BONDS BOMB

[MEAT]

check out si.com, or your sports illustrated when it comes this week. the government may be lame, although they could still go after loveable bonds for perjury or tax evasion, but atleast the reporters from the s.f. chronicle cared enough to sort through everything. I suppose the lame bonds supporters or those who say, so what if he did steroids, everyone did will need a photo of a syringe in his ass, but this is getting pretty close.
[url]http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/baseball/mlb/03/06/news.excerpt/index.html[/url]

[hugedude24]

I'm sure you were soooooooo against Mcwire and Sosa during their chase too. Go ahead and jump on the "I knew this was wrong all along" steroid bandwagon. I admit Barry probably did roids (and I don't need the interview of an ex-mistress, who I'm sure has nothing to gain from talking about Barry and roids, to tell me this).

But you don't hear me calling out Barry more than anybody else. I played pro ball, I never took drugs, but I was offerred them thrice (my screenname is hugedude because I'm 6'8 ) and I can list off players you would never think about or never heard of that used roids (allegedly of course). Think about this, 17 of the 35 players in the minors who were suspended for steroids were PITCHERS! And 6 of the 12 major leaguers who were suspended were....pitchers too. Interestingly enough, you never hear people talk about how Gagne suddenly gained 20 pounds and 15 miles an hour on his fastball, starts wearing baggy clothes, blows out an elbow a year after steroids are banned...hmmmm.

If you didn't know about them then, or refuse to look at the complete situation in baseball regarding ALL the ballplayers, not just the ones you dislike already (like Bonds), you are not saying anything worthwhile. And let us not forget that Mays and Williams might not have used roids but were avid proponents of amphetamines.

Wake up. Steroids, they were used, rampantly. My feelings are, if you didn't know it then/didn't care then/didn't talk about it then, you don't deserve to talk about it now because you lack certain common sense about anatomy.

He's Meat, I'm not trying to attack you. I'm only commenting on the crusade against steroids that was created because the media decided it could make a buck off of it. Why not talk about the issue 8 years ago when Ken Camniti wrote a book (well before Juiced) and said that over 50% of ballplayers took steroids? Don't be sheep people. Saying I can't believe they did steroids is admitting something along that line.

(Bring on the tirade, I'm sure it's coming)

[goredsox33]

i agree that alot of players were using , and still are........

but to bring up the argument about mcgwire/sosa is wrong....

while roids were obviuosly rampant then.......
publicly it wasnt an issue like it is now.......

[hugedude24]

That's my point. Why wasn't it an issue? Because people arbitrarily decided not to care. Now they do.....what happened to make them care after 20 years of ignorant bliss? Slow news day?

Forgive me for bringing any of this up. I did not want to create an argument thread of any kind, just merely to ask what people thought then, rather than have the media tell them when to think what.

I'll let this sleeping dog lie now, and get back to strat (where by the way, I refuse to pick up players who I think have done the cream or the clear for some sort of stupid moral conviction, or jealousy over success!).

[goredsox33]

i dont think that we didnt care.....it just hadnt been brought to the forefront yet....hadnt been exposed as much..............

i mean it was very exciting when it was happening..but now when i look back on it ..i feel like a fool....its VERY obvious they were both on the juice

[bleacher_creature]

[code:1:92e6cd1f62]Don't be sheep people. -hugedude[/code:1:92e6cd1f62]

This is good advice.

[MEAT]

for the record, I grew up a cubs fan, knew sosa personally, and was covering the sport in 1998, and seem like I was the only one that wasn't the least bit thrilled or caught up in the summer of 1998, even if sosa had been the one to break the record. it all smelled at the time, you don't wait sixteen years for someone to hit 50 homeruns, fourteen more for someone else to do it, then a total of 37 years for someone to finally hit 60 again, and not one, but two guys not only catch and pass maris, they OBLITERATE him...and then just three years after that, bonds smashes them, and in the interim, sosa rocks three straight 60 homer seasons, and people barely notice, not to mention griffey's puny 50-plus homer seasons. something smelled wrong then, and has proven to be, and bonds even more so. sosa and mcgwire seem to have gotten their comeupance, and will inspire an interesting hall of fame debate when their eligible, and its only fitting bonds will now. but no one was tested then, bonds has never been tested officially, and he was going to the master of masking anyhow, so it wouldn't have mattered. he will deny to his grave, so this is the closest we're likely to get to any truth. thank god these writers and some law enforcement investigators invested the time and energy as he's on the brink of reaping millions in recognition and commemoration and eclipse the most hallowed records not only in baseball, but all of sport.

[genevajack]

is that their are many players on the verge of making the Hall who may not because of inflated stats during the '90s. Im talking closers- such as Goose and Rollie Fingers. Guys who averaged 20-25 saves per year and pitched three innings a shot- but who set the table for the current closing studs-who face a batter or two and get a "S".

