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McGwire Tells Panel He Won't Name Names
AP ^ | 3-17-2005 | HOWARD FENDRICH and RONALD BLUM

Posted on 03/17/2005 12:17:34 PM PST by Cagey

WASHINGTON (AP) - Retired slugger Mark McGwire Thursday told a congressional panel investigating drugs in baseball that he would not "participate in naming names" of players who used steroids. McGwire did not say in his opening statement to the House Government Reform Committee whether he used steroids.

Two current players, Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmeiro, said they never used steroids. That duo and McGwire were accused of using performance-enhancing drugs by Jose Canseco in a best-selling book that helped prompt the hearing.

In a tense scene, Canseco sat at the same table as the other players as he told the lawmakers that he could not fully answer their questions because of concerns his testimony could be used against him.

Choking back tears, his voice cracking, McGwire said he knows that steroid use can be dangerous and will do whatever he can to discourage young athletes from using them.

"What I will not do, however, is participate in naming names and implicating my friends and teammates," said McGwire, who ranks sixth in major league history with 583 homers.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government
KEYWORDS: 109th; bigmactakesthe5th; bignannywatching; budselig; curtschilling; josecanseco; markmcguire; nannystatism; rafaelpalmerio; sammysosa; sayitaintsomark; steroids
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To: CaptainAwesome2
All football players are using steroids no matter how strict you think they are.

Are you kidding....all?? That kind of thinking could really be considered ignorance.

341 posted on 03/18/2005 8:47:42 AM PST by WBurgVACon
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To: ElRushbo

Wy didn't Bonds have to be there? I was really turned off by McGuire's sniveling! Here's this hulk of a guy crying! Made him look like a jerk! I thought they would all be united against Canseco and make him look like the ass he is. Shilling was the only one (well Palmaro too) who sounded articulate and not stammering around like an idiot~ A real waste of taxpayers $ and while I didn't hear parents talk about their kids who died from steroid use I think like all drugs it is the parents responsibility NOT sports figures-sure they're role models but they can't be held responsible for what kids are doing-parents need to be the parent and know everything their kid is doing. I don't agree it's the players fault! They're just looking to blame someone else.


342 posted on 03/18/2005 8:55:33 AM PST by LYSandra
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To: Peace will be here soon
I will believe McGwire over Canseco any day of the week.

Rethink that. Canseco admitted to using steroids and said McGwire used steroids. OTOH, McGwire refused to say anything. So you believe "nothing"?
343 posted on 03/18/2005 9:01:20 AM PST by uncitizen
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To: international american

"Yeah, and this is far more important than baseball."

I agree. This is congressional grandstanding at it's best. A theatre of the absurd. I canot fathom a reason in the world the US Congrees needs to stick it's nose into baseball.


344 posted on 03/18/2005 10:12:37 AM PST by IamConservative (To worry is to misuse your imagination.)
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To: dfwgator
"I don't disagree baseball needs to clean up it's act, but why does the government have to get involved?"

Exactly correct.

Just a further opportunity to grandstand and waste our collective taxes.

It is incumbent upon MLB to clean up their own act.
345 posted on 03/18/2005 10:16:43 AM PST by roaddog727 (The marginal propensity to save is 1 minus the marginal propensity to consume.)
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To: roaddog727

When Congressmen volunteer for drug testing themselves, then maybe they can talk. Let's have hearings on Congressional drinking, I subpoena Ted Kennedy.


346 posted on 03/18/2005 10:17:57 AM PST by dfwgator (It's sad that the news media treats Michael Jackson better than our military.)
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To: uncitizen

"Rethink that. Canseco admitted to using steroids and said McGwire used steroids. OTOH, McGwire refused to say anything. So you believe "nothing"?"

McGwire doesn`t have to say anything. If you were called before a monkey court, would you bow down to them? I think all these players who were drug before these clowns should have shown up and gave them all the finger. I applaud Mark for not given these government officials the freak show they so much wanted.

I am willing to bet even if Mark said he never used steroids you still wouldn`t have believed him. Heck, you are taking Canseco`s word over alot of other guys who I find much more credible. That says alot about you.

Also, Canseco estimated 80% of the players he knew used steroids. If you believe that, you need to rethink your views on Jose. Because that statement is completely untrue.

Canseco also wanted immunity at these hearings !!! Who is he trying to protect? Why would he need immunity for something he has already publicly admitted. Something isn`t right there.

Sorry, I simply don`t trust a man who smears his so called friends in a book that he is making money on. Canseco has had many problems over the years. I still think he has issues to hash through , because some of his claims are absolutely unbelievable.

Sorry, I am not taking Canseco`s side on this until some credible evidence is shown to back up his claims. Yeah, evidence... What evidence does Canseco have ????? I would be interested in hearing from you on this evidence.


347 posted on 03/18/2005 11:15:23 AM PST by Peace will be here soon
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To: dfwgator

"Let's have hearings on Congressional drinking, I subpoena Ted Kennedy."

ROTFLMAO!

cleaning off my monitor......


348 posted on 03/18/2005 11:21:25 AM PST by roaddog727 (The marginal propensity to save is 1 minus the marginal propensity to consume.)
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To: WBurgVACon

There may be the odd few that havent used but it is the vast majority that use. I know from personal experience and everyone who knows athletes thinks this is a joke because so many use.


349 posted on 03/18/2005 11:21:34 AM PST by CaptainAwesome2
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To: WBurgVACon
McGwire never tried to hide the fact he used ANDRO.

McGwire NEVER USED ANDRO....RMFE.

McGwire Used the Andro as a Plausible excuse to DEFLECT FROM THE STEROID RUMORS.....

