What does it mean for Barry Bonds?

Recreation Sports
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That’s not how the voters for the Hall of Fame see it.


Tony Gwynn, left, and Cal Ripken Jr. were elected Tuesday to the Baseball Hall of Fame, but Mark McGwire, right, was rejected.

[quote]Cal Ripken was the ironman who played in 2,632 consecutive games, Tony Gwynn was the hitting machine who won eight batting titles, and yesterday both were elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in near-unanimous votes. But their achievements were overshadowed by the voters’ rejection of Mark McGwire, a slugger who seemed like a modern-day Paul Bunyan before he fell into disrepute because of suspected steroid use.

McGwire’s name was included on just 128 of the 545 ballots cast by baseball writers who took part in the voting, a 23.5 percent showing that fell far short of the 75 percent needed for induction. Because this was McGwire’s initial appearance on the ballot, the vote was viewed as one of the first verdicts to be handed down on baseball’s troubled steroids era. . .

As concern over steroid use grew in recent years, McGwire, in retirement, found himself under increasing suspicion. And it came to a head when he refused to answer questions about possible steroid use during a Congressional hearing in March 2005.

At the hearing, McGwire repeatedly stated that he would not discuss the past. His silence was viewed by many of the baseball writers who take part in the Hall of Fame voting as a tacit admission that he had used steroids while playing. The fact that he would not publicly acknowledge doing so, at the hearing or since then, only made matters worse in the eyes of some of those writers. . . [/quote]

I agree with them. :bravo: Despite McGwire’s 583 career home runs, it doesn’t seem right to reward him further for having taken harmful drugs to gain an edge over those with more natural abilities, to condone his acts, and encourage more kids to shoot up to emulate him.

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I thought this editorial by ESPN’s Jason Stark was quite on the mark as far as discussing who should or shouldn’t get into the MLB Hall of Fame.

sports.espn.go.com/mlb/hof07/col … d=tab1pos1

an excerpt:

[quote]The fact is, people have oversimplified this issue, to the point that, if you listen to the way most folks talk about it, you’d think there were only 10 players taking any kind of performance-enhancing drugs in the '90s.

But we know that, in truth, there were probably hundreds. So should I cast votes only against players who happened to get mentioned in Jose Canseco’s book, or who got subpoenaed by Congress? What about all the other players who I might suspect were doing something but whose names have never come up in this conversation?

Should I vote only against players who hit a bunch of home runs, or broke home run records? What about all the pitchers we know were taking something? Do we care about them or not? Should I vote against them if I just think they might have done something?

See, this is the essence of the problem. Mark McGwire is the first prominent player tied to performance enhancers with Hall of Fame numbers to show up on this ballot. But he’s only the beginning. So how do we know where to draw the line? How do we know which guys we should or shouldn’t vote for if we want to make some kind of statement?[/quote]

By the way, a little more news on good ol’ Barry came out today.

“Barry Bonds failed a test for amphetamines last season and originally blamed it on a teammate, the Daily News reported Thursday.”

sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2727325

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I remember Ben Johnson lost his world record for the 100m back in 1988. However, I don’t see that happening here. A lifetime ban is in order. I believe some pro sports teams still act like corporate citizens with integrity and are socially responsible. Arguing that performance enahancing drugs don’t enhance performance is just a waste of my time.

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I wonder how many of you “men” really know what you are talking about when it comes to Testosterone, not, I repeat,not steriods(there are so so many types duh), and how many of you look like Norm from Cheers.
You read about s@#$ in the newspaper etc then you suddenly are an expert.
The egde it gives you is small, which can be beaten by correct diet and training.
It is called an ergogenic aid-i stress aid. It does not replace the hard work and correct dieting that is needed.
People talk of “roid rage” etc, i am sure those that talk about it know squat-wankers always use an excuse.
A bad workman always blames his tools.
People will always look for an advantage in whatever, sport is no exception.
What do you want to ban next- Vitamin B ??
That idiot Dick Pound(dick yes) is on a mission to catch what he calls cheaters)
Frustrated old men who were never succesful, like many of you wankers who think you know it all.
You were never competitive, successfull or famous.
Keep your pathetic comments to your bar buddies.

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WWWWWWWIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

[quote] Frustration Starts to Show as Bonds Hits a Snag

July 15 — Barry Bonds was seething. Still wearing his San Francisco Giants uniform, still annoyed and achy after a depressing and fruitless weekend, Bonds tried to shoo reporters from his locker.

No one retreated, so Bonds harshly criticized himself and showed the first signs that his sluggish pursuit of Hank Aaron’s career home run record is gnawing at him. Bonds, who is idling at 751 home runs, is 0 for his last 20 and has no homers since July 3, a stretch of 23 at-bats.

