Mark McGwire came clean and admitted he used steroids for a good portion of his career. Who was more relieved, TLR or Big Mac's suddenly substantial neck waddle. Seriously, if you live on a farm, do not click on any of the links below marked VIDEO- you're chickens might get crazy with jealousy. I don't know if the new steroid PSA shouldn't just be a closeup of that loose skin...

Bob Costas had the most in-depth interview of the night and did a nice job of asking some pointed questions without getting too preechy. It's honestly uncomfortable asking a guy 5 times your size about needles n' horseplay in a bathroom stall without feeling a twinge of fear. Well done Bob. Well done

Since the first round up of Matt Holliday Links was such a smashing success, let's take a trip around the internet and see just how people are reacting to the big news of the day.

We will add more links as they come in over the course of tonight and tomorrow, but if you've got a suggestion we've missed, feel free to use the 'Contact' button at the top of this page to e-mail it to us or just post in the comment section.

Let's waste the day, friends:

Mark McGwire on when he used steroids (VIDEO) LINK HERE

MM on his congressional testimony in 2005 (VIDEO) LINK HERE

MM on Jose Canseco and his 'Juiced' allegations (VIDEO) LINK HERE

Bleacher Report article on why you shouldn't care that Big Mac juiced. LINK HERE

Bernie interviews Mark McGwire for his blog on STLToday. LINK HERE

Richard Justice is in McGwire's corner. Big time. LINK HERE

Amazing wrestling video that is very, very timely now. (HT JB) LINK HERE

Tony LaRussa is interviewed on ESPN (VIDEO) LINK HERE

Cam Inman gives us the view from the Bay Area. LINK HERE

Tyler Kepner of the NY Times with a sobering look at how this effects MLB. LINK HERE

The Daily News chirps in with the "All-Enhanced Team" LINK HERE

Peter Gammons on MM's Hall of Fame chances. LINK HERE

Brian Williams of NBC News slams Mark McGwire on the evening news. LINK HERE

Ryne Gery implores us to think about the fans. LINK HERE

Scott Miller of CBS Sports tells us that history will be the gauge of MM. LINK HERE

Tom Verducci of SI let's us know that MM feels better now. LINK HERE

Sports Pickle: "Steriods Gave me the Strength to Apologize". LINK HERE

Tim Brown of Yahoo! claims Big Mac WAS the steriod era. LINK HERE

Jon Paul Morosi of Fox Sports buries MM's HOF chances. LINK HERE

... New stories that have surfaced:

A tearful deconstruction of the apology over @ Big League Stew LINK HERE

Bernie again taking critics of MM's apology to task. LINK HERE

B.J. Rains with the fans recations to the MM admission. LINK HERE

Tim McKernan on InsideSTL with his take on MM LINK HERE

Well I might as well throw my hat in to the ring on this whole Big Mac steriod deal...

READ BLEACHER REPORT on BIG MAC HERE

Go ahead and read HMW below and tomorrow, we'll do another re-cap post of all the articles you might not have caught plus more reaction from Team CD.

Yippee.

In case you're under a rock (and/or don't follow 50 something people who tweet about the Cardinals on Twitter), Mac Wire admitted to steroid use earlier today.  Catch the interview tonight at 6pm on MLB Network.  I'm sure they'll replay it later at night, since MLBN's programming - while I enjoy it - is always broadcasted at least 4 or 5 times a day.

And if you still don't have MLB Network from your cable/satellite provider, click here to put it all in perspective.

So with this "shocking" steroid admission and heartfelt...okay "heartfelt" interview with Robert Bob Costas out of the way, along with Matt Holliday being signed - are we ready to start the 2010 season?  I think so.

Sure, the random cheap ass free agent bench bat or fifth starter needs to be signed, but as far as impact moves and news goes, I think we're dunzo until April.

So what do we talk about now?  Ben Sheets?  Ballpark Village?  Really gay patriotic baseball cards?

Is anything worse than working up 1000 words for an article and having it just fucking vanish because you accidentally close a browser tab? You know, besides being butt raped or falsely imprisoned or being Mrs. Harry Reid at Freaknik...

Over under on Albert Pujols' next contract: 26.5M per year. Over or Under?...

(ED NOTE: There has been some confusion on more than a few of your's part- this article and any other article that seems to end abruptly will be continued by clicking the "Read More" button at the bottom right hand portion of this post. Look for it. I won't call the ones that didn't figure this out by names, but let's start getting your shit togehter, K? I know for a fact all three of you have time to 'read more'... PS: This is one of 'those articles'.)

David Freese has been invited to participate on the Winter-Warm Up Caravan. You know the trip where a bunch of young guys go around the Midwest and get boozed up during the night and sign autographs and kiss babies during the day. Awkward. Turtle...

Gym. Tan. Laundry. The official mantra of the Jersey Shore. Listen, you may have your reasons why you aren't watching this show. Some of them may even be valid. But do everyone a favor and get on board. Now. The spirited bar discussions about this show should be enough in and of itself...

Congratulations to STL Blues head coach Davis Payne on his first win as a head coach. Let's hope putting one in the win column can give him a little clout in the Fox Sports Midwest production room.

Whoops.

When I was 18, I think the most prescient thing on my mind at any given time was either how to score (beer, weed, chicks) or how to pay for the score. Garett Gilbert was trying to win a National Championship in front of 100,000 people in the Rose Bowl and millions watching on ABC.

Good luck with that.

LINK HERE: InsideSTL on Matt Holliday & Mark McGwire

I guess he did what he could against a damn good Alabama team, but at the end of the day, it wasn't nearly enough to make the Citi BCS Championship game more or less a public flogging with the SEC paddle.

