Roe and Roeper Show: Robert Blagojevich and Ken Burns' bean ball at Orrin Hatch

I learned some interesting things while listening to the Roe Conn with Richard Roeper Show this afternoon on WLS-AM. First, there's a chill in the relationship between Robert Blagojevich and his more famous brother Rod. Since Tuesday's verdict, they haven't in Robert's words "reached out." Rod hasn't contacted Robert, Robert hasn't contacted Rod. Robert and his attorney were in-studio guests on the popular talker. Roe Conn asked Robert if he and Rod are close, he tersely replied, "We're brothers."

Later, docuementary-maker Ken Burns was plugging his follow up to 1994's Baseball series, The Tenth Inning. It picks up where the first project leaves off, covering the season-ending strike, which coincidentally occurred in 1994, and of course the steroid era that folloed. Naturally the conversation turned to today's perjury indictment of fallen hero Robert Clemens, and then to the onetime legal supplement andro. Deregulation of the supplements industry, which Burns mentioned was once championed by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), made it easier andro to get into the hands of disgraced slugger Mark McGwire. Utah was a leading producer of some of those supplements that crossed the line.

Burns through a bean ball at Hatch.

First of all, Burns is a liberal who created an opportunity to bash a rock-solid conservative such as Hatch. Secondly, Hatch co-sponsored the bill--then-Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) was another co-sponsor--that banned andro, which Burns didn't mention to Roe and Roeper.

Besides, personal responsibility, something liberals tend to overlook, is something that went AWOL during Major League Baseball's steroid era.

As for the Tenth Inning, I'm sure like Baseball, it will be dominated by east coast teams such as the New York Yankees, the Mets, and the Boston Red Sox. The documentary will air next month on PBS, which is partially-funded by the federal government.

Technorati tags: Orrin Hatch politics universal health care health care reform utah gop Republican news law legal ken burns roger clemens crime Illinois Politics Blagojevich illinois chicago baseball mlb sports pbs