Not much to say about the Sosa cork scandal. MLB has all of his bats now, so we'll learn shortly if he had an entire arsenal of corked bats.
It's depressing to see such a popular, likeable guy, especially a Cub, caught in such an embarrassing scandal. It goes without saying that someone like Sosa is the last person in the world who needs to use a corked bat. I don't think the corked bat had much to do with his 500+ homers, and the only way he can prove it now is to come back after his inevitable suspension and keep hitting them like he used to. We did a physics problem in a college class in which we attempted to estimate the performance enhancing effects of corking a bat. The goal in corking a bat is to reduce the weight of the bat, reducing the rotational inertia. Theoretically, assuming the structural integrity of the bat is the same, the bat speed should increase. However, we found in our class that the benefit was so small as to be pretty much irrelevant, not to mention that the decreased mass and density of the bat might actually decrease its effectiveness. Certainly it's not worth the risk to one's reputation and career. So why do it if it doesn't really help? Stupidity.
Unfortunately, at Sosa's age, he's due for some natural decline in production, and that will only lead to more questions. Psychologically, this has to be a massively humbling and embarrassing blow. I wonder if he'll ever be as exuberant. Perhaps not this year.
I'm taking my mini Sosa bobblehead doll off of my computer monitor and retiring it to a desk drawer for a while. It's too painful to look at right now. Looks like Cubs fans are getting the next century of pain started in style.