Occasionally, you come across a story that brings it all together… Baseball. Life.

While reading through today’s New York Times, I came across the following. No need for additional commentary by me. But, if you’d like to leave a comment, we’d love to hear from you.

AROUND THE MAJORS. Jose Canseco, who made millions during his baseball career, has had his home foreclosed. Canseco told the syndicated TV show Inside Edition that he walked away from his $2.5 million, 7,300-square foot home in suburban Encino, Calif., because it did not make sense to continue making payments.

The movie Scent of a Woman is filled with brilliant dialogue.  In one scene, Al Pacino’s character, Lt. Colonel Frank Slade, is imparting a lifetime of wisdom and lessons to the young Charlie.  The Colonel states:  There are two kinds of people in this world.  Those who stand up and face the music, and those who run for cover.

I think of that line quite often, because it’s dead-on true.  Rarely a week goes by when the line does not come to life in some experience.

Bergino.  I started the company in the spring of 2001.  We’re a small business, fighting in this world as all small businesses do.  Perhaps you can relate.  Perhaps you’re in similar shoes.

At the moment, we’re in a bit of a struggle with a run for cover guy. There’s this large, corporate mail-order catalog/internet retailer.  They’ve been around for about 15 years.  You’ve probably heard of them. For now, let’s keep their name hush hush.

They owe us about $2,000.  Obviously, not a king’s ransom, but for a small business such as ours, more than a princely sum.  They sold all of the items they ordered from us.  They don’t dispute they owe us the money.  In fact, they acknowledge it.  They just refuse to pay.  Nothing more to the story.  Sorry, pal, you’re not getting paid.  The President of this corporation is a run for cover guy.  He’s a small-town slicker.

At the moment, we have the Attorney General of Missouri and the Federal Trade Commission looking into their operation.  Stay tuned.  As time goes on, we’ll keep you updated and let you know exactly who they are.  You can then make your own determination as to whether or not you’d purchase items from them.

For every run for cover operator, there’s a stand up guy.  Well, not exactly.  From 48 years of lifetime experience, I’d say the ratio is about 10-1 against.  So, when you finally run into a stand up guy, it’s a pleasure.  And it was my pleasure to run into a stand up gal.

A small retailer owes us about $450.  The money was due in late 2007.  Just about the same time as the money owed us from Run for Cover in the Ozarks. But, on a snowy, grey February afternoon, a faxed letter appeared out of the blue from our stand up gal…

X has an outstanding balance with your company that is overdue.  I am writing you today to assure you that we have every intention of paying this off and doing more business with you.  As the economy has suffered, so have we.  Being caught at the end of the holiday season with less than we thought we would.  We are also in a resort area (east coast resort) and the first quarter does not afford us the ability to chip away at the balances as quickly as we would like.

But, we have been in business for fifteen years now, have seen a few ups and downs, and will weather this storm too with your help.  Please be patient with us, we are not running away — we will gladly speak with you — but may not be able to send a check right away.  And please do not turn our account over to a collection agency, it will not get the balance paid any sooner.  With patience on your part you will at least get the full amount.

So today I am writing to reassure you that all outstanding balances will be paid in full and that due to your patience we expect to be back to business as usual by mid summer, in spite of the slowing economy.

There are two kinds of people in this world…

That’s one who stands up and faces the music.  To our small retailer, thank you.

And, to our run for cover Goliath, you can run, but you can’t hide.

Those were the words of the great boxer, Joe Louis.  There was this other stand up fighter, too.  Known simply as David.  Later became King.  Everyone knows the story.  But a little known tidbit…

You know what David had in his slingshot when he faced Goliath?  A Bergino baseball.

While watching the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearings about steroids in Major League Baseball, I was reminded of HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Larry David has an on-going gag where he stares into the eyes of someone when he can’t quite tell if they’re telling the truth.  At the end of the stare, Larry doesn’t have a clue about their veracity.

There’s no need to comment on whether Roger Clemens or Brian McNamee was telling the truth in front of Congress.  It doesn’t take a Larry David stare to figure out this one.

