Pre-Duke; Post A-Rod

Not much to say about Carolina's trip to Durham tomorrow night; ESPN has said enough.  I'm glad that we will have the local, Raycom feed on Wednesday.

I like our chances for an historic win. Lawson and Ellington will be key; not only are they playing great basketball of late but they are matched up with Duke's relatively weak back court.  If they play as they have the last few weeks Lawson and Ellington should dominate.  Duke is weak down low, so expect Hansbrough to have a good game, but the Blue Devils are also weak at the point. Lawson has a 4-1 assist-to-turnover compared to a 1-1 ratio by Nolan Smith.  Paulus started against Miami on Saturday but continues to make bad decisions.  Like I said, with our back court vs. their back court, and Hansbrough versus their donut hole in the middle, I like our chances.

A win would be Carolina's fourth in a row in Cameron, and would make Hansbrough, Danny Green and Bobby Frasor undefeated for their careers in Durham.  It would also be Carolina's sixth win in the last eight games vs. Duke, cementing Roy as the dominant ACC coach, and would keep building on Krzyzewski's losing record against the Heels.  But best of all it would mean that the entire Duke University class of future capitalist pig-dogs and Wall Street raiders of 2009 will graduate without seeing a Blue Devil win at home over Carolina. 

A Rod

I've never been a big fan of Alex Rodriguez, actually I did like him when he was in Seattle.  And I don't get any joy from his embarrassment and stupidity. Ever since he signed that ridiculous contract for $252 million he's been a self-immolating semi-tragic figure.  He's also been a well-documented loser.

For me the real sadness is for baseball.  A-Rod was supposed to be the clean superstar, the one who would eventually break Barry Bonds' record the right - and clean - way. I've more than once from various commentators in the wake of the Maguire and Bonds steroid abuses that the only players whose numbers you should trust are Griffey Jr., Vlad Guerrero and A-Rod.  Not any more.

That is the real sadness; so many of baseball's biggest stars are tainted as is the entire sport.  If you make the list of the 20 biggest baseball stars of the last twenty years that list would probably look like this: Maddux, Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson, Clemens, Piazza, Ivan Rodriguez, Maguire, Bagwell, Pujols, Cal Ripken, Derek Jeter, A-Rod, Chipper, Griffey, Guerrero, Bonds, Sosa, Manny Ramirez, Gwynn,  Mariano Rivera.  Twenty-five percent of that list is tainted, as is arguably the best pitcher, the best out fielder, and the best infielder.

The only good news is that steroids is finally in the rear view mirror, but baseball should be ashamed of itself for looking the other way for so long.   A-Rod is one of 104 players with tainted samples.   I'd release the entire list so baseball can move on and we can finally but a coda on the steroids era.