Barry Bonds Hospitalized

Yahoo! ^ | August 31, 2003 | Mel Reisner

[cinFLA]

Would you wish that the doctor's NOT consider his past drug use when treating him?

And I ask you the same. If you were his doctor, would you ignore his past drug use when treating him?

[bootless]

Thanks for posting that. In the last three (four?) games he's played in, Bonds had the winning hit. In the walk-offs, and in his return to the team on Friday, his teammates swarmed him. I think now that Jeff Kent has moved on to Houston, a lot of the friction has gone with him.

I do know that they respect the hell out of him. I do, too, and my prayers go to him and his family.

[cinFLA]

Ken Camaniti has come out and said,"About 50% of all baseball professionals have used steroids," while Jose Canseco has said,"About 85% of major-leaguer's have used it."

"At first I felt like a cheater. But I looked around, and everybody was doing it."
San Diego Padres third baseman Ken Caminiti

Atlanta Braves pitcher Tom Glavine
"I would have a hard time arguing with 50 percent of the people. But I just don't know. Those of us who don't do it, we feel like we aren't on an even playing field and that's something that shouldn't happen."

Padres manager Bruce Bochy
"I'm not surprised – maybe a little bit, I guess, but it's certainly not a big surprise. Players are using steroids. With Cammy's (referring to Ken Caminiti) injuries that year, that rotator cuff injury, and his build it doesn't shock me. I think we wondered how he got through that season. Maybe that was the only way he could, with that."

Yankees manager Joe Torre
"If it's something that's going to hurt you, you shouldn't do it. We all know how important it is to play baseball and perform at your best, but that's a helluva price to pay."

Padres third baseman Phil Nevin
"I do believe that the mind-altering drugs and that stuff should be looked into. But I'm not too sure about steroids. It's a touchy subject. I'd say, if a guy wants to abuse his body that way, that's his business. That's his problem. We're all grown men."

Dodgers first baseman Eric Karros
"I welcome drug testing for me at any time. I've never done anything, but I'm the only person I can comment on. I can't speak about other people, nor would I feel it was right to speak about them. If somebody wanted to use it, that's their own decision, and I would not be surprised if I found out that other players used it. It would not be shocking to me."

Padres GM Kevin Towers
"I didn't know for sure. Guys don't do it in front of you. But guys get bulked up during the offseason and come in bigger and stronger and you wonder. It's a relatively new drug – at this game."

Mets first baseman Mo Vaughn
"I know people can say whatever they want, but man, it's a shame that people leave the game and then they make comments like that. You talk like that, you make others who aren't involved with that stuff look bad. You live your life. I know how I live my life."

Arizona Diamondbacks infielder Craig Counsell.
"If you can get an advantage somewhere, even if it involved crossing an ethical line, people will do it. Home runs are money. That's a fact."

Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Paul Lo Duca
"If you're battling for a job, and the guy you're battling with is using steroids, then maybe you say, 'Hey, to compete, I need to use steroids because he's using them.' Don't get me wrong. I don't condone it. But it's a very tough situation. It's really all about survival for some guys."

Diamondbacks first baseman Mark Grace
"If you want to keep home runs in check, if you want to reduce home runs, start testing for steroids -- it's that simple. [But] I don't think Major League Baseball wants to do that because fans like home runs. It's a very scary situation for the health of the ballplayers. I personally would love to see it banned or abolished."

Milwaukee Brewers' Richie Sexson
"This has been around for a long time, it's definitely out there, and guys talk about it. As a player, if you've been around the game long enough and you know people, you know what's going on. When guys, all of a sudden, get to be the size that some guys are now, you know that something's a little bit different."

Frank Robinson, the 66-year-old manager of the Montreal Expos "I think it's exaggerated. But, sure, it's there. You wonder. You go up to a guy after the offseason, around the cage, put your arm on his shoulder and you're like 'Whoa.' Sure, it's there.

[bootless]

1) I never accused the Giants staff of acting improperly

I didn't say you did. 2) Most of the athletes that have died have had their deaths associated with drug use.

That may be true - others have had previously undetected heart problems, etc. Regardless, I believe it was wise of them to monitor him, if only for the stress that he's been through. If I remember correctly, he's the eldest of the children. The eldest steps into the shoes of the parent who has passed, and it's extremely stressful and exhausting. He was very close to his father, and the rapidity with which Bobby's health deteriorated was shocking. Lung cancer, brain tumor, open heart surgery, and God knows what else.

I lost my father 10 years ago, and as the older of the two kids, I was extremely stressed.

Much of the view we get of Bonds is through the media - and often members of the media who just ask him STUPID questions. If the media is inaccurate about conservatives, the Second Amendment, etc., why do you believe everything that they write about Barry Bonds, given his prickly relationship with him? My point, and I think others' on this thread, is that we haven't walked in his shoes. Don't you think that for a moment, he would trade everything he's accomplished just for the chance to have his father back again? My prayers are with him and his family.

[cinFLA]

Would you wish that the doctor's NOT consider his past drug use when treating him?

