Rick Telander Doesn't Trust Anybody

I didn't see Rick Telander's column in the Chicago Sun-Times yesterday until I was already at work, but if I had read it before I left in the morning, I don't think I'd have had any trouble finding something to write about yesterday.

Telander's column was focused on one thing: his Hall of Fame ballot. The ballot he left blank and refused to turn in this year.

I didn't mail my ballot. The stamp is still good.

The Steroid Era has taken the wind out of my sail.

I am weary of the constant insult brought on by doping and stupidity and head-in-the-sand-ism and Bonds-ish arrogance and Clemens-ian tape-recording and duplicity of all manner and the way this has chipped away at the edifice of the wondrous American sport of baseball.

Now I understand where Telander is coming from here. His point is that he just doesn't know whom to trust anymore in the world of baseball. But I still think his not sending in his ballot is absolutely ridiculous.

Especially when he goes on in the column to say things like this.

I read the biographies of the 25 candidates in detail, studying numbers as intensely as an accountant.

Rich Gossage -- nine All-Star teams, 310 saves, 2.36 World Series ERA. I'm delighted Goose was voted in Tuesday.

He deserved it.

I voted for him in 2007.

So he deserved your vote last year, when you already knew about Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, and everybody else, but now that Roger Clemens and David Segui's names have come out, you can't vote?

What the hell sense does that make? If you have children, let's say three of them, and you find a bag of weed in your youngest kids' bedroom, do you punish your oldest kid as well because he might have gotten high once in his life as well?

No. You punish the one you busted.

Of course, there's a difference between your kid getting busted with pot, and a baseball player doing steroids 25 years ago. That difference is your kid actually did something illegal, where as baseball players did nothing against the rules.

I won't even get started on the absurdity of what Telander said here.

I saw Tommy John throw some mediocre games. But I saw him come back from radical elbow surgery that one day would be named after him.

Tommy John -- 288 wins -- was a pioneer. He should be in the Hall.

What if Tommy John made his comeback from that tendon grafting because of HGH?

Ok, Rick. Did anyone even know what the hell HGH was back when Tommy John played? Honestly, I don't know.

Maybe things are just different for me because my entire baseball-loving life has existed during the steroid era. I don't know any other game, and guess what, I love the game just as much as fans did before me.

I don't know. All I know is that if I was ever honored with having a ballot for the Hall of Fame, I'd actually use the damn thing.

And not just for a column.

Foul Balls

So Maybe The Falcons Aren't Wasting Their Time (Okay, They Are) - Yesterday I said there was no way in hell that USC coach Pete Carroll would ever leave sunny southern California to take over in Atlanta as coach of the Falcons.

Apparently I was wrong.

Carroll is interested in the job, and he's talking to the Falcons about it.

Southern California coach Pete Carroll is interested in the Falcons' head coach opening and spoke with Atlanta owner Arthur Blank via phone Wednesday, sources at the American Football Coaches Convention in Anaheim told ESPN's Joe Schad.

Blank, who has also been searching for a general mangager, was expected to offer full control of personnel decisions to Carroll, and the sources said that is what intrigues Carroll most. The coach is currently on vacation in Hawaii.

Okay, Pete. Let's think about this for a second. Let's say I had a choice between Jessica Alba and Britney Spears. I could take whichever one of the two I chose, and have complete control over both of them. What they do, and when they do it with whomever I tell them to do it with.

Who would I pick? Let's break down our options.

In the case Alba, you have an established star who's still rising, and oh yeah, she's hotter than hell. With Spears, you have a situation that used to look nice and had a lot of promise, but all we've seen from her the last year is not pretty. Things are falling apart, and fast.

Don't pick Britney Spears, Pete.

The Bears Can Take Derek Anderson's Name Off Their Wish List - So most of the talk about who the Bears were going to go after to play quarterback next season included Donovan McNabb and Derek Anderson.

Word out of Philadelphia is that the Eagles aren't interested in trading McNabb, but that could be nothing more of a way to make sure that if they do trade him, they want anybody who is interested to know that he won't come cheap.

As for Derek Anderson, well, the Bears won't be signing the restricted free agent because he's not going to be a restricted free agent.

The Browns plan to sign quarterback Derek Anderson to a multiyear deal soon, keep him off the restricted free-agent market and let him start at least one more season, Browns General Manager Phil Savage said Wednesday.

In his end of the season news conference, Savage said the Browns have been talking to Anderson's agents and that negotiations could heat up by the end of this week.

So Brady Quinn will be sitting for at least one more year in Cleveland, who now has a situation that's very similar to the one the Chargers faced a few years ago with Drew Brees and Philip Rivers. The Browns may keep both quarterbacks for one more year, but there's no way in hell they keep both in 2009. That's just too much money locked up into your quarterback position, so I expect the "Get Brady Quinn!!" screams to start around the second preseason game next season.

Tyler Hansbrough Fears No Giant - UNC-Asheville has a 7'9 7'7" (Ed. Note: Thanks to Jenks for pointing that out) center named Kenny George on their team. No joke, the kid is 7'7. The UNC Tar Heels have Tyler Hansbrough, who's nearly a full foot shorter than George at 6'9.

That didn't stop Tyler from dunking on the big man on Wednesday night though.