In The Oblique Wake ...

OK, we figure we're probably ready to talk about this now.

As you might have heard, Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols went on the disabled list and could be out as long as two months with an oblique injury, and oblique is not being used as an adjective. There. We typed it. We weren't sure we could do it, but we did.

Now ... what can we say about it? Well, it's obviously horrible, not just for us and our fellow Cardinals fans, but for baseball in general. We had been thinking a lot about Pujols of late, namely after reading Jeff Pearlman's Slate piece which basically postulated that all sportswriters should be much more skeptical about players using steroids today. Fortunately, we're not a sportswriter, so we don't have to follow the marching order, but still: Something about the column stuck in our craw.

Basically: Is it natural, now that we know what we know, to suspect all current players of steroid use? (Whether we should care is another question, and one we won't address here, for now.) We probably should, right? Believe nothing, assume everything, they're all trying to screw you. Pearlman's right; any sportswriter doing his job should be constantly pestering players about this ... we guess.

But sorry: We can't do it. Maybe we're too starry-eyed about Pujols — we grant for this possibility — but we just can't live life as a sports fan and be that cynical ... even if it's warranted. Maybe everyone's using steroids, and maybe everyone's not, and maybe we shouldn't care; we'll leave that question for the Lupicas (and Pearlmans). But sports are supposed to be fun, and constant suspicion may make sense for the brain, but we don't have the heart for it. This is supposed to be fun. We're supposed to enjoy this.

Anyway, no one will be able to bug Pujols about steroids suspicions for a while. Hope you're happy there. Sigh.

Strained Oblique Grief Counseling [Viva El Birdos]