Barry Bonds interview

[BengalszoneBilly]

I watched it, I studied him and his calculated replies, and I'm sorry...but IMHO, he's a lying sack of s**t.

He knows damn good and well he was juicing. How could you not know what you were injecting yourself with! I'd make damn sure what it was, and I'm not even a professional player who depends on his body to make a living!

Him and all the other 'riods users have skewered the recordbooks forever. Thanks a lot you freakin' jerks!

[Kirkendall]

But at the same time Billy, I'm glad this is all happening. It's created this awareness that's being combating now with owners, players union, and press. While it sucks now, and probably will get worse, I think long-term, it's going to benefit -- more than hurt at least -- the game now that this issue is at its peek.

Next step, figuring out what to do if Bonds surpassings the Babe on all-time homers list.

[jjakq27]

Baseball needs a new add campaign with guys like Bonds and Giambi with the"clear" stuff on their upper lip and the slogan would be "Got Juice?".

Crap like this really makes you appreciate what Roger Maris and Hank Aaron did on their own and what a great year George Foster had in 1977 when he hit 52 HRs over the 12 foot fence at Riverfront not the 8 foot one that they had since the mid-80s.

[BengalszoneBilly]

Next step, figuring out what to do if Bonds surpassings the Babe on all-time homers list.

What do you mean "if?" He'll do it. It'll just take a bunch more "at bats" since he'll be without the juice.

Has anyone else noticed how the home run totals dropped last season? Expect it to continue without Balco around.

[jjakq27]

I almost feel like anything that happened since 1995 should be erased from the record books. I know that won't happen but it has really taken something away from the game for me.

Guys like Brady Anderson hitting 40+ homers when his previous high was probably 20. Same thing for Bret Boone. A scrawny second baseman suddenly finds his HR swing?

[Kirkendall]

Has anyone else noticed how the home run totals dropped last season? Expect it to continue without Balco around.

For MLB in general or Bonds? Because Bonds, other than the 73 homer season, averaged a little over than 40 homers since '93. Not excusing him or anything, but his totals -- again, excluding the 73 homer season -- have remained somewhat the same (+1 or 2 homers more) over an 11-12 season period.

jak -- Boone is one of the guys Canseco has claimed took 'roids. I agree about Anderson. I remember watching him well before his 50 homer season and he was more of a singles slashing type hitter.

BTW -- Bonds could come across a sudden injury (sorry, I don't wish it upon anyone, but I can make an exception for Bonds) and be out for the rest of his bling-bling career. I wouldn't shed a tear neither.

[bengalboomer7]

I'm Sorry, but I look at it a little different. I played a ton of sports in high school, and got a chance to play a teeny bit of college baseball and later golf. I don't remember anyone dealing with steriods but if someone told me it would dramatically increase my chances of playing a professional sport I think I would have done it along with a ton of other men, and that's even if I already knew the health hazards. I mean cone on, let's say you've been beating it around in the minors for a few years and some guy comes up and says, take this and MLB will be calling you soon. This happens to 18-25 year old guys who's life long dreams are to play professional sports adn I don't think anyone should blame them for taking it.

But, I do thin kBarry is definitely hiding something, but don't be so quick to critisize him for it.

[BengalszoneBilly]

But, I do think Barry is definitely hiding something, but don't be so quick to critisize him for it.

It's about time we disagreed on something around here boomer!

[Kirkendall]

I was the same way. Until the entire Balco thing came out and it was learned that Barry rubbed a "cream" of unknown substance -- if you played high school sports, then you can only image what professional atheletes 38-40 years old puts in his body -- from "someone". That's testimony, I believe during an admission to the grand jury...

I played the naive card before with Bonds way back when -- and Billy got on my ass then -- then it just didn't make sense anymore to defend Bonds.

Sorry, you get busted for it, you should be thrown in JAIL! Damn we are a hypocritical society. Hey man, go drink 20 beers and drive home. Oh sure, you won't get busted for it until you kill an entire family, but they let you do it. But DAMN, take a hit from a joint and lose your job, your wife, your kids, your house, your dog, your life. Or better yet, go to jail WITH Martha Stewart watching OJ "murderer" Simpson on the f**king television.

I do think there is some substance in Bonds' claims onto why they are consistently hitting him with 'roids questions. But damn Barry, we're not stupid either. You're breaking a covet record you f**king moron.