But one question remains…

Larry David could not be reached for comment, so I turned to a dictionary instead.  It is a question that has baffled ages of sages.  To help define the question…

Schmuck (slang): a clumsy or stupid person; an oaf.

Putz (slang): a fool; an idiot.

Congressman Dan Burton (R-Indiana), Congressman Darrell Issa (R-California), Congressman Christopher Shays (R-Connecticut).

The unanswered question:  Burton, Issa, Shays…  Are they Schmucks or Putzes?

On February 13, baseball stars will testify under oath in front of Congress.  The Oversight and Government Reform Committee will swear in such names as Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, Chuck Knoblauch.  Congressmen and ballplayers will talk about steroid use.  They will tell the truth.  They will lie.  Who knows?

The cameras will roll.  America will watch.  Congress, circa 2008.

You may have missed it, but a little report was just released about our nation’s leaders.  An exhaustive examination by The Center for Public Integrity has found that “President George W. Bush and seven of his administration’s top officials, including Vice President Dick Cheney, National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, made at least 935 false statements in the two years following September 11, 2001, about the national security threat posed by Saddam Hussein’s Iraq.  The record shows that the statements were part of an orchestrated campaign that effectively galvanized public opinion and, in the process, led the nation to war under decidedly false pretenses.”

As my Dad used to say, there are lies.  And there are lies.

Clemens walked to the mound, picked up a rosin bag, threw a pitch, and never took steroids.  Bush strolled from his White House office to a podium in front of the world’s cameras, looked you in the face, and left the truth in his back pocket.

There are lies.  And there are lies.

So, look for new postings after January 21st.

In the meantime, a happy, healthy, peaceful start to the New Year.

It’s holiday season in New York, which means it’s both beautiful and cold.

For whatever reason, my mind wandered to the words of Rogers Hornsby, one of the greatest ballplayers of all-time…

“People ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball.  I’ll tell you what I do.  I stare out the window and wait for spring.”

The word chazar (Yiddish) translates to someone who is greedy; a pig.

In a related story,  the New York Mets announced they will raise ticket prices about 20% for the 2008 season.

Miss the playoffs = 20% ticket price increase for the following season.

Ah, just think what would have happened if the Mets actually made the playoffs last October. 

Kudos to The New York Times for this comprehensive look at the players identified in Major League Baseball’s report on performance-enhancing drugs.

Fascinating. 

Following is a guest post written by Rich Ackerman, one of today’s leading voices in sports commentary…

The findings of the Mitchell Report left me feeling as though I had just seen a well-hyped blockbuster movie that fell short of expectations. The investigation and its findings are a sign of progress, but it’s just a start. Bud Selig said he’ll deal with the players on the list on an individual basis. I’m not sure how he’s going to do this given that some of the names are those of retired players. And what happens to the statistics accumulated during this time?

The names on the list confirmed suspicions that a lot of us had. Roger Clemens is easily the player that stands to lose the most. He’s been the best pitcher of this generation and now his Hall of Fame candidacy is in jeopardy. There were other big names, former All-Stars and Most Valuable Players, but there were many fringe players as well. But what may have been more newsworthy were names that weren’t on the list. The investigation was comprehensive but it only followed leads that were already public. It failed to uncover anything further.

Still, I’ll be excited come spring training. Baseball has had scandals before, whether it’s the Black Sox of 1919 or the drug scandal of the early 80’s, and has survived. While today’s events left me disappointed, it is important to remember it is a start. Now it’s up to Bud Selig, Major League Baseball, and the Players Association to not drop the ball. Let’s hope they have good hands.

Born and raised in Brooklyn, Rich attended NYU and graduated with a degree in Broadcast Journalism.  He worked at radio stations in Charlotte, Washington DC and Chicago before joining ESPN Radio, where he hosted the 1997 NBA Draft lottery, the NBA on ESPN studio show and the WNBA finals.  Rich currently handles 20/20 updates for WFAN All-Sports Radio.

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