350 posted on 03/18/2005 11:31:51 AM PST by hobbes1 (Hobbes1TheOmniscient® "For your AMUSEMENT..." ; ))
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To: Peace will be here soon
I'm coming from the perspective that no publishing company would publish a book containing these allegations if there were not some corroboration to Canseco's story.

I am not a baseball follower so i do not know the relative reliability of any of these people. So i am strictly looking at what has been said on both sides.

I will be watching this as it goes on and maybe my view will change. However, you, otoh don't seem to have an open mind on the subject.
351 posted on 03/18/2005 11:34:22 AM PST by uncitizen
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To: doosee

Yes, Found with a Bottle if something, so inefficient, that the only way it would put 30 Lbs on you would be to have a BOX full of it placed on your shoulders.


At the time, the state of the art in Andro was such, that it was for all intents and purposes,useless.


352 posted on 03/18/2005 11:39:36 AM PST by hobbes1 (Hobbes1TheOmniscient® "For your AMUSEMENT..." ; ))
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To: evad
One thing McGwire is guilty of, is being responsible for killing the Prohormone Industry, to cover up his steroid use.

Pseudo-Republican John Sweeney testifyng before Congress..

I had the opportunity, and on occasion, worked out with my then 15, 16 year old son, who is an avid sports fan, who was an avid athlete in baseball, football, all the sports you would expect an average American kid to be involved in. And he mentioned to me that a number of his friends in the gym were talking about and/or using an anabolic precursor that goes by the tag line Andro. And he asked me what I thought about that and he asked me if I thought it would make him perform better, make him faster and stronger; what I thought about the use of that.

I said to him, John, as a natural response, I think anything you ingest in your body, you better check out first before you really do some damage that you don't intend. He said, dad, how bad can this be? They are selling it over the counter at GNC and selling it over the counter at Wal-Mart. The Government has had to check this out. You folks have had to check this out. This has to be good for you. That started me on a journey through the U.S. Olympic facilities in Lake Placid, which is in my district, and through a variety of other sports entities in this Nation researching the facts and what was really involved in the steroid precursor phenomenon.

And what I found was sales quadrupled after Mark Maguire hit 70 home runs and took Roger Maris off the record books and acknowledged the use of Andro as a means to develop fitness and strength.

So then Congress outlawed them.

353 posted on 03/18/2005 11:42:35 AM PST by hobbes1 (Hobbes1TheOmniscient® "For your AMUSEMENT..." ; ))
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To: hobbes1
"RMFE" ?? Sorry, don't know what that means

where did you get these facts?

354 posted on 03/18/2005 11:49:41 AM PST by WBurgVACon
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To: uncitizen

" However, you, otoh don't seem to have an open mind on the subject."

What makes you say that? Because I don`t just take Canseco at his word ?

Some of the allegations Canseco made in his book have already been "proven" as false (through game records and stats kept by MLB ).

So what am I to make of someone who has been proven to not tell the truth ( or simply mis-state facts ). Canseco made these allegations, he should at least provide some evidence to back the allegations up. That is not too much to ask. And I don`t see a line of people behind him backing his allegations up.

I am interested on why you are so easy to accept Canseco`s allegations?

"I'm coming from the perspective that no publishing company would publish a book containing these allegations if there were not some corroboration to Canseco's story"

Huh, you read some of the stuff published about our President lately ????


355 posted on 03/18/2005 11:51:51 AM PST by Peace will be here soon
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To: WBurgVACon

Rolling MY F***ng Eyes...

Simply put, ANYONE, that knows ANYTHING about Andro, would be able to tell you that.

You either have to believe that McGwire was actually DUMB enough to just inadvertently leave the Bottle in his locker,
AND
That he had access to some magic form of Andro that the people who make Andro pretty much abandoned in favor of more advanced formulas, because the original andro didnt work.


or McGwire was telling the truth, and took the Fifth yesterday for Kicks....


356 posted on 03/18/2005 11:58:13 AM PST by hobbes1 (Hobbes1TheOmniscient® "For your AMUSEMENT..." ; ))
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To: Peace will be here soon
However, you, otoh don't seem to have an open mind on the subject."

What makes you say that?


I could tell from your first message that you had a disdain for Canseco. It seemed that you could not believe him because of that.

Huh, you read some of the stuff published about our President lately ????

You've made a good point there.

So what am I to make of someone who has been proven to not tell the truth ( or simply mis-state facts ).

As i said, i don't have all the facts in this case. I'm sure you don't either. But what has he said that has been proven untrue?

Canseco made these allegations, he should at least provide some evidence to back the allegations up. That is not too much to ask. And I don`t see a line of people behind him backing his allegations up.

I'm waiting for the backup too.
357 posted on 03/18/2005 12:01:05 PM PST by uncitizen
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To: WBurgVACon

Andro is garbage. They came out with something within the last year or two called methyl 1-test that works well but then it quickly became illegal. For real gains i prefer to use the real deal as do just about all athletes.


358 posted on 03/18/2005 12:06:53 PM PST by CaptainAwesome2
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To: CaptainAwesome2

Exactly. Until 4Androstenediol was developed, (around 2000?) Andro was more than useless...


5Androstenedione, which is what McGwire claimed gave him that physique, was in fact garbage. (and if he was using any real amount would have caused Gyno)


359 posted on 03/18/2005 12:13:58 PM PST by hobbes1 (Hobbes1TheOmniscient® "For your AMUSEMENT..." ; ))
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To: hobbes1
McGwire Used the Andro as a Plausible excuse to DEFLECT FROM THE STEROID RUMORS.....

Excellent point, so he was a liar long before yesterday. However, McGwire [with voice cracking, choking back tears] as part of his opening statement asserted that he never judged anyone because of their sexual preference. So I think we should give him a free pass on this one.

360 posted on 03/18/2005 12:30:44 PM PST by Francisco
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