If 'roids are illegal, then they shouldn't be used -- THAT SIMPLE. If they're legal, then f**k it, it's fair game. But they're not. Therefore they shouldn't be. I just don't see how breaking the law is excusable, ONCE AGAIN, with athletes! They are no different than strippers -- HERE TO ENTERTAIN ME!

OK, I'm calm now.

[BengalszoneBilly]

and Billy got on my ass then

Ahhhh! Don't pay me no mind!

[bengalboomer7]

I'm not really defending Bonds, but I can understand why Bonds could have took this stuff. he was a good ball player not juiced, probably even a first ballot HOF, but he'd never be chasing these records like this. So, one day his old buddy Greg Anderson and him are talking and Barry says "Man, I wish I had enough power to break Aaron's record" and Greg says "This stuff I got can do it for you" What would you say. No, I'm not interested in being one of the greatest of all time and having tons of records and being known forever like my godfather. You'd probably say the same thing I would, which is shoot me here, here, and oh yeah, don't forget here.

Basically, I'm not defending Bonds, but we should think a minute before we look down on him for something that at the time wasn't illegial when just about any other man in this world would do the same thing to be in his shoes.

[BengalszoneBilly]

he was a good ball player not juiced, probably even a first ballot HOF,

I think he was a great player before he hit the syringe! But wheather it was legal at the time or not, using a needle to improve your performance just ain't natural in my book.

[Kirkendall]

I agree, Bonds was a first-time HOF the rate he was playing until his face exploded 5 hat sizes within a 2 month period. He's a great athlete, stolen bases, power hitting, walks -- he has the tools BEFORE he "allegedly took the 'roids".

But dear god, why in the world if Rose is banned from "allegedly betting" at the time of the issue in 1989, isn't Bonds banned for "allegedly taking 'roids"? Both are illegal, both hurt the game, both are addicting, both hurt the individuals (albeit in different methods). I just don't understand the free pass given to Bonds, but Rose is still an outsider looking in. More hypocrisy.

I think he was a great player before he hit the syringe! But whether it was legal at the time or not, using a needle to improve your performance just ain't natural in my book. sad.gif

Nor is it ethical or fair. It's downright cheating -- even if Bonds doesn't know what cheating is. And the "roids don't help you hit the ball any better" is bulls**t. He's already got great eye-hand coordination and the extra muscle gives him better batspeed which in turn, allows someone to hit the ball into McCovey cove at his discretion.

As for the fairness argument, not every player feels the need to take them to CHEAT! Oh well, it is what it is and baseball is being watched with a careful eye to right the wrongs.

Basically, I'm not defending Bonds, but we should think a minute before we look down on him for something that at the time wasn't illegial when just about any other man in this world would do the same thing to be in his shoes.

I know you’re not -- you're telling us not to jump to conclusions. I was the exact same way. And I really feel a lot of people hope that he IS telling the truth (me included) so we can sit back and enjoy something that may never happen again for many generations – threatening the all-time homerun record. But he hasn't even tried to convince anyone. The PR image of Bonds right now is a 'roids guy and he's done nothing to change those minds.

Threatening the record is huge for us baseball loyalists. Look at what McGuire and Sosa did in ’98 and how they created this buzz bringing a ton of fans back to the game after the disastrous ’94 strike (in which the Reds would have won it all and Matt Williams threatening the record that year).

It's illegal in the United States. Whether or not baseball TESTS for it is irrelevant. There's a point where people need to understand there's more consequences than just what MLB rules are.

[Bobcat Bengal]

he was a good ball player not juiced, probably even a first ballot HOF,

I think he was a great player before he hit the syringe! But wheather it was legal at the time or not, using a needle to improve your performance just ain't natural in my book.

Man, you just don't get 40/40 seasons every year.

That's a helluva accomplishment.

[jjakq27]

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/art...010400/1072/SPT

Tuesday, March 1, 2005

Purists will hold Maris' 61 sacred

By IAN O'CONNOR

The (Westchester, N.Y.) Journal News.

It is kind of funny, kind of crazy, to think that an asterisk could end up as Roger Maris' best friend. How does a haunt become a security blanket? How does a stain become a cleaning agent?

Rich Maris, the late slugger's son, absorbed the questions and laughed over the delicious irony they shaped. "My father's name is synonymous with the word "asterisk,' " he said. "You open up the dictionary, look up "asterisk,' and there's Roger Maris' picture."

