Monday's Mix
Featuring the sports and cuisine sections of Step Onto Liquid

On March 17 of this year, Rafael Palmeiro told Congress, "I have never used steroids. Period. I don't know how to say it any more clearly than that. Never." Last week, Major League Baseball released reports that Palmeiro has tested positive for steroids and would be suspended 10 games. Palmeiro has since claimed that he has never intentionally taken steroids--the standy excuse for any steroids user. Either way, Palmeiro is either a bad liar or incredibly naive.

Baseball is a wonderful sport. It is fun and relaxing to watch, interesting to follow, and terribly exciting come October. Baseball does not need steroids to make it exciting. It's unfortunate that great players (like Palmeiro) have placed their whole careers under a dark cloud of steroid suspicion. I think the commissioner of baseball, Bud Selig, should use this instance as leverage to further the extensiveness of steroids testing and the penalties for breaking the rules.

In other sports news, the NCAA announced "a new policy to prohibit NCAA colleges and universities from displaying hostile and abusive racial/ethnic/national origin mascots, nicknames or imagery at any of the 88 NCAA championships." In short, the NCAA is not going to allow schools to use Native American mascots during postseason and championship play. This means schools can no longer use mascots like Braves, Indians, or Seminoles.

When I read about this ruling in the Saturday Sports page, I almost spat out my smoothie. In this decision, the NCAA showed liberal thinking at its worst and dropped way off the common sense-o-meter. Other banned names include the Utah Utes and the Illinois Illini. If you notice, both of these schools' nicknames and the schools' states have their root in the same Indian tribe. Should we also make these states change their names because it's "hostile and abusive?" I think not.

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Yesterday, I enjoyed one final lunch outing with my fellow graduates from Believers Academy. We went to a local Chili's and had a great time thinking about good times gone and the hopes and fears of the future. However, as I tried to choose a meal off the menu, I could not seem to decide between the Chicken Crispers and the BBQ Ranch Cheeseburger. Let's just say I "chose poorly." Someday, I will eat McGriddles again, (for those of you who are unaware of my McGriddles mishap, check out the May 19 entry here) but I don't think I will ever have the Chicken Crispers from Chili's again. It took me the rest of the day to get over feeling queasy. I'll just recommend that if you're going for chicken at Chili's, stick with a sandwich or some pasta/chicken combo.

The lunch outing was still enjoyable, and I have been extremely blessed to be where I have been over the last four years, surrounded by such fine people. Who knows what the next four will bring? But if the next four years are better than the last, they will be pretty sweet.