[bomp helium]

I've been reading the Chronicle for 40 years and i am completely disgusted by these two "reporters". I've been a reporter myself, and it's unprofessional to the nth degree to launch a PERSONAL vendetta against someone. This is not about steroids. This is about some bitter, small little man trying to take down the "big dog". These reporters are supposed to be covering the games, but the SF sporting green is rife with their daily and endless whining. They sound like jealous little boys, and should be FIRED and sent to their rooms.

Sure, steroids were used. Maybe by Barry, maybe not. Innocent until proven guilty...remember that one? And IF bonds was taking them, they were LEGAL at the time, and so I would imagine a few hundred others were taking them as well. Where is the outrage at Armando Rios? And where is the outrage over 375 pound offensive linemen who pop steroids and amphetamines like candy? Do we take away rushing records because linemen pop steroids? Why aren't THEY the poster boys for steroid abuse? Why is Bonds the focus of all this? There is NO PROOF behind the inuendo and rumors. These are just small little reporters trying to build a "career" out of witchhunting. I've watched this story unfold and I really think it's more yellow journalism than factual reporting.

Bonds may have been guilty, along with half the league -- including pitchers. But remember, at the time these were LEGAL substances. I have no problem with going after the PROBLEM, but Bonds is not the problem; STEROIDS are the problem. Go after the steroids in a dignified manner, but there is no need for a poster boy.

I remember when Henry Aaron was chasing Ruth's record, despite daily "rumors" about most everything, and a few death threats to go along with it. Seems like that may be closer to what's going on here. If it wasn't this, it would be something else. People love to tear down the guy on top.

There's big money in baseball, which leads to international competition of the highest order for those few precious roster spots. People will do what they have to do to join that club. I guarentee you players, trainers and coaches are doing everything possible to gain advantage. And if that advantage becomes illegal, they stop.

Bonds has been cutting edge forever. Megavitamins (is that okay with you?), cutting edge nutrition, cutting edge exercise, visualization techniques, cutting edge philosophy, special hardwood bats -- that okay with you? -- that emphasize LIGHTNESS, creating explosive, unprecedented bathead speed...he's always been ahead of the curve. It's too bad reporters don't ask him those questions. They might learn something.

I admire Bonds tremendously, and always will, and it's not just the 90 homers and 191 RBIs he has with nine games to go for my team, the Lenticular Cloud People. I met him once, and he was cordial and friendly, almost child-like. I found my idol, Willie Mays, to be far more cranky. But that's his right. How would you like being alternately taunted and praised day in and day out by idiot strangers? How would you react?

I think Bonds' anger at the press is justified, and it's about time someone stood up to those parasitic punks. Good for him for not pandering to the public. He lives his life and speaks his mind. Good for him. I can't wait for HIS book.

It's too bad his titanic performances have been lost in all this. Reminds me of the purely political tearing down of Bill Clinton and his wayward penis. But Bonds has been stunning, almost beyond belief. Remember 2004? Remember that card? Weren't they testing for steroids then? Didn't he hit .362 with 45 home runs and 232 walks? 232 walks!!! That's mind boggling. So much so that I'm not sure an SOM card can't even accurately reflect that kind of season (you'll notice the 2004 record book for walks (Bonds, of course), comes nowhere near 232; it's simply not possible). A .609 OBP? Are you kidding me? These are staggering numbers, right up there with Wilt's 100 points and 50 PPG average, up there with the Babe, or Gehrig, or Cobb (do we kick him out of the HOF as well?). Do we start exhuming corpses and testing Rocky Colovito and Frank Howard for steroids?

Those last few remarkable seasons are what we should be talking about. Steroids just allow a person to recover more quickly from a workout. Steroids cannot hit a baseball. Steroids do nothing for intelligence, focus and eye-hand coordination. The amazing numbers put up by this man are what we, as baseball fans, should be buzzed about..

This is a witchhunt, pure and simple, a personal vendetta by a couple of small reporters who feel belittled by a superstar. Get over it. Move on. Watch the man's last season and appreciate what he has accomplished.

anyway, have a good day...

[cirills]

I have no problem with the timing of this "vendetta".

I think that the prospect of Bonds playing this season is abominable and if this has any chance at all of building public pressure on him to retire then I am all for it.

For him to pass Ruth and Aaron right now would be a crime, and if this even has the slightest chance of derailing that then all power to it.

The problem is that Bonds ego supersedes any morality issues he gave up long ago anyway, and unfortunately I don't think it will happen (him retiring).

But one can hope. :roll:

[quote:0a9f05091c]a couple of small reporters who feel belittled by a superstar[/quote:0a9f05091c]Please -- Bonds belittled the entire sport of Baseball when he decided to make it all about HIM. :cry: