Rex Wrecks Halo Telecasts.

If there's any argument against the supposed wisdom of bringing in former players, managers, etc. to be color people for telecasts, Angels color commentator Rex Hudler is most certainly the epitome of it. He hasn't been at it long enough to be "respected" before people can actually call him on his bullshit (see Tim McCarver, Billy Packer), and he happens to be a local guy for Fox Sports, which has a tendency to hire the worst local guys ever -- his play-by-play partner, Steve Physioc, is not even worth mentioning, as it's almost as if he isn't there, really.

The reason I get all huffy about morons like Hudler, who have mediocre playing careers and go on to even more mediocre announcing careers, is because they unleash crap analysis like this on a nightly basis. Bottom 4th of tonight's Angels-A's game, with a runner at second and Jered Weaver facing Mike Piazza:

"Mike Piazza knows situational hitting. Every hitter knows that whenever you come up to the plate, it's a situation."

Even McCarver hasn't said anything that banal in a while. What's even worse is that Hudler apparently came up with "Big Daddy Vladdy" for Vladimir Guerrero (or at least thinks he did), and uses it all the time.

This kind of stuff makes me turn off Angel games and watch the Dodgers instead, because there's a chance I get Vin Scully instead, and I've already expressed my sentiments on how that man can do no wrong. We'll need to clone Vin, find some leftover Jack Buck DNA, reanimate Herb Carneal, and see if we can develop an anti-aging solution for Bob Uecker while we still can.

that's another way to handle the contract year.

Now that I've got some time to follow up on yesterday's steroid madness, let's flesh out the original update -- implicated in the steroid investigation are, again, Angels CF (and big free agent signing) Gary Matthews, Jr, along with a physician for the Pittsburgh Steelers. (NFL Adam, rightfully so, is already saying "told you so.")

The newspaper said investigators found evidence that testosterone and other performance-enhancing drugs may have been fraudulently prescribed over the Internet to current and former Major League Baseball and NFL players, college athletes, high school coaches, a former Mr. Olympia champion and another top contender in the bodybuilding competition.

Sketchy, yes. Still problematic. Fuck yeah. Not just because it involves baseball, but possibly football and it runs across states and on the internet. Methods of obtaining supplements, steroids, and illegal narcotics are constantly updating to avoid the law that keeps chasing them, and it highlights the problems with every sport's drug policy if the accusations pan out. Determined cheaters will always find ways to beat the system. What do you do, in that case? Couldn't tell you -- we're probably going to have start admitting that sport isn't pure, and never has been. Those well-versed in history know the exclusion practiced back in the day; fans of college basketball and football are used to shaking off implications of NCAA violations.

Once fans finally cross the barrier, we may all be better off for it.