Bonds has admitted taking drugs that have a documented history of causing liver and kidney damage and failure and death amoung atheletes. Would you, as a doctor, NOT consider his past drug use when treating him?

[bootless]

Having watched a few games the last couple of years, can you still agree that he is at a 'golden glove' level in the field?

No, I can't. He's lost a step, and has had problems with his hamstring in the past. I do agree that he won, and deserved, those gold gloves.

And I do recall a very recent and accurate throw home (against the Braves?) to nail a runner in a crucial situation. It was great.

[cinFLA]

Regardless, I believe it was wise of them to monitor him,

They would be foolish to do otherwise but the fact that they stated that his hospitalization was for monitoring, not rest, indicates exhaustion was NOT main first concern. That was my point.

I lost my father 10 years ago, and as the older of the two kids, I was extremely stressed.

I lost my father 15 years ago, and as the older of the three kids, I was extremely stressed. I was NOT hospitalized and I bet you weren't either.

[bootless]

Look, I'm not going to get into this tit-for-tat argument about hospitalization. I was staying at home with my son, and not competing on a major league level at the end of the season in Phoenix.

[cinFLA]

Don't you think that for a moment, he would trade everything he's accomplished just for the chance to have his father back again?

Since there is no way for that to happen, the question is irrelavent.

[bootless]

And, my condolences, 15 years later, on the loss of your father. You never stop missing them.

[cinFLA]

Look, I'm not going to get into this tit-for-tat argument about hospitalization. I was staying at home with my son, and not competing on a major league level at the end of the season in Phoenix.

I was monitoring the testing on new nuclear reactors undergoing first criticality. Much more stressful than playing ball!

[cinFLA]

And, my condolences, 15 years later, on the loss of your father. You never stop missing them.

And learning new insights on family relations as family members slowly reveal hidden emotions.

[bootless]

I don't consider the question to be irrelevant, because it identifies where your priorities are. Since the anti-Bonds posters seem to know what's in his heart, I think it's very relevant.

There are some people who blow off the loss of a family member, and seem not to be too bothered about it. That belies past major problems that we can only guess at. Much of the Bonds-bashing has been personal: what kind of person he is, and ascribing ill-informed motives to him.

That's why I posed the rhetorical question.

[bootless]

And learning new insights on family relations as family members slowly reveal hidden emotions.

Absolutely.

[bootless]

Much more stressful than playing ball!

Probably so, and in different ways.

But playing ball is hard work - it's physically and mentally demanding. Again, my point is, we have no idea what his life is like when he's not on the field, and to speculate that he do, and then conclude that his reactions are valid or not is just an exercise in being ill-informed.

[Chief_Joe]

And I ask you the same. If you were his doctor, would you ignore his past drug use when treating him?

In case you still have not figured it out yet, I, like nearly everyone else on this thread, would like to know what "...past drug use..." you are referring to in reference to Barry Bonds' exhaustion. You make numerous posts suggesting he's doing steroids without one iota of evidence to back up your claims. Most people who popped in on this thread did so to offer condolences to Barry during a time of great grief. Frankly, your posts have been sickening in regards to this thread: they are mean spirited and off the subject. For whatever reason, you seem to harbor some very hateful rage that you direct towards certain people. Maybe you say these things to get people's goat and continue the dialogue -I don't know nor care any more. My thoughts and prayers are with Barry and his family now.

[Dolphy]

I lost my father 15 years ago, and as the older of the three kids, I was extremely stressed. I was NOT hospitalized and I bet you weren't either.

With all due respect and sorrow for your loss, so what? I have always believed, from experience, that the loss of a parent is never fully understood in the first days. It comes in waves, little by little, with each reminder of the absence. The fact that Barry Bonds was met with unexpected emotions and physical reaction after returning to the sport his father taught him shows me he is a human being. Nothing more or less.

Unless you want others who took their loss much harder to question the depth of your relationship, compassion shouldn't only be reserved for those who do it your way and to your standards.

[Victoria Delsoul]

I'll give him the benefit of the doubt, along with my prayers.

I hope that those detractors would have the common decency to do the same.

Perhaps this growing experience will bring some maturity to him as a man. Certainly there are others here that need it.

You are a good man, Mhking. Goodness is born within and not acquired, and in situations where mistakes or human weakness surface, that's the time when you can sit back and watch who the good, the bad, and the ugly is.

[cinFLA]

Frankly, your posts have been sickening in regards to this thread: they are mean spirited and off the subject. For whatever reason, you seem to harbor some very hateful rage that you direct towards certain people. Maybe you say these things to get people's goat and continue the dialogue

Here is my first post for which I was attacked by several very mean-spirited posters; some which were posting falsely about Bonds as I showed.

"Most poeple do not have to be hospitalized after their father's death. Would you wish that the doctor's NOT consider his past drug use when treating him?"

[cinFLA]

Frankly, your posts have been sickening in regards to this thread: they are mean spirited and off the subject.

Go back to the beginning as review the post by me and to me and see which side is the mean-spirited side! I dare you to go back and judge impartially rather from emotion.