“Yeah, it’s an embarrassment to be wearing this uniform because of the way I’m playing,” Bonds said. “There, that’s it. Now go away.”

Bonds’s comments included a profanity and, to further punctuate them, he repeated himself. Once again, Bonds’s response was spiced with an expletive.

“I’m embarrassed to have this uniform on, the way I’m playing,” Bonds continued. “Now get out of here.”

About a minute later, Bonds trudged across the clubhouse and tipped over a laundry cart.

These raw scenes unfolded after Bonds went 0 for 5 Sunday and the Giants lost to the Dodgers, 5-3, as Los Angeles swept the three-game series. . . [/quote]

:cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: . . . . . . :wink:

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Well he’s only two away from tying the record.

The sad part about all of this is- he probably didn’t need the 'roids to break the record. Instead, he elected to cheat. That, plus him being one big a-hole (to the fans, to the press, to his teammates, etc.) doesn’t help things. I can’t believe the Giants fans are actually cheering for him. I’m sure there are fathers out there who take their kids to Giants games. Way to set a good example for your kids. It’s pathetic.

He’ll go to the Hall for sure because it’s arguably the greatest record in sports- period. There is no proof yet that he did all of this (well, OJ was “not guilty” too) and the media is kissing Barry’s behind by cowardly not confront him with the issue. This whole thing stinks.

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Barry has already spoken with his agent about playing next year. He’ll head over to the American League where he can DH, because as an outfielder he’s washed up. He’s a liability out there for the Giants. He knows it too.

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I don’t know if there’ll be any takers. I mean, prior to this season, the Giants was the only team that offered him a contract.

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Oh sooooo sad. :cry:

[quote]Home run king Barry Bonds, the owner of the most sacred record in sports and once considered a lock for the Hall of Fame, was indicted Thursday for allegedly lying under oath to a grand jury about his steroid use.

Federal prosecutors charged the 43-year-old slugger with perjury and obstruction of justice in a 10-page indictment filed in United States District Court in San Francisco, four years after investigators raided the Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative and Bonds testified that he never knowingly used steroids or other performance-enhancing drugs.

According to the indictment, investigators obtained evidence that indicated Bonds, baseball’s career leader in home runs with 762, had tested positive for anabolic steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs in their Sept. 3, 2003, raid at BALCO’s Burlingame, Calif., offices and a subsequent raid on trainer Greg Anderson’s home. Bonds, however, denied knowingly using steroids when he was confronted with evidence when he testified before the grand jury on Dec. 4, 2004. . .

If convicted, Bonds faces up to 30 years in prison. He is scheduled to be arraigned Dec. 7. . .[/quote]
link

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I’m not saying he’s not guilty, but Barry will never serve one day in jail. Not one.

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Let’s wait and see…

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THE BIG QUESTION MARK

news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071214/ap_ … 7i3FwLMxIF

NEW YORK - Seven MVPs and 31 All-Stars — one for every position — and that still wasn’t the worst of it for the long-awaited Mitchell Report. That infamy belonged to Roger Clemens, the greatest pitcher of his era. The Steroids Era.

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Finally! now fire all those who lied on their contracts, and get them to pay back their ridiculous salaries (the legal precedent for that is well tested). and those who committed perjury like Barry Bonds should go to jail.

can we also test (through an independent network with sufficient teeth, and balls) football players, hockey players, hell, even golfers, pool players and NASCAR drivers? that would be most revelatory too, i assure you.

now the rest of the world can get off the back of the cyclists out there, as they will have far more muck to rake over. the only reason cycling has such a bad name WRT drug use is the fact that the UCI and other cycling authorities attempted to do something constructive about it, leading to the exposure of lots of cheats. the same situation surely exists in most professional sports, and they have been getting away wth it for too long.

drug use should be restricted to medical and recreational uses, not illegal sporting ability enhancement.

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Watershed moment… It’s not yet over. It’s just started! :bravo: :bravo:

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Mr. Bond’s in da house!
Er, the BIG house, that is!

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They’re all a bunch of pathetic liars and cheaters. :raspberry:

Hall of Shame Liar/Coward Roger Clemens with his lawyers

[quote] Roger Clemens, in heated and sometimes indignant testimony, told a House oversight committee on Wednesday that his former teammate Andy Pettitte “misremembers” two conversations they had about human growth hormone, and that he was shocked to learn later that Mr. Pettitte had used the substance himself.