But that definition emerges from an Old World book. In this New World order, 61 home runs in a single season can be wrapped inside an entirely fresh context, one that asterisk-crazed, Babe-backing commissioner Ford Frick could've never fathomed.

Now everybody plays 162-game seasons. Now every right-minded fan who believes records weren't made to be broken by drug-fueled cheats can slap his or her own Ford Frick asterisk next to the Steroid Age Michelin Men, and leave Maris and Henry Aaron to reign forever as juice-free champs.

Steroids aren't going away, baseball fans, no matter how much Bud Selig or Donald Fehr want to wish them out of your consciousness. The only people who believe performance-enhancing drugs will be rubbed out by the new testing plan "have an IQ below room temperature," said Chuck Yesalis, the Penn State professor and steroids expert.

"Drug testing is for public relations. The cream of the crop of our (U.S.) track team was dirty, and yet they passed a zillion tests. You could put in the most sophisticated drug-testing system, and the U.S. Army could run every Abrams tank it has through the loopholes."

The Ben Johnson scandal broke in 1988, and the Olympic Games are still overrun by steroid-injected frauds. The BALCO case is baseball's Ben Johnson; Jose Canseco only picked up the baton and raced for the wire. So 15 years from now, some home run heroes will remain the creations of their friendly neighborhood backroom chemists.

"When you put in a very flawed testing system," Yesalis said, "you still have plausible deniability."

But there's no denying that fans can't take the Mark McGwires and Barry Bondses as seriously as they should take the Roger Marises and Henry Aarons.

"I believe a large majority of power hitters were drug-assisted over the last 10 or 15 years," Yesalis said, "and I'm outraged by it."

Yesalis doesn't believe that average customers share his outrage. If they did, they'd turn off the TV and stop rushing through the turnstiles. Yesalis fears that once the middle-aged and older fans die off, the fans who appreciated the pencil-necked power of yesteryear's stars, the younger fans will accept the Steroid Age sluggers as the standard bearers of true greatness.

"The ball going over the fence is what sells," Yesalis said. "Most fans don't want to see pitchers' duels. The easiest way to understand this is to scratch out the word "sport' and replace it with "multibillion-dollar business.' Once you do that, what you care about has nothing to do with fairness and records, and everything to do with money and pleasing your customers."

Canseco is the owners' Frankenstein monster, a creature they created through years of shameful silence, a creature now running amok across America's attention span. The owners can't stop him; they can't even hope to contain him. They cashed in on the long ball for too long. They marketed their sluggers and their comic-book arms, ignoring the obvious signs of a league-wide pharmacology experiment gone mad.

The owners have been congratulating each other on the testing concessions won from the union, but within the grim walls of the steroid subculture, the bad guys are always one step ahead of the good guys. New designer potions are being cooked up to defeat whatever defense is called to stop their forward progress.

"We don't even know what is on the horizon with genetic engineering," Yesalis said. "We could soon have 350-pound ballplayers with 5 percent body fat, and we'll have to move back the fences to 600 feet."

They never talked like this back in the day, because there was no need. Henry Aaron hit 755 home runs with a 6-foot, 180-pound Everyman body; Roger Maris managed 61 in '61 with the arms of an insurance salesman.

"The strongest things my father ever used were nicotine and caffeine," Rich Maris said. "My family doesn't know what to make of all this steroid talk. It might take another 10 or 20 years to figure out who did what."

By then, Roger Maris' memory might be best served by asterisks - the ones set against other people's names.

[BengalszoneBilly]

I guess I'm a purist. Sorry Barry and Mark.

[bengalboomer7]

Sorry, but it wasn't cheating cause they didn't test bakc then. it's unethical and stupid, but it wasn't illegial so there is no asterix, no sacred Maris record. Bonds is the home run KING!!! If he did it taking roids then he has to live with that himself but it wasn't illegial to take. And I've already jumped to my own conclusions(he took that stuff ans was a s**thead even before that) but I won't condemm him for it

[Kirkendall]

I guess I'm a purist. Sorry Barry and Mark.

Same here. Everyone complains about how baseball has problems, yet when Bonds surfaces, more people opt to defend him than condemn him -- the big picture definitely is taking a backseat on this one.

