Willie navigates the maze of baseball's steroid accusations

May 2, 2006

"Do we still dig the long ball -- or has our sudden awareness of the "steroid era" cheapened the value and thrill of the home run?

Men who should know the answer explore the question during Costas Now on HBO tonight at 10. Bob Costas gets some replay value from past interviews with Barry Bonds and Frank Robinson, but the heart of the program is an "exclusive" interview with Willie Mays. And the Say Hey Kid throws some verbal surprise punches.

Here's Mays about the accusations floating around about Bonds and other big hitters of the past decade: "Until it's proven that this [steroid use] is what happened, you got to give them the benefit of the doubt."

And Mays takes exception to Bonds, his godson, becoming the "poster child" for steroid abuse in baseball: "When Mark McGwire was hitting home runs out of every ballpark and when Sammy [Sosa] was hitting home runs out of every ballpark, I didn't hear this."

Replies Costas: "Because people were slow to catch on."

Mays: "I'm just telling you, I didn't hear it."

But the telling moment of the program is a reflective thought by Mays, who celebrates his 75th birthday Saturday, when thinking about sluggers as heroes: "When you have an idol, you want him to be pure."

We should all think about that, but not for too long because we could get really depressed.
NAME THAT THOROUGHBRED

That's right, folks, it's time to play one of our most popular games: You create a name for a fictional horse that could win Saturday's Kentucky Derby. And this year's theme is "Heroic Names."

But please remember we are constantly searching for humor, so if your horse's name involves Bonds or the price of oil or the president's popularity rating -- that would be fine. Sarcasm allowed.

Three actual favorites for this Derby are Lawyer Ron, Bob and John, and Brother Derek. These are awful names for a Derby champ. Surely you can come up with something better. If you do, there's the glory of being part of our Top Ten list in the Saturday Seats.

One rule -- the name cannot be longer than 18 spaces. You can run words together. For example, this is the actual name of a 3-year-old horse this year: Putonyerdancinshuz. Show me you can do better than that.

NFL DRAFT LEFTOVERS

Conspiracy theory: Houston GM Charley Casserly could be fired at any moment and jump to the NFL head office. And if the NFL head office plans on moving a team to Los Angeles, wouldn't it be nice if that team had Reggie Bush?

NFL Network announced before noon Saturday that Vince Young definitely was going to Tennessee. ESPN either didn't know it or ignored it as its guys were hyping the debate between Young and Matt Leinart until the last second before the pick.

LenDale White No. 1: "I don't feel like my character is going to be an issue at all. I'm a wonderful young man."

As for Leinart, it's obvious why he dropped so far -- that ballroom dancing class he took. Nobody in the NFL trusts a man who can tango.

LenDale White No. 2: "I can only continue to be the best LenDale White I can be."

And when it was announced the Jets had passed on him, Leinart looked like someone had told him that his puppy just died.

LenDale White No. 3 on his ideal playing weight: "Right now I'm 240 pounds. My ideal playing weight would probably be 240 pounds.

WHO WAS THAT MASKED TEAM?
The Osceola Outlaws of the National Indoor Football League were supposed to host the Montgomery Maulers in the Silver Spurs Arena on Friday night. But Maulers owner Jamie LaMunyon had fired the team because players have accused her of not paying them.

The game must go on -- so the Gulf Coast Raiders, a semi-pro outdoor team from Tampa, jumped into their collective cars and raced over to save the day. The mystery Maulers were not identified by name during the game or in the official NIFL box score that only identified them by jersey number.

Oh, they lost, 72-12, so maybe it was better that way.