Enough's Enough: Bond's Should Be Banned

[POB14]

You may laugh but no one cares that Big Mac was juiced. America does not view Sammy Sosa with the same disdain that they would if he were African American.

White guy getting flak for steroid use.

As pointed out by Bob above, Sammy Sosa is a pariah in Chicago. He went from the most popular guy since Ernie Banks to the next-best thing to a St. Louis Cardinal.

Bonds gets the flak because he's chasing the home run record. You know, the one he says nobody wants him to break because he's black. The one held by that famous white guy, Henry Aaron.

(By the way, read one of Henry's books some day, and you'll see how terrible racism toward a ballplayer can be. We're talking death threats, folks.)

Edited to remove implication that Bonds has not been a victim of racism. I think he absolutely HAS been a victim of racism. But he's also, well, that thing Bob called him.

 

[diznygirl]

Maybe not race but there is something very personally vindictive about the way the media treats Barry Bonds. There would be nowhere near the amount of media coverage if he had a good working relationship with the media and that awshucks cornfed attitude that America loves.

Barry has gone out of his way to be as uncoorperative with the media as he possibly can. And he's downright arrogant in the few interviews he has cooperated with.

If he had a good working relationship with reporters, like Sammy, then there would be the inclination to believe he's innocent - or he could at least garner some sympathy.

 

[Bob Slydell]

The one held by that famous white guy, Henry Aaron.

 

[POB14]

To those following the thread in real-time, please notice a couple of small edits to my post above. Thank you for being patient with this hijack. We now return you to your regularly scheduled thread.

 

[Figment22]

He of course has legal immunity.

But not from perjury. He may very well have perjured himself before the grand jury. From what I understand (I haven't yet read the SI article), a good portion of the info in the piece comes from an IRS agent. Between the possibility of perjury and the eyes of the IRS, it would seem that MLB may not be able to ban Bonds, but Uncle Sam may not be finished with him yet. And, it couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

Personally, I think Barry doesn't play another game. With all the controversy that will come from this I think Barry's knee will "act up" again and he'll retire. Good. I don't want to see him "break" Hank Aaron's record. Of course, I didn't even want to see him pass his Godfather, Willie Mays. What an insult!

Oh, and just as an aside: Roger Maris is STILL the single season HR record holder.

 

[pixiemomma]

Barry has gone out of his way to be as uncoorperative with the media as he possibly can. And he's downright arrogant in the few interviews he has cooperated with.

If he had a good working relationship with reporters, like Sammy, then there would be the inclination to believe he's innocent - or he could at least garner some sympathy.

Umm, that is what I said. Presumed nice guys/media kissbutts get slack. I think it is pretty remarkable that he has never wavered to the media pressure, knowing full well it would be to the benefit of his image. People who have a problem with Bonds view it as arrogance.

BTW, I am not a Bonds fan. I just find double-standards and judgement without official santions nauseating.

 

[Bob Slydell]

Umm, that is what I said. Presumed nice guys/media kissbutts get slack. I think it is pretty remarkable that he has never wavered to the media pressure, knowing full well it would be to the benefit of his image. People who have a problem with Bonds view it as arrogance.

BTW, I am not a Bonds fan. I just find double-standards and judgement without official santions nauseating.

BTW, I never said I agreed with the way the media has gone after Bonds, I was just giving reasons as to why it happens (and reasons why it's far from racism).

 

[Mom2be]

People would (and already do) care if McGuire and/or Sosa juiced. Sosa's been catching all kinds of grief for the past few years -- and a lot of that was just over his corked bat.

Bonds catches more grief than others for two reasons -- 1. he's the greatest living baseball player in the world (I don't think he is, but for argument sake, might as well run with it) and 2. he's a dickhead.

Agree! And a dick is a dick no matter what race they are.

As a die hard cardinals fan I can tell you that St. Louisans were extremely upset with the alleledged use of the steroids by Mark McQuire and his statements at the congressional hearing. Although to most of us the congressional hearing was a joke - why does Congress care about baseball? Yes we should hold players, managers, and owners accountable for steroid abuse.

~Amanda

 

[diznygirl]

Umm, that is what I said. Presumed nice guys/media kissbutts get slack. I think it is pretty remarkable that he has never wavered to the media pressure, knowing full well it would be to the benefit of his image. People who have a problem with Bonds view it as arrogance.

BTW, I am not a Bonds fan. I just find double-standards and judgement without official santions nauseating.

No, in Bonds case it really IS arrogance.

 

[MUFFYCAT]

It's a sin if plays and passes Babe then Hank.
He's always been a popius a---.

 

[POB14]

Agree! And a dick is a dick no matter what race they are.

Must . . . not . . . make . . . remark . . . and . . . get . . . banned . . . from . . . Disboards . . . .

 

[Figment22]

Former MLB pitcher Turk Wendell has some interesting comments about the steroids issue in this article from espn.com. I always liked Turk; he was such a kook, but he makes some good points here, and sadly about the fact that many of these suspected juicers may not live the long lives they should expect.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2372546

Wendell Lumps Sosa with Steroid Users

Turk Wendell has a theory about Sammy Sosa's meteoric career.
Although he has no proof that Sosa used steroids, he told The Daily Herald of suburban Chicago that it's not hard to figure out.
"C'mon. Of course. There are so many guys who did and it's all going to come out,'' said Wendell.
"Here's a guy [Sosa] who goes from 30 homers to 60 homers every year, and just as fast he's out of baseball. Can't get a job. How's that work?

"Baseball people know this is going to get worse and nobody wants anything to do with the guys who were on the stuff.
"We would sit there in the clubhouse and laugh. How's a guy gain 30 pounds of solid muscle in three months [over the winter]? It's physically impossible without the juice.''

Agent Adam Katz told ESPN that Sosa had no response to his former teammate.
"We all understand this is a white hot issue," Katz said Friday. "People have the right to express themselves, but we have no comment"

Wendell, who played for the Cubs with Sosa through 1997, is no stranger to the steroids controversy. Two years ago he pointed a finger at Barry Bonds.
"Obviously, he did it," Wendell said at the time of Bonds. "... t's clear just seeing his body."

Bonds, who faces allegations of using performance-enhancing drugs in two books to be released this spring, responded angrily. Two years later Wendell revisited that episode with the Herald.
"Everybody in Chicago knew what was going on, just like everybody in baseball knows about Bonds,'' Wendell told the Herald. "The coaches knew. So did the managers and owners. How could they not know?
"Then, Jose Canseco comes out and says it and everybody rips him, and now everything he said was true. A lot more will come out about guys who nobody's talking about yet, too.''

Wendell, who is now retired and living with his family in Colorado, has observed the changes caused by tougher testing.

"It was funny to see the guys who were on steroids and then got off them,'' Wendell told the paper. "You're watching on TV and you see a guy hit a ball and you go, 'That's gone.'
"But the thing is, it used to be gone, and now it's a routine fly ball that the year before the guy hit 10 rows into the bleachers.

Wendell also expects the effects of steroids use manifested in the future.
"You still see Yogi Berra and Phil Rizzuto and Johnny Pesky around, but this era of players is going to be dying early,'' Wendell told the Herald. "The stats don't lie. The stuff will kill you.

"Who cares if you have unreal numbers? You need that bad to be 'the man' for a few years? Those guys will pay later.''