More interestingly, the top 3 QB's in this year's NFL draft McCoy (shoulder), Clausen (foot) and Bradford (shoulder) are all injured or recovering from surgery. Any guesses at the STL Rams #1 need this off-season?

Yup. Quarterback.

(Pause here to remove an idiot. Thanks Brent!)

In Matt Holliday News, the newest American hero gave the Cards a late Christmas present. No, not the signing. The millions of dollars in merchandise the team made with the switch to number 7. Video of the presser from our friends at KSDK below.

Now a mega batch of the links...

• Keggers of Yore- Old people used to party too. LINK HERE
• I won't spoil this Antique Roadshow's reveal of the price... but it's large. LINK HERE
• A cool idea for a blog- set your camera timer and then RUN! LINK HERE
• The Fred McGriff endorsement that won't die. LINK HERE (HT- HMW)
• I think that Jon A has the better response to the query. LINK HERE
• SLU Head Coach Rick Majerus dumps in a towel in front of team. LINK HERE (HT- Spags)
• This is the best rock climber in the world. No questions. LINK HERE (HT- Fresh WC)
• For the Mac lovers like myself out there: I'm on a Mac- Beatch. LINK HERE (HT- Dragon)
• The Onion brings serious heat with a VH1 bus wreck, spilling 2K pounds of slut. LINK HERE
• John Wall is awesome even when he jumps into the stands for a ball. LINK HERE
• Man spells out wifey's b-day message in cow poop. How romantic. LINK HERE
• Cool optical illusion. LINK HERE

Just so you know, the HT or Hat Tips are for people that have e-mailed The CD links over the course of the week. If you come across a good Friday Link and want to see it here, just use the contact form at the top of the page and I'll give credit where credit is due. Cool?

Have a weekend, goons. We'll see you back here when we think about it.

What a mess of a morning. Snow. Artie Lange suicide attempts. Christians moving to Uganda to cure Africans of homosexuality.

Just what the hell is going on out there?

If you’re looking for reading material, I highly doubt you got through all the Matt Holliday material in the post directly below. So why don’t you get down there and expose yourself to some quality prose from some of the top baseball journalists the internets have to offer.

I’ve added new articles to the bottom of the post- so finish off the ones you missed yesterday.

I will be desperately trying to find a new angle on this whole deal for InsideSTL tomorrow, so if you have any suggestions, drop me a line.

Until then…

Did you hear? The Cardinals re-signed Matt Holliday to a new contract. I know, right? You would have figured somebody would have said something.

The deal is worth 120 million dollars over 7 years (17M/per) and ensures that the beefy majority of Holliday’s career will be spent donning the birds on the bat.

World… REACT!

• Bleacher Report says the signing of Holliday ushers in a 'World Series or Bust' attitude: LINK HERE
• Tim McKernan (InsideSTL) isn't above a bad pun to show their excitement over the new deal: LINK HERE
• Jeff Passan of Yahoo! puts a turd in the punch bowl... just what Pujols will get now: LINK HERE
• Tim Kurkjian waxes nostalgic about Holliday, Johnson and Bay. I think: LINK HERE
• The NY Post gives a factual report... but check out what the 1st comment says. Creep-y: LINK HERE
• Bryan Burwell gives all the credit to Cardinals GM John Moeliak: LINK HERE
• Pitcher's Hit Eighth wonders how this effects the lineup: LINK HERE
• SI credits the 'leg kick' and not Scott Boras with a huge payday for the OF: LINK HERE
• VEB doesn't know what to make of this contract for the Cardinals. But they like it. I think. LINK HERE
• B.J. Rains of the Globe-Democrat gets the players reactions on the news Holliday is back. LINK HERE
• The Riverfront Times' Rundown is tepid in it's excitement (It's not our money, man!) LINK HERE
• Matt Leach checks in with some tidbits on the Holliday signing. LINK HERE
• Richard Justice's headline might be the most comical thing I've read on this signing. LINK HERE
• C70 At The Bat is satisfied after finally bedding their man. Wait. That doesn't sound good. LINK HERE
• Derrick Goold talks about how this deal alters the landscape of the Cardinals. LINK HERE
• Matt Holliday merchandice options for Cardinal fans via Joe Sports Fan. LINK HERE
• 10 Tips for the Holliday's as they come back to STL via Punching Kitty. LINK HERE
• The Big Dog Bernie weighs the pros and cons of Holliday signing. LINK HERE
• The Hardball Times starts to break down the value of this deal. LINK HERE

... More as they come in.

More reaction later tonight on the CD- but for now check out my work over @ Bleacher Report for the first of extensive coverage on Matt Holliday's 7yr/120 million dollar deal with the St. Louis Cardinals:

BLEACHER REPORT ON MATT HOLLIDAY LINK HERE

I have a Matt Holliday piece ready to go when the Cardinals finally pull the trigger on the deal that will bring him back to St. Louis and I will post a link on the CD when that happens. So if you hear news that Holliday has indeed inked his pack with the team, come back for some more in-depth analysis/and or dick jokes.

Quickly, though, I have to say that I didn’t expect this to happen. And a part of me really won’t totally believe that the Cardinals pulled this off until I see an official press release… that being said- The Cardinals stepped up to the plate.

Was the FA market weak this winter? Yes. Are teams being more frugal this winter to save money for the FA class of 2011? Probably. Did the Cardinals get lucky by not having a NY Team or Boston jump into the mix seriously for Holliday? Absolutely. But from what I can gather, the team is getting a reasonable deal for an MVP caliber player in the prime of his career. They waited out Holliday’s agent Scott Boras and (seemingly) were able to have some leverage in negation.

Bouquets all around.

Just know that softball field and parking lot aren’t going anywhere for a LONG time…