[bengalboomer7]

Oh, trust me I'm not defending him, I think he's scum. But back then, no one cared about steriods. Just think of all the minor leagers that never made it cause juiced guys got to play. A lot of players we know now would never had been around(EX- Jose Canseco

[jjakq27]

Sorry, but it wasn't cheating cause they didn't test bakc then. it's unethical and stupid, but it wasn't illegial so there is no asterix, no sacred Maris record. Bonds is the home run KING!!! If he did it taking roids then he has to live with that himself but it wasn't illegial to take. And I've already jumped to my own conclusions(he took that stuff ans was a s**thead even before that) but I won't condemm him for it

Rules usually aren't made until someone does something other people think is wrong. The problem is that sometimes it takes a little while for the paperwork to catch up with everyone.

[Whur CHad At?]

He developed a lot of roid rage when they asked him about steriod use. I mean he went crazy.

[bengalboomer7]

Look I don't really think much of him, but can you fault Babe ruth for not having to play blacks and hispanics? Or blame Ted Williams for not having to fly to games overnight.(Sorry, I just watched the real sports)

[jjakq27]

He's at it again.....

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/3439412

Bonds spouts off about steroids again

Associated Press

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) - Barry Bonds still believes baseball has far more important issues to discuss than steroid use, though the San Francisco Giants slugger is saddened by stories of children using performance-enhancing substances.

In an informal conversation with reporters from the Oakland Tribune and ESPN in the Giants' spring training locker room Thursday, Bonds restated many of the same positions on steroids, records and the media that he voiced in a news conference last week.

He also repeated his position on performance-enhancing substances: They're not a big deal.

"You're talking about something that wasn't even illegal at the time," Bonds said. "All this stuff about supplements, protein shakes, whatever. Man, it's not like this is the Olympics. ... We're entertainers. If I can't go out there and somebody pays $60 for a ticket, and I'm not in the lineup, who's getting cheated? Not me.

"So we all make mistakes. We all do things. We need to turn the page. We need to forget about the past and let us play the game. We're entertainers. Let us entertain."

But Bonds showed concern for children involved in steroids.

"It busts me up when they show some teenager who's been on steroids and his life is suddenly messed up," Bonds said. "It's the parents' job to be a parent to that kid. ... I tell my boy (Nikolai), if I see you doing steroids, I'll bust you up. And I mean it."

Bonds didn't say he had used steroids - and he also said his head hasn't grown and his testicles haven't shrunk in recent years. Certain hormones can cause head growth, while shrunken testicles can be a side effect of anabolic steroids.

"What's all this about my head size?" Bonds asked. "My hat size is the same today as when I started. My head hasn't grown. I've always been a 7 1-4 to a 7 3-8 my whole career. You can go check.

"I can tell you my testicles are the same size," he added later. "They haven't shrunk. They're the same and work just the same as they always have."

Bonds, who has 703 career homers, underwent arthroscopic knee surgery on Jan. 31, and he isn't expected to play until later in the Cactus League schedule. The Giants believe he'll be back to full strength by opening day, when he'll resume his chase of Babe Ruth (714) and Hank Aaron (755) on baseball's career homers list.

[Kirkendall]

He just doesn't get it, does he? He doesn't understand the problem everyone has...

[BengalszoneBilly]

"You're talking about something that wasn't even illegal at the time," Bonds said. "All this stuff about supplements, protein shakes, whatever. Man, it's not like this is the Olympics. ... We're entertainers. If I can't go out there and somebody pays $60 for a ticket, and I'm not in the lineup, who's getting cheated? Not me.

"So we all make mistakes. We all do things. We need to turn the page. We need to forget about the past and let us play the game. We're entertainers. Let us entertain."

Sounds like a precursor to an excuse for the use to me!

And about being mere "entertainers" in that second paragraph is complete bulls**t! He didn't decide to become a major league baseball player to "entertain" crowds, and make children happy like some circus act or carnival juggler. He did it because he could get paid insane amounts of money to play a game for a living! Who wouldn't.

He developed a lot of roid rage when they asked him about steriod use. I mean he went crazy.

Yeah...I'd say the stress of living this lie is really eating at ol' Barry. I willing to bet that it will keep building up, and he'll finally just snap completely with an angry, if not violent outburst just before the All Star break. It'll be right after he's asked for the 10 millionth time by a reporter if the substantial drop in his numbers can be attributed to being off the juice.

Any takers, or should we just start a pool where we try to pick the day of "Barry's Blow-up!"