Is C.C. Sabathia feeling the effects of 241 innings pitched in 2007? His previous high was 210.

The last twenty years in baseball has been dubbed the steroid era, and properly so.  While MLB players were taking steroids, Human Growth Hormone, and amphetamines they were not taking other athletes and fans lives into their own hands.  We all know that the only thing crazier than the fans of NASCAR are the drivers themselves, but doing what one current driver recently did is reason enough to label him clinically insane.    Earlier this week, ESPN the magazine broke a story about a Craftsman Truck driver named Aaron Fike, and his use of heroin while competing in races.  If there was ever a sport that should have a strict drug testing policy, it should be NASCAR.  They propel themselves around an asphalt track at speeds of 180 MPH or greater at Talladega. There have been drivers voicing their opinions on this subject since the story was released, and to hear that the majority of them say they have never been tested for any substance is appalling.  I know that there are concrete barriers surrounding the track and there is also a twenty-foot fence extending up off the concrete to help prevent debris from hitting fans, but if you drive a car or truck into a wall at 180 MPH, something will hit innocent fans.  It is unknown how many drivers out there are on illegal substances, but the fact that just one person got away with it warrants a stricter policy.

Congress has called players and leadership from MLB to come and testify on Capitol Hill about performance enhancing drug policy at least three times in the last couple of years.  Not once were one of these players asked about using a drug like heroin, they were only asked about PED’s.  Instead of continuing the witch hunt into baseball, they should focus their attention on NASCAR, and force them to come up with a drug testing policy that will deter drivers from driving impaired.  I have never taken heroin, so I can’t tell you what kind of effect it has on the body. But one can imagine that it would preclude you from driving a pick up truck at 180 MPH safely. 

Since no one wants to really propose a proper system for testing, I will propose one right now.

Step 1:  Require all drivers and their pit crew to submit a urine sample on a monthly basis.  When testing the samples, test for everything.  If a driver is taking a substance of any kind it could have a disastrous effect.  If a driver is opposed to such a testing program, do not allow them to race until they provide a urine sample and dock the driver and the owner 100 points.

Step 2:  If a driver tests positive for any illegal substance, they should be suspended for the entire season and required to enter into a sanctioned professional rehab program.

Step 3:  If a driver were to test positive for a second time, then they should be banned for life from driving in the NASCAR series. 

Step 4:  If it is found that a racecar driver competed while under the influence of any illegal substance, they should be held to the same standards as any other driver caught doing the same thing on public roads.  There should be a zero tolerance policy, but before NASCAR goes from one extreme to another, they should try and find a happy medium that owners, drivers, and NASCAR officials can agree on.

Driving a car on a road while under the influence of any impairing substance, including alcohol, is dumb. But driving a car at 180 MPH under the influence, is just flat out STUPID and irresponsible.  If anyone disagrees with me on this subject, I am very interested to hear your reasons.  I would also like to hear other ideas on how NASCAR could prevent something like this from happening again.

Let’s move on to discuss the assignments for last week.  If you missed the second episode of the Ultimate Fighter this past week, then you missed the best knockout that I have ever seen in any sport or fight.  In the very first fight of the episode, Mathew Riddler took on Dan Simmler.  Riddler is a standup boxing-style fighter while Simmler is a wrestler, and brown belt in Jujitsu.  Just because of the contrasting styles, you knew that this fight was going to end in either a knockout, or a brutal submission.  The first round was fairly boring because they both took their time trying to figure out their opponents game plan, but the second round ended almost as quickly as it started.  After the two fighters touched gloves at the center of the ring, Simmler attempted a high leg kick, and right in the middle of the strike Riddler caught him with the most brutal left hook that I have ever seen.  When Simmler awoke from his nap, he forgot that he was Las Vegas, let alone a fight.  He ended up in the hospital with a broken jaw, but he took the punch like a champ.  I honestly do not know why they decided to air that fight first, because the rest of the fights were lame by comparison.

Last weekend the NCAA held its National Championship semi-finals, and both games ended with the underdogs winning.  Kansas defeated North Carolina and Memphis defeated UCLA.  Both Kansas and Memphis won in a convincing manner.  The National Championship game however was a close back and forth game that had to go to overtime to decide the best in the land.  Heading into the game, Memphis was the clear favorite, because of freshman guard Derrick Rose and junior guard Chris Douglas-Roberts.  In the end, it all came down to free throw shooting and Rose’s inexperience getting the best of him.  There were only ten seconds or so left in the game when the Jayhawks started down court, trailing by three, and looking to hit the game tying three, when it looked like Rose wanted to foul but did not.  I do not like this tactic, but in this situation I think that it would have made sense to foul the Jayhawks and not let them take the game tying shot.  Instead of fouling in convincing fashion, Rose threw his arms up as if he didn’t want to get the foul, then Mario Chalmers hit the shot that sent the game into overtime.  In overtime, Kansas dominated and took home the championship.

Let finally get on to some baseball news.  Two weeks into the season and David Ortiz is still struggling, C.C. Sabathia looks like he his fat, out of shape, and over worked, and Justin Upton is an unstoppable force.

The Boston Red Sox are off to a shaky start this season and much of it may have to do with David Ortiz.  So far this season Big Papi is hitting .077 with just one home run and 3 RBI.  We all know that he his going to wake up, but the question is when.  I think that I may know what is causing him to hit weak grounders and sky high pop ups.  If you look at his batting stance in the past, you will notice that he is putting a lot of weight on his back leg and keeps his knees bent. But this year, he is standing almost straight up and down, and is unable to put his legs and hips into his swing.  He is big enough to smash the ball with just his arms, but without the leg drive in the swing, he will have a lot of trouble hitting the ball off the Green Monster for those RBI doubles that have made him such a threat in Fenway Park.  I do not know if he is adjusting his stance because that knee is still bothering him, or if he is doing it without knowing, but if he does not correct this soon, fantasy owners are going to scream.

C.C. Sabathia is has always been fat, but this year looks unprepared for the season.  So far this season Sabathia is 0-2 with an 11.57 ERA in just 14 innings of work.  Up to this point, Sabathia seems to be showing the effects of throwing 241 innings last year.  I don’t think that it is anything to worry about at this point, but right now he looking more like a bush leaguer rather than the reining Cy Young award winner.  On Friday night Sabathia lasted just three and a third, and gave up nine runs on 12 hits.  Friday’s outing is his shortest since June 21, 2006 against the Chicago Cubs.  Right now is the time to go out and take advantage of an angry owner and pick up the fat hurler.  In the past he has started slow, but bounced back to have a great season.

At the cool age of 20 years old, Justin Upton is tearing into the National League with power and poise that another center fielder named Andruw Jones showed when he first came up with the Braves.  Upton is hitting .368 with four home runs and seven RBI.  Upton has already doubled his home run total from last year’s call up, and is potentially a 20/20 guy.  Right now, he is probably on the hottest streak of life, but he is going to have his ups and downs over the course of a 162 game schedule.  Look for the rookie to finish the year with a .265 average, 20 home runs and 70 RBI.  For now, keep Upton in your line up and at first sign of a struggle put him on the bench until he is out of the first slump of his short career. 

That is going to do it for me this week, so if you have not started watching the Ultimate Fighter, make sure you sit down and give it a chance.  Also on this weekend is the first series of the year between the Yankees and Red Sox.