Yeah, SportsCenter opened last night with something like "We start tonight with breaking news concerning a steriod admission by a former American League MVP with connections to Barry Bonds." Whatever you think of Bonds, there is no reason to mention his name before Giambi's in this story.
Tomorrow night on 20/20 Victor Conte will state that he gave steroids to Marion Jones and that he helped her inject them. He also states that he supplied Anderson with steroids. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/more/12/02/jones.steroids.ap/index.html
It's hard to believe that he's innocent when drugs get delivered to his house and in his name. It's also hard to believe he's innocent when his trainer is the one involved in the scandal with the baseball players.
Face it people, the followng peole all have one thing in common: Sammy Sosa Tyler Hamilton Ben Johnson Barry Bonds Mark McGwire Jason Giambi Lyle Alzado Ken Caminiti Lance Armstrong Marion Jones Gary Sheffield not to mention... every NFL lineman, and most every player in the league every rider in the Tour de France 3/4 of the position players in MLB the list could go on and on... All cheaters. Flat out, zero doubt in any reasonable person's mind.
Is it just me that has noticed that all of the players that have admited using steroids AND the ones that are accused of it all have extremely bloated faces? Not to mention the oversized necks and bodies. These guys all look alike. From Caminiti to Bonds to Giambi to McGuire they all have the classic look of a steroid user. Anyone that thinks that the McGuire/Sosa summer wasn't roid ridden is in denial. Bonds is no different. It couldnt be more obvious. Nonetheless when he breaks Ruths record the media and fans will turn away from the truth and give him a standing ovation when he touches home plate. What a country. We destory 28 year old recently renewed stadiums to build new ones for $700 Million, we ship our jobs to India, Mexico and China, we ignore voter fraud and irregularities in our latest Presidential election,we use yellow stickers that say "Support our Troops" on our Oil guzzling SUVs (ie Oil...War...Troops) and we celebrate athletes that literally cheat to outperform their current and oldtimer competition. One day someone will look back and say, "What the F*** happened to America?".
Cheating in sports? No way! Put me in the minority of people who don't care about who used it and don't even care to argue about it. I watch sports for entertainment and getting upset about it just doesn't seem worthwhile. One of the most exciting things in the last few years was watching Sosa and McGwire go for the records. As a big Cub and Sammy fan I was rooting for him and it was a fun ride. So he was 'roided up, probably used corked bats, and sacrificed a virgin for every home run, whoopty do. I was entertained, so sue me. Bonds hitting 73...I was entertained even though I was sure he was hopped up on roids. When the bat hits the ball and it flies out into the Bay I'm not thinking about roids, I'm thinking what a great shot it was. I don't even think they should put an * by his records. He hit the ball the way every other player does, its just his go out. Why worry who's doing what? They'll ban substance "X", the player will switch to "Y" until they test for that and then he'll go to "Z", unless "Q" works better that "Z". I'll cheer just as loud for Sosa and Bonds (well maybe not Sammy because he blows now) as I would as if I thought they were clean. I'll boo Giambi just as load because he's a Yankee, not because he's a dope fiend and at the end of the day I'll enjoy baseball just as much. Friggin Cubs...
The sad thing is that Bonds and McGwire were great players before they became supersized. I don't know if 3/4 of MLB players take steroids. I'd be amazed if Manny took steroids, he's got the body of a couch potato.
I think you are in denial. Well, it's hard to keep up the wishful thinking after this news. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/baseball/mlb/12/03/bonds.steroids.ap/index.html By the way, if Sheffield has an ounce of credibility, Bonds had been totally in charge in the Bonds/Anderson relationship (remember the SI story on Sheffield). Therefore, it's impossible that Bonds didn't know what substance he was using. The bottom line however is that he was indeed using performance enhancing drugs whether he claimed ignorant or not.
Evidence? You want evidence? Here it is: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/12/03/BALCO.TMP He, like Sheff 'unknowingly' used the 'roids. Case closed. I hope he fails miserably in his run at Hank Aaron's record.
