Home Run King*
Barry Bonds's indictment is only the tip of a public health issue.
Saturday, November 17, 2007; A16
THE USE OF anabolic steroids without a doctor's supervision can cause mood swings and suicidal feelings, skin disorders, stunted growth, liver damage, and heart attacks. Along with the health risks, there is the risk of going to jail. Disgraced Olympian Marion Jones found that out Oct. 5, when she pleaded guilty to three counts of lying to federal agents about her steroid use and an unrelated financial matter. Now it is baseball home run king Barry Bonds's turn to face charges of lying to a federal grand jury about his own alleged use of illegal steroids. Whether or not Mr. Bonds is convicted -- and he is entitled to a presumption of innocence -- his indictment and Ms. Jones's guilty plea send a strong and welcome signal that the federal government takes steroid abuse seriously.
Our concern is not so much for the integrity of major league baseball, though it is indeed called into question by a grand jury's allegation that its greatest superstar is a cheater and by abundant evidence from other sources that Mr. Bonds is not an isolated case. An asterisk for records set during the "steroid era"? There should probably be an asterisk next to every mark set during the years before 1947, when the "color line" protected white players from competition with African American athletes.
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No asterisk
I agree and made a similar point about asterisks for pre-integration statistics on my own blog. I think those players got a bigger advantage from not facing Negro League pitchers than Bonds did from steroids. But I think you've overstated the demonstrated health risks from steroids, and also disagree that it's useful or appropriate for the federal government to seriously pursue steroid use among athletes. See; http://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2007/11/barry-bonds-perjury-indictment-is-pure.html
I will always be mad at him because he DID NOT
need them....period. Barry Bonds was a Hall of Famer easily before the drugs....this can't be debated.
The Federal Government and Barry Bonds
I live under a government that is more invested in prosecuting professional athletes for using steroids than in stopping its genocidal behavior in Iraq and holding people indefinitely without charge or trial in Guantanamo. To quote Gil Scott-Heron: "Somebody tell these Maryland farmers to get real!"
When are the Lance Armstrong indictments...
going to drop? If ever? How come black athletes are being made the face of steriod abuse?
And one thing I don't understand about this whole thing, especially since pitchers have been caught... The game is basically Hitter vs. Pitcher so if they are both on the 'roids don't they basically cancel each other out? White players during segregation don't even have that countermeasure. They were able to set records without any mitigation.