Today we get to find out if Major League Baseball is going to uphold the eight-game suspension handed out to Sammy Sosa on Friday for using a corked bat last week in a game against the Devil Rays. Sosa appealed against the decision - which conveniently allowed him to play in the high-profile interleague series against the Yankees over the weekend (and collect his 2,000th career hit in the process) - but there's something I still don't get. I keep hearing about how Sosa is a stand-up guy - if that's the case, why doesn't he just accept the suspension and let the whole incident blow over? Nobody is disputing the facts of the case, and Sosa has trotted out his ever-so-slightly far-fetched "it was a batting-practice bat" excuse, so where's the problem? Other players have had longer suspensions for the same offence - admitting he did it and coming up with an improbable and creative excuse doesn't change the fact that he did what he did. So Sammy, do us all a favour, will ya? Take your punishment 'like a man' (an important concept for Sammy), and let us get on with the rest of the season.

OK - rant over. I'm just a little cheesed off because it took me forever to get into work this morning because of the transport strike here in Paris.