Giambi has been a favorite of mine throughout his time with the Yanks, originally for his OBP and homers (and the fact that I saw him on some MTV show [Cribs? Pimp My Ride? Engaged and Underage? Room Raiders?] a while back and he seemed like a nice guy) and more recently because he proved himself as a class act and a man during and after the BALCO fallout. Back in '03 when he, Mark "Past? What Past?" Mcgwire, Sammy "I suddenly can't speak English" Sosa and others testified before a grand jury on the issue, JG was the one to take responsibility and admit that had indeed been getting some extra "help" by way of steroids and HGH, while various other even more ridiculously over-muscled sluggers pulled a Ken Lay and claimed to have no involvement in the drama. His admission and subsequent apology showed a rare glimmer of humility we so rarely see, and I liked the way he battled back through the post-steroids injuries and a season of heckles and boos to regain an ounce of trust and respect from his teammates and fans.

Taking responsibility for his own involvement in the steroid scandal showed strong character (his mother and/or kindergarten teacher should be proud), but Giambi is now on a moral crusade to make all the culpable parties shoulder some blame, too. USA Today got him to open up about his strong feelings about the issue, and he explained that the players and owners should have all spoken up about the rampant use of shady get-ahead techniques long ago. In light of Bonds' impending breakage of the home-run record there has been much discussion about not just the players' usage of the drugs, but of the complacency of the MLB as a whole and their lack of creation or enforcement of any meaningful steroid policies, and I appreciate Giambi's speaking out. His requested "apology" from MLB would obviously be too little too late, as steroid use/abuse has already caused irrevocable changes to the way we look at history, statistics, and records, but I suppose some sort of public acknowledgment from the powers that be might have a soothing affect on the minds of folks like Giambi. As a fan, I am much more interested in hearing the players man up and admit their own wrong-doings, but what with Mcgwire's amnesia and Bonds' delusional belief that not saying something makes it not real, I don't think we can realistically expect many more big-name confessions any time soon.


By the way, Pavano definitely juiced. I don't need evidence.