Mr. Clemens testified that in those conversations with Mr. Pettitte, he was talking about his wife’s use of H.G.H. one time and on another occasion was referring to something he saw on a television show. Mr. Clemens sought to rebut Mr. Pettitte’s sworn and damaging statements to the committee that Mr. Clemens told him point blank that he had used H.G.H.

But Henry A. Waxman, the California Democrat who chairs the committee, clearly did not believe Mr. Clemens, and pointed out that Mr. Pettitte’s wife, Laura, had also given an affidavit in which she confirmed that her husband told her about his conversation with Mr. Clemens shortly after it took place. . .

Another Congressman, Elijah E. Cummings, a Democrat of Maryland, pounded Mr. Clemens over the statements Mr. Pettitte made under oath and impugned his credibility.

“Mr. Clemens, once again I remind you, you are under oath,” Mr. Cummings said. . .

Mr. Cummings returned to the same line of questioning later in the hearing and directly attacked Mr. Clemens.

“It’s hard to believe you, Sir,” he said. “I hate to say that. You’re one of my heroes, but it’s hard to believe you.”

. . . The entire hearing provided for dramatic theater. It was marked by tense and at times even awkward exchanges between the committee members, Mr. Clemens, and Brian McNamee, the former trainer who told investigators that he had injected Mr. Clemens with performance- enhancing drugs.

In three hours of testimony, Mr. Clemens and Mr. McNamee stuck to their contradictory accounts. . .

Mr. McNamee, who showed little emotion, said that he remembered injecting Mr. Clemens even more times with steroids and growth hormone than he had previously reported: at least 20 times, he said. . .[/quote]
link

Some role model. I hope he goes to jail.

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Someone probably mentioned this already, but the most likely people to go to jail are the reporters from the San Fransisco Chronicle who broke the case open through their investigative reporting.

They refuse to reveal their sources. Ironically, they received some kind of journalistic integrity award from the President and a summons the next day. The prosecutors in the case are being driven by a desire to force the courts to recognize that journalists have no special rights when it comes to protecting witnesses. This push came on the back of NSA/Teleco wire taping scandal.

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The funny, or sad, thing about the hearing yesterday was how the questioning split mostly along party lines with Dems challenging Clemens on inconsistencies between his statements and those of other witnesses and Reps focusing on McNamee’s credibility. The most extreme examples on the Reps side were Dan Burton from IN and Christopher Shays from CT.

Burton went hard after McNamee, Clemens’ former trainer and primary accuser, calling him a liar, which is kind of funny coming from a man who got his mistress pregnant while cheating on his wife. Shays kept calling McNamee a drug dealer, which seemed like a cheap shot to me. From what I’ve read and heard, McNamee did not push illegal drugs on his clients and actually tried to persuade them not to use the stuff when they asked for it. He sounds more like a guy who crossed an ethical (and legal) line in the course of running a business in order to keep his high profile and high paying customers. While he was wrong to acquire illegal drugs and inject them into his clients, it’s not like he was standing on a street corner pushing the stuff on school kids.

Clemens is a Rep and popular among the good old boy GOPers. Before the hearing, he spent a day or two in DC meeting with committee members, posing for pics, giving autographs, etc. Many of the Reps on the committee appeared to have closed ranks to protect one of “their” guys. After the hearing was finished, I noticed that 2 Reps from the committee, Tom Davis of VA and Virginia Foxx of NC, went up to Clemens and shook hands with him, his wife and lawyers. I didn’t see anyone shake hands with McNamee.

Having watched the hearing in its entirety (blizzard yesterday in ME so I got to stay home all day and watch the hearing), I believe it was impossible to walk away not convinced that Clemens is lying. Too many things stack up against him. Only a GOP good old boy (or gal in the case of Foxx) would appear to think otherwise.

:America: :unamused:

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I said it before, I’ll say it again, none of these former baseball greats will do any jail time. Bonds? Clemons? Others? I highly doubt it. Should they? That’s another question altogether.

Presidential pardon for Clemens predicted

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Oh boo hoo hoo. You’re a fucking liar and a cheater. :raspberry:

[quote]Mark McGwire, whose inflated statistics and refusal to address his past came to symbolize a synthetic era in baseball history, acknowledged on Monday that he used steroids through the 1990s. . .

McGwire has been out of baseball since retiring after the 2001 season, making few public appearances besides his infamous performance before Congress in 2005, when he dodged questions about steroid use. . .

It was an orchestrated confession by McGwire, who first released a statement to The Associated Press, then conducted one-on-one interviews with several news outlets, including The Times. He also gave his first televised interview on the subject — to Bob Costas on the MLB Network. . . [/quote]
nytimes.com/2010/01/12/sport … f=baseball

and then there’s this choice bit. . .

:roflmao: