BREAKING NEWS!!!

*RED SCARE!
In this clip, the Royals mascot grabs a tray of cotton candy from a vendor, and starts throwing them out to people in the crowd. I guess that's one way to redistribute the wealth. Imagine if they had been playing the Cincinnati REDS, eh? Get it? Reds, communists? Did you know that for a short period during the actual Red Scare (1954-59), the Reds actually changed their name to the Cincinnati Redlegs? And people talk about fear-mongering nowadays....

*GIAMBYE-BYE!
So Jason Giambi's farewell tour back in Oakland has come to an end, as the A's have released their injured and ailing first baseman. Giambi played a central part in the steroid era drama, as one of the first active players to have admitted to taking steroids. But he presumably cleaned himself up and put up some fine power numbers since then. Plus, he has always had a great eye and showed a knack for taking walks, a natural skill that not even steroids can improve. I think his decline this year was due mostly to age (he's 38 with bad knees), moving from a hitter's park to a pitcher's park, and having to spend more time in the field than he probably should have. He was never a good defensive first baseman, but at this point in his career, he should probably have been a dedicated DH. But of course he doesn't hasn't been hitting like a DH recently, what with that aforementioned .193 average. And with the list of players who tested positive for steroids in 2003 becoming public, and seeing as Giambi's already been on the DL for over two weeks, now seems like as good a time as any to release the Giambino. I still love that sweet swing of his, though...