Barry Bonds = Y.A.

[teamnasty]

Today msnbc.com reported that Terry Bradshaw admits doing steroids during the 1970's, with the predictable caveat that it was about injury recovery not performance enhancement. Somehow I suspect that there will not be an outcry on this site or others to take away the Steelers 4 championship rings or affix an asterik next to his statitstics or to boot him out of the hall of fame. And there are one of two reasons that you wont see such an outcry like you have with Bonds. One, its about likeability not whether roids affect performance negatively or positively....the roids give us a reason to attack those we already dont like. Or two, we have come to the point in the steroid debate where we dont assume it makes a great player into a great player, and that his accomplishments are still his own, a**hole or not. Either way I predict a far different public reaction to the two men's usage.

[longgandhi]

The real difference is that Bradshaw took cortico-steroids which are used to heal and are not banned, and Bonds took anabolic steroids which are used to bulk up and are banned.

[teamnasty]

Legal distinctions between types of steroids seem to miss the point. If youre going to condemn one athlete for chemical enhancement you should be consistent and condemn the others. When McGwire took Andro it was then legal, does that mean that naysayers should view his home run records the same way as Ruth's? I dont buy this Andy Pettite-I'm a good guy-I only took it to reduce injury-line of argument. Just staying healthy more often allows you to put up bigger numbers. Again, we condemn certain athletes who have been implicated because we already dislike them, and make excuses and tenuous distinctions for those we like.

[longgandhi]

We should abolish pharmacies and make all controlled substances freely available because it's just some 'tenuous legal distinction' that differentiates between aspirin and morphine as pain relievers.

Perhaps it is time we take this to messages if there is anything left to discuss, and let this thread finally rest.

[RICHARDMILTER]

He cheated!!! Calling Bonds the best ever is like calling someone who rode a motorcycle in a marathon, the best runner ever. He gave up the chance to be the best ever when he cheated!

[RICHARDMILTER]

Why do you think he was such a jerk? Why do you think he had the biggest head in baseball(literally and figuratively)? Because those drugs make you a moody, big headed jerk!

[teamnasty]

Bonds was thought of as a jerk long before he ever roided. Ruth was frequently viewed in his time as a jerk even though he never roided.