when he was at his long ball-hittin', unnecessary-hoppin', kissing and tapping best. i knew [rather, i begrudgingly accepted], as time went on, that he cheated, probably during all of his great 1998-2001 run. and so my thoughts of him have gone down.

i'm happy ryno said what he said about sammy, and his ilk. it needed to be said, i guess.

- - - - - - -

as for rafael palmeiro...i think this confirmed that he's the stupidest man alive. (as my brother said, 'why didn't he just switch to human growth hormone this year?')

i hope - hope - this means that he won't get into the hall of fame. the fact is that he doesn't deserve it. i was insulted by tim kurkjian (sp?) when i heard him essentially say "we don't really know when he started or how long he's been taking steroids or anything, so we can't really hold it against him. he's still a hall of famer in my book."

the fact is - he's now a confirmed cheater. combine that with the fact that he was never regarded as the best player in his league, or probably even the top five, and combine that with the fact that he doesn't have a "signature" moment, and i think he should be out.

what of the other cheaters?

mcgwire - there's pretty strong proof (start with "let's talk about the future...[tears over kids]...i'm not here to talk about the past, or to answer your questions") that he was juiced when he was doing his great hitting.

bonds - yes, he cheated. and he cheated badly.

here's the overriding concern with both of them: they are awful, awful people for cheating. mcgwire wasn't a complete player, he probably began cheating in about 1997, and his great, great years were accomplished due to drugs. bonds was a great player, then had greater, greater years due to drugs. he won three (should have been four) mvp's in the early 1990's, before he was the big-headed, drug-addled, muscle-bound hulk that he is now.

so,
bonds: in
dawson: in
mcgwire: out
palmeiro: out

i don't know if this is well thought out (it's not), but you get my assertions, perhaps. later.

[ps - i bought ps2. i should have waited until the end of the season. i will not be getting proper sleep during homestands.]