Congratulations to Tim Lincecum for his second NL Cy Young Award in a row.  First pitcher to win it in his first two full seasons.  He is a freak of nature with that weird ass throw.  Apparently he’s also a freak about the fine kind bud that comes out of the Pacific Northwest.  He was recently busted for possession of 3.3 grams of weed.  He ended up with a $250 fine and a slap on the wrist.  What’s more amazing is the lack of media pummeling he received.   High(hehe) Pro-Athlete busted for drugs?  That’s usually a 3 month discussion on our sister station and a herd of paparazzi camped outside his residence.  But not this time.  Sports fans must of felt that one bowl full of weed wasn’t enough to tarnish America’s Pastime.  My question is, did he ever pitch while stoned.

Probably not.  A disciplined athlete(and pot-head) knows there is a time and place to take that poke.  World Champion Boston Celtic Robert Parish liked to hit the bong, but did he do it while slamming the Lakers?  If he did, Great!  If not, then who cares what athletes do in their off time as long is doesn’t affect their performance.  Marijuana to me is not a performance enhancing drug(unless you’re a member of the Allman Brothers).  I know it enhances Robot Chicken episodes and my potato chip consumption.  It’s not easy working the remote, eating chips, smoking a bowl, and drinking a beer when high.  I wouldn’t recommend it to rookies.  This may show the attitude baseball fans and maybe most of the country has about Pot.  It’s no big deal.

A friend of mine sent me this animated short of Dock Ellis’ No-Hitter against the Padres while he was tripping on Acid.

Can you imagine someone like Manny Ramirez on acid during a game…oh wait…we may have already seen that.  How about that uptight bastard John Lackey, getting naked in the bottom of the sixth and having to be chased down by security.  Or Dustin Pedroia showing up with day-glo face paint and a wreath of flowers around his cap.  For some reason I’d like to see Don Zimmer dose up.  That would be freaky.  It was 1970 and the remnants of the Summer Of Love and STD’s was still rolling.  George Clinton and Funkadelic and James Marshall Hendrix were telling Black America to freak out!  There’s Ellis, pitching a no hitter while doing something that would make Ted Williams want to freeze his own head and stick it on a Popsicle stick.  There is now a petition going around to have the MLB Network show this historic game.  In this article from Yahoo Sports, David Brown lists some practical reasons why this isn’t possible(lost tape, game wasn’t televised) but his last reason is priceless:

“Does Major League Baseball wantto “celebrate” a so-called drug-induced event? No matter its historical context or importance to popular baseball culture, what Ellis said he did, it wasn’t legal. It wasn’t right. An argument can be made that, no matter how entertaining some of us find it, Dock Ellis pitching a no-hitter on acid is embarrassing and shameful. Baseball certainly might feel that way. Not to be a party pooper”

I don’t think it would be such a big deal.  They could have a special day of programming.  Maybe on a Sunday afternoon.  They could show the Ellis No-No, most any game Babe Ruth played, The Home Run frenzy between Mark McGwire and Sammy Soza, any game with the late 80’s early 90’s Oakland A’s, anything with Roger Clemens post Red Sox, and maybe some A-Rod, Manny, David Ortiz, and Rafael Palmeiro highlights in between.  It could all be sponsored by Viagra or Budweiser.  I’ll definitely make sure I’m watching, with chip in one hand and bowl in the other.

I know, how can I do an athletes on drugs story and not mention Bill “The Spaceman” Lee? Here’s some classic video of The Spaceman in orbit.