John Elway took a drug test this year? Sure, those Coors commercials looked fake but I never suspected... Imagine going a whole career scandal free only to get busted using steroids in retirement to win the battle of the network stars event.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37329-2003Oct16.html Indeed, it's potentially a very huge story. http://discover.npr.org/rundowns/rundown.jhtml?prgDate=10/17/2003&prgId=2 Scroll down a bit, and listen to the NPR stories from 10/17/03
Just because I know some Bonds hater is going to go off on this... Barry is being subpoened to appear before a grand jury about a "nutritionist lab" that he patronises and has touted. However, it is in reference to payments and how they effect this companies tax returns, NOT about any illegal or performance enhancing chemicals he may or may not have taken.
Shocker: Jason Giambi also has been called in to testify. Honestly, if there were two mlb players I had to bet the farm on as being "users," those would be 1 and 2 in my mind, with Sosa a close third. Bonds is just ridiculously obvious (adult men don't expand 2 helment sizes in 2 years after being in the league for a decade). And Big Mac taught Jason everything he knows about hitting...and the right corner in Oakland to stand on where the "source" would meet you. Of course, I have zero doubts that fully 50% of mlb players are on steroids (the Olympic studies of minor league ballplayers make such a conclusion inevitable), so Bonds, Giambi, and Sosa are just "gimmees."
It's hard to say with Bonds if you look at the situation. Upon first look, yea, it seems like an easy one. But if you do research, Bonds is the first to speak out against it, and he's always more than willing to discuss his dietary habits and the program he started three or so years ago. In other words, he is seemingly hiding nothing. And with the amount of smack he talks about performance enhancing drugs, it would be a huuuge scandal if he were to be busted. But then again, my God, has he grown...
Track is being roiled by this steroid made in collusion with athletes, coaches, and chemists. http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994296 http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/co...5E14822,00.html http://www.smh.com.au/text/articles...66364485294.htm What kind of implications may this have in other sports? Cycling? Soccer? American football? Weightlifting? Might we see retesting from recent FIFA championships (Japorea, WWC, U-17s)? Can a team be made to "vacate" a title if enough people were "on the juice?"
I was thinking the same thing, but more particulary about baseball, which has had such serious accusations from former players, AND the whole Andro scandal with McGuire. I mean, they've searched Bonds' personal trainer's house. They also presumbably have lots of old blood/urine samples from many athletes in storage, and now they are retroactively testing those samples? That's pretty scary stuff if you're a big slugger who was promised last year that "This stuff is indetectable!! Say all the crap you want about how dumb steroids are. It's foolproof!" In other words, what happens if Bonds gets caught? Sosa? Clemens? No sport is as conscious of history and tradition--the game would have a tough time overcoming such a scandal, especially if it is half as widespread as I think it really is.
I stand firmly by the opinion that Bonds is not taking any performance enhancing chemicals (and not just because I'm a Giants fan). For one thing, how much more mellow has the man become in the last four years, which just so happen to be the main years in his incredible muscle growth??
http://www.t-mag.com/html/body_123rock.html If you are interested in this topic, I would read this interview w/Charlie Francis-Ben Johnson's coach. It was done in 2000, right before the Olympics. I've read his book, "Speed Trap" as well, and would recommend it. I think Europe (soccer) has a diffrent mentality on the subject. Yes, there would be a degree of anger/sadness, but I think there is not the suspension of disbelief that we have here in the US. As he notes in the interview: My guess is that, you'll still hear the same nonsense from the baseball lobby; lame excuses like, "well, even if people are using, you still have to hit the ball" (this one is my favorite, as it is so absent of logic and fact) As for Bonds, he may very well be clean, but he-like all at the elite level-are working at a level that the slightest changes can produce record breaking performances. People will always point to his (and others) previous numbers; that they were already power hitters. But that's just the point: they are the perfect candidates to take drugs. Ben Johnson remember, did not just come out of the blue. He was the 1984 bronze medal winner in LA. One of the chilling things that Francis' point to is this: True? I don't know, I'm sure there are people born with freakish natural ability. But I think he is much closer to the truth tham most of us want to accept.
BIG BREAKING NEWS BIG BREAKING NEWS BIG BREAKING NEWS BIG BREAKING NEWS BIG BREAKING NEWS BIG BREAKING NEWS BIG BREAKING NEWS BIG BREAKING NEWS BIG BREAKING NEWS BIG BREAKING NEWS BIG BREAKING NEWS BIG BREAKING NEWS BIG BREAKING NEWS BIG BREAKING NEWS They're going to re-test samples from the last Olympics! Chaos! Disorder! http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/sports/AP-OLY-Winter-Games-Steroids.html
If the lawyers let them. To my knowledge, no winter athletes are associated with Balco. Of course, Balco's site has taken down its list of "associated athletes." But I don't know of any winter sports athletes who've been subpoenaed. Translation: Likely a wild goose chase.
Bump. Discuss Gary Sheffield. Thing is, he mentions using a BALCO cream on his legs. And Lance Armstrong was almost busted in 1999 but said that his "cream" was a saddle-sore cream. NOBODY has caught onto this.
How ironic that individuals who make a living off of their athleticism are so easily duped into using these substances on their bodies. How sad that the ones who get caught after years of denials to their fans and supporters turn like a leaf when criminal punishment gets mentioned. Fans are chumps. And we are all fans.