I'm not entirely sure why this information is anything different than we already had. I'm not sure when everyone started going against him....I remember people booing Dierker here for not pitching to him. I remember a ton of suspicion about steroids even then. We all knew it. I'm not sure why Barry gets lynched...and the whole rest of those players from the same era don't. I have no idea what pitchers were using. I have no idea what position players were using. I don't have a positive test for Barry...I don't have a positive test for Clemens, either. Or Bagwell. Or anyone else whose name isn't Rafael. So we just condemn the entire era? I'm surprised people are surprised. I remember all the andro and the "they must be using steroids" talk in 1998. I also remember people flocking to the parks to watch the results. I remember showing up early when the Cards came to town to watch a mammoth lumberjack deposit balls in the upper deck of the 8th Wonder of the World. I remember grown men crying on TV closeups as they passed Maris' record. I remember being there when Barry tied McGwire's record right here in Houston. And the place was electric. We all suspected. Even then. Now we pretend we're surprised....and we condemn them. I don't get that.
All I know about Clemens is he just had the best season of his career last year when they really started testing for steriods. For that reason he is off my suspicion list.
Great post, MadMax. If Barry had been a nice guy to the media, everyone would have been talking about the Rockets/Astros/WBC/March Madness, etc. yesterday.
I hear ya. I don't think he used. But in my mind you either: 1. condemn only those who test positive; 2. condemn the entire era What you don't do is base your condemnation on circumstantial evidence...like your statement above, that since he had such a great season after testing, you assume he wasn't using. Too much of all of this is assumption. And the media is trying like hell to knock down ONE GUY. A guy they've never had a good relationship with. Is this kinda effort being put in to determine if there were other people cheating?
barry is just as big and powerful after they started the intensive steriod program, only a serious knee injury slowed him last season. and this season he is just a big and ripped.
McGwire was a nice guy; was Palmeiro a nice guy? Everyone was all over those guys. There's also the part about Bonds presently chasing one of the greatest records in sports.
i don't remember the media being all over McGwire. i remember the speculation. but nothing like what we're seeing with Barry.
The moral of the story is don't **** with the media. They have the power to sway the crowd in any direction they want, and if they hold a grudge against you they will dig up anything they can find in order to take you down. If Bonds was a nice guy to the media he could have been the Michael Jordan of baseball.
You knew all along and it doesn't bother you. We get it. Btw ... other players from the same era ARE getting 'lynched' - where have you been?
I can't believe anybody would still be in denial about Bonds and steroids at this point. He used them. He's testified that he has used them, but that he thought they were linseed oil or flax, or whatever. Put this in context with the MOUNTAIN of evidence against him, and you'd have a better time convincing me that OJ didn't do it. Bonds used them. McGwire used them. Palmiero used them. Giambi used them. Caminiti used them. Sammy probably did. Bagwell probably did. It's jsut the reality of baseball's last decade. Accept it.
who is getting lynched like barry? come on. no one else is getting that. the only guy who has even come close to receiving the crap barry has is rafael. but he tested POSITIVE. it isn't that it doesn't bother me. it does bother me. i'm just not willing to discount an ENTIRE ERA on suspicion, though. we "knew" in the sense that we suspected it. many were absolutely convinced they were doing it...but no one seemed to care enough to stop going...or to demand that MLB clean it up. and now, after the fact, there's all this horror over it. it just strikes me as odd.
I hope that they take all his homeruns and toss it out the window. There should never be anyone who cheats and somehow gets rewarded (hr title). It's a complete mockery of the sport and Hamerrin Hank. I'm pissed at Baseball for letting all this crap snowball, but if they let him keep him 73 hr season, and possibly the home run title of all time, i'll boycott mlb straight up. It's a disgrace.
Let me add this: at the end of the day, the greatest baseball player in my lifetime is Barry Bonds. there's no question about it. i'm assuming he probably did steroids. i'm also assuming a ton of them did steroids. but i saw Barry go 30/30 long when i still thought "the cream" was a dessert topping. apparently the competition was using...and barry was head and shoulders above the rest. he's ALWAYS had a quick bat. he's been the best hitter of my lifetime. i don't know how to discount that when someone asks, "who is the best you've seen play?" well..i saw this guy play. but he was probably cheating, so i didn't really see what i thought i saw. of course, the guys he was competing against were probably cheating, too. and notorious cheaters in baseball hang out in the HOF on the backs of spitballs and scuffs. soooo...the best player i actually saw play who i'm convinced probably didn't cheat was Craig Reynolds. yeah...that was the best player i ever saw.
The homeruns from this era will likely stand, but will be looked at differently because they will be forever known as steriod era records.
i agree i'm pissed at MLB letting it ever get to this point. but they did. the more interesting point is that you'd boycott. i wonder how many others would. i doubt there would be many. and i'm not trying to attack you, personally...but if you were there rooting for those homeruns...suspecting even then that it was going on...and then after the fact talk about boycotting the game because they were cheating....that sounds a bit hypocritical to me.
I agree with MadMax all the way here. Nobody has faced the constant adversity that Bonds has on this issue except maybe Raf but as MadMax pointed out he actually tested positive so there was just cause. The thing actually blowing this up is the media, it's all you have seen on SportsCenter, CNN sports, ESPNEWS, etc. I mean it is basically the same thing we've heard before just somebody ese trying to give Bonds more crap. It's really just a ploy so somebody can make money off of somebody else's name.
