Posted on 12/07/2004 8:27:12 AM PST by Tumbleweed_Connection
As soon as he stopped taking andro, his career was effectively over -- because his body couldn't take the wear and tear without the andro.
Sammy Sosa's last couple of years were similar; he corked his bat because his bat speed dropped off so dramatically after he stopped taking performance-enhancers, and after he was caught with the corked bat his numbers became very average at best.
I predict that Barry Bonds' career is going to end the same way. He's going to show up at spring training next year looking like Erkel, and he'll hit 20-25 home runs per year (at best) for as long as he wants to pretend he's worthy to tie Hank Aaron's shoes.
So true. In fact, weight training was actually discouraged for baseball players. Inertia, laziness, and an unwillingness to cross swords with the Players Union, prevented them from reviewing their rules when it became apparent that steriods might be a factor.
Your whole argument is based on a false premise.
Whatever happened to small government conservative? Are we all Big Government Nanny Staters now?
Yeah, there's lots of clean 6' 4" 275# 5% bodyfat guys walking around out there....lol
I stand by my statement that any reasonably-trained athlete could shatter any world record in existence.
Then Perhaps you should study up rather, than continuously flaunting a frightening willingness to comment on matters you know little about.
Because they are low-life cheaters with no honor, none at all.
Isn't that obvious?
TGH, the "clear," wasn't illegal. Designer drugs aren't illegal until they're discovered and outlawed. Baseball needs vigorous testing of known substances, and it needs to improve testing for them, and it needs to cooperate with other sports bodies in identifying and restricting new substances.
I predict that Victor Conte will earn big fees as a consultant, much as early computer virus writers once did.
It's cheating. There used to be a day when cheating was shameful and sportsmanship was king. What happened to those days?
GRRRRR... the more and more I read about Bonds, and the cra he's said, the more and more I loathe the man. To attribute his baseball 'talent' to God is almost borderline blasphamey.
It's no longer "if".
Baseball does.
THIS STILL DOESN'T REQUIRE A G*DD*MN LAW!!!!
With all due respect hobbes1, baseball is a game of stats. Regarding your arguement that the same could said about "smaller ballparks" is misplaced. Certain players using steroids is like bringing the fences in for those who do. I'm sorry, you're saying using steroids is like using better "training techniques...or Better nutrition" is just wrong. See post 55.
Giambi hit 2 home runs in game 7 of the ALCS last year agains the Red Sox. The Yankees would not have gone to the World Series without those runs. Would we have the same result if Giambi were not taking illegal performance enhancing drugs? Maybe or maybe not, but there is no way to tell. Therefore, every player must be on the same level.
I've "studied up" enough, thanks. And the fact that you are now resorting to personal attacks makes it clear to all which one of us really needs to "study up" here.
Go take your meds. (No, not THOSE meds).
As soon as he stopped taking andro, his career was effectively over -- because his body couldn't take the wear and tear without the andro.
That's assuming that McGwire didn't admit to andro as a cover for steroid use.
I predict that Barry Bonds' career is going to end the same way. He's going to show up at spring training next year looking like Erkel, and he'll hit 20-25 home runs per year (at best) for as long as he wants to pretend he's worthy to tie Hank Aaron's shoes.
That's quite possible. If you're correct, then the circumstantial case against him will certainly be stronger. What if he doesn't break down? He's already holding up better than all of the rest of them, Canseco, Caminiti, McGwire, Sosa, Luis Gonzalez, and he's older than all but Caminiti. He's going to be under a bigger microscope than ever the next two or three years.
I remember taking all kinds of grief here on FR a couple of years back for insisting that Jason Giambi, Gary Sheffield, and Barry Bonds were all using performance-enhancing drugs of some sort.
"There's no evidence of that," these folks would say.
Well, now we all know better. I'd point out that "evidence" to an observer like me (and I'll match my knowledge of baseball and some other sports up against anyone here) is not the same as "evidence" in a court of law. If I have good reason to suspect that someone is using steroids, I'll say so. The fact that I was right in these three cases (and you can add female tennis star Serena Williams to that group, too) only supports my credibility.
The leaks are clearly coming from the prosecutors' offices, and there is a legal strategy behind what's specifically leaked and the timing of the individual leaks.
If you go back to Bill Clinton's grand jury testimony in 1998, you'll remember all kinds of information that was being leaked to the media at the time about his testimony, his demeanor in court, etc. All kinds of Democrat talking-head sycophants would get on television night after night, complaining about prosecutorial misconduct by "the evil Ken Starr."
After it was all over, we learned that all of these complaints were utter bullsh!t -- because the source of these "leaks" was not inside the office of the prosecutor. In many cases, the "leak" was nothing more than a story planted in the media by Clinton operatives.
This BALCO case would seem like an ideal opportunity for a grand juror to be paid off by either the media (looking for a story) or the defendants (in an attempt to get the charges thrown out by claiming the testimony was leaked by the prosecution) to provide this information.
Maybe the homerun numbers. But I don't think anything else is historically out of line.
baseball is SOLD, as a game of stats, I am merely pointing out, that there are so many variables involved in those stats to make them distort over time. The longer the time the greater the distortion.
How many times did Ruth,Mantle et al....have to face a Fresh Reliever whose specialty was closing out a ninth inning?
The Smaller ballarks argument is accurate. Back in the day Parks were larger, meaning more hits into gaps, and less balls over the fence...
Better Training, and Better Nutrition from the inception of childhood certainly has an effect on sports record keeping over time.
Pharmaceuticals is just another variable.
Oh, and I wouldn't call the writer "ditzy" just because you disagree with his opinion. John Lott is one of the leading proponents of second amendment rights and a very capable author.
Not a personal attack. The assertion that 'any reasonably trained athlete...' is hardly based in anything resembling fact.
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