Well, you got the original article though. Talk about the fairy tale... "Bonds testified he had never discussed steroids with his trainer -- not even after federal agents kicked in Anderson's door to serve their search warrant. That was out of respect for Anderson's privacy, Bonds said." If anyone believes Bonds was telling the truth, I have a piece of Brooklyn Bridge I would like to sell him.
The sad part about this whole saga is the number of people who are in complete denial. I had a friend who just loved Barry Bonds and could not accept reality especially when the facts are pretty clear. Baseball is a mess.
It's that sorta spite that makes just shrug my shoulders. If the Red Sox locker room was proven not to be 100% clean this season would you turn your back on them, erase your sig, and wish them failure for the rest of time?
So you're ok with baseball players using substances which are illegal and which are scientifically proven to greatly increase the risk of suffering severe health problems? So you're ok with "competition" where some competitors are using substances that if you or I were taking them, we'd be arrested, but not only do they take them, but their league's 'policy' against them is so much of a joke, it reeks of practically telling them to keep doing it, here's how to not get caught. So you're ok with Mays, Mantle, Dimaggio, Williams, Ruth, Aaron, etc being mentioned in the same breath with people who cheated to get mentioned with them? Your attitude is precisely the one Baseball is banking on so they can continue to poison their players to provide a juiced up product for people like you. I bet you like wrestling too.
Then what are you doing on this thread? Ben, I meant 3/4 of position players. I bet a slightly smaller percentage of pitchers use. But I get at 3/4 just by estimating how much more prevalent it is likely to be than the minor leagues, a league that HAS had rules in place with enforcement policies and such. Remember, 1/3 of the minor leaguers selected for Olympic trials were dismissed for positive tests. Given that, I think it's naive to put the major league level at anything below 1/2, and I think it's much higher. Just too much incentive, and it wasn't even against the rules. As for Manny, I'm not so sure. You're right it's not quite as obvious as guys like Nomar, Bagwell, Thome, ARod, Blalock, Delgado, etc., etc. But if I had to put money on it, I'd still say yes to Manny being a user. Btw, this is an interesting post from Sons of Sam Horn:
It's amazing that Bonds apologists kept trumpeting he should be one of top two or three players of all time while never mentioned the fact without the drug-enhanced numbers of recent years, he was not even close to players like Mays, Williams, Aaron, Ruth, etc.
Really? He was more or less universally acclaimed as one of the top 2-3 players of the 90's before those numbers. He was gonna go down as one of the top playesr of his generation regardless. Then you compare across eras and it would have been debateable, but he definately wasn't a flash in the pan like Giambi. He was a top player for a whole decade plus.
Exactly. He wasn't a HUGE homerun hitter, but was still an incredible player. Had he not been using the steroids, he'd be compared with Mays and Clemente, rather than Ruth and Aaron.
Well, I am seriously bummed. I'm glad that he wasn't sticking needles in his arms, but I also don't entirely buy the "I didn't know" story. I'm sure the truth falls somewhere in between.
What I love is that we live in a country where you're villified if you put a bunch of performance-enhancing substances into your system at your own risk, but you're worshipped if your lifestyle primarily consisted of whores, booze and hot dogs, like the Babe. Bonds is obviously guilty. But I refuse to compare players of yesteryear to those of today. It's unfortunate that Bonds is still considered to be "chasing Ruth," because Ruth played in a totally different era in which the ball was deader (made it harder to hit for power) but pitchers were way more tired (because most pitched complete games every 2-3 days). Totally different game. Performance enhancing drugs are just another reason why modern players and old-timers shouldn't be directly compared. Would any of the old-time legends have used performance enhancing drugs had they been available? Who knows (although I'd venture to guess Ty Cobb would be down with it...). I wonder what Barry's godfather Willie Mays thinks of all this.
Oh please...how many extra homeruns do you think he got strictly because of any 'roids and not because of the fact that he can read pitches like noone else in baseball and has possibly the most compact and efficient swing that anyone's ever seen?
What Bonds does to his body is not my concern. However, I am sick and tired of all this sports pundits having this holier than thou attitude. These guys have been hyping Bonds and his exploits for so long. They all knew what was going on, but none of them really cared. They were more concerned with making a buck and being politically correct than looking at the facts.