The titans of literature have taken the field
It's a literary feast in the baseball world this week. Books, both real and imagined, from Radomski, Torre and McGwire. It's like Roth, DeLillo and Updike fighting for space on the shelves. All the heavy hitters have either made their way onto the spring list or -- in Jay McGwire's case -- failed trying.
And oh, the range of the works. We have the steroid tell-all from Kirk Radomski, a book destined to test the public's well-established steroid fatigue. Look, he peed for Dwight Gooden! He fingers David Justice and David Segui! Maybe even Miguel Tejada! It's the Mitchell Report in narrative form, told by a former batboy.
We have the reflective tell-some by Joe Torre. It's unique, co-authored by Torre but told in a detached third-person narrative, all the better to provide plausible deniability for an active manager. And look, he likes Paul O'Neill, too! And Mariano! And he says the Yankees called A-Rod "A-Fraud" -- proof that million-dollar athletes have something in common with every smart-ass sports talk radio host in the country.
And finally we have the true literary maverick, Jay McGwire, whose fratricidal tome is apparently too experimental to find a home in the staid world of mainstream publishing. Talk about a Bash Brother! Jay's proposal is reportedly an attempt to bring Mark to spiritual enlightenment through shame. In that vein, Jay hopes to use guilt in the time-honored way -- through religion!
Think of it as a self-help book intended for an audience of one. Jay wants his brother to atone for his steroidal sins, and he believes he can use his words to gently usher his brother into the world of contrition and repentance. After all, if you were a disgraced public figure who lived in fear of his secret sin's being revealed to the world, wouldn't a book written by your estranged brother be the preferred method of information transfer? Wouldn't it make you want to drop to your knees, surrender to God and reform?
Hey, Jay thinks so, too! Besides, writing books is for people who are too lazy to write a letter. And if Jay manages to cash a few checks in the process? You know what they say: God can be worked in mysterious ways. And anyway, Mark profited from his secret, so why shouldn't Jay? After all, he was there at the creation.
This Week's List
• When you're being paid millions of dollars to stay away from your co-workers and bosses, haven't you already won the championship?: Stephon Marbury says he has a deal with the Celtics but the Knicks won't approve his buyout deal because they don't want him to win a championship.
• As a matter of fact, if you gave them two more starting pitchers, they'd run away with the NL West: ESPN's Jayson Stark put together a pretty good lineup consisting of free agents who are waiting for a team.
• Meanwhile, in Kentucky, a high school football coach stands accused of homicide after a player died in August from complications of heat stroke: Despite temperatures on the court topping 140 degrees, the Australian Open quarterfinal match between Andy Roddick and Novak Djokovic was played with the retractable roof open.
• Maybe he needs to get on the Marbury plan, which calls for the athlete to retire completely while somehow remaining active: Djokovic has now retired four times in Grand Slam matches.
• Today's best guess at the Final Four: Marquette, Duke, Oklahoma, Louisville.
• Biggest surprise: Penn State (16-5).
• Best team you might not know: Saint Mary's (18-1).
• Top 25 fun fact: Two from the Pac-10 (UCLA, Arizona State), two from the WCC (Saint Mary's, Gonzaga).
• And guess what: Saint Mary's at Gonzaga, Thursday night.
• Just for the heck of it: Jack Squirek.
• You have to ask yourself, "How much losing can one building hold?": The NFL is urging the 49ers and Raiders to agree to share a new stadium to be built at an as-yet unspecified time in an as-yet unspecified place.
• Proof the Yankees can draw the line somewhere: Andy Pettitte signed for $5.5 million Monday, after previously turning down the Yankees' $10 million offer because he was insulted by the $6 million pay cut.
• Proof there's always a bright side: Pettitte plays a significant role in the Radomski book, and you just can't buy that kind of publicity.
• Kind of like a mullet, only plastic: The Rangers unveiled their new two-tone batting helmets -- blue in front, red in back.
• The best thing is: Ron Washington says they all can get their names airbrushed onto the back.
• And finally, remember the words of a wise man: If the line gets to 10, bet the Cardinals.
ESPN The Magazine senior writer Tim Keown co-wrote Josh Hamilton's autobiography, "Beyond Belief: Finding the Strength to Come Back," which is available on Amazon.com. Sound off to Tim here.
