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Baseball Bats for the Professional and Amateur
From the time small children are old enough to hold a baseball bat many have longed to be part of the great American pastime. Baseball bats have been around ever since the game was created and there are baseball museums that have collections of...
Dark Ages: History of the Negro Leagues in America
The sport of baseball is often referred to as the "national pastime." For years it has played an important role in many people's lives, providing heroes and idols for millions of children and providing numerous memories of "spring eternal" for many...
Pedro, Beltran, and the Mets as seen by one true Yankee Fan:
Pedro, Beltran, and the Mets as seen by one true Yankee Fan: It was the middle of the NFL playoffs, and what has grabbed the interest of many sports fans has been the off-season maneuvering and acquisitions of the Mets and Yankees. In the...
Start your own baseball fantasy league
Over the last ten years there has been an incredible increase in
people participating in baseball fantasy leagues, and fantasy
sports in general. There is really only one rule for those
involved, and that is they must have a real and ongoing...
The Best Golf Exercises Are Very Simple
The best golf exercises are not complicated; you don’t need to be a member of a gym; and you don’t need thousands of dollars in equipment. Yes…there are new golf fitness machines coming out in the market that look respectable, but they want an...
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Making Bonds: The Steroid Scandal
Public opinion these days seems to be swaying towards an acceptance of steroid use in baseball. People are not asking so much about if it is being done, but rather how can you actually prove it. There is very little debate over the consequences of being found out, this is a sport where statistics are king. For the baseball enthusiasts, numbers like 500, 30-30, 50-50, .300, .400 need no additional information. We all know what they mean, and their significance is based on the premise of fair play. Barry Bonds, the media’s favourite whipping boy, is at the center of this controversy, even if the recent hearing on this matter excluded him. Barry Bonds has not only broken McGuire’s single season record, but he is about 1 juiced season away from becoming the all-time leader. There were allegations and positive tests before, in newspapers and on television, but these rumours turned into air after a few days since it was not considered cool to go after Sosa and McGuire during their historic Maris-breaking single season event.
McGuire himself is in the best position. He was only caught taking Andro, a substance that was banned after the fact. He has been out of baseball now for a few years, and there is virtually no way to do any kind of testing that would conclusively prove he was juiced during his Hall of Fame making seasons. Voters who choose not to select into the Hall of Fame will be doing so simply out of principal. In fact, if McGuire was part of an ethnic minority, he could easily gain instance entrance if he publicized the fact that the bias would be based on race. Bonds pulls the race card on a daily basis, not caring that his personality makes him hated by people of all colors. To me, there have been some really sad events that have happened as a result of all this:
•Politicians using the scandal to get their faces on the camera so that they can spout
written speeches about the state of the game, and even more useless, asking the players ridiculous questions that they are in no position to answer
•Jose Canseco reversing position on his position on steroids in athletics, when he was caught advising a parent on how and when to use them doing on of his book signing tours.
•Politicians blasting Canseco when they used the popularity of his book to get a hearing to discuss the issues he resurfaced.
•Curt Schilling throwing curveballs himself, as he changes positions before, during and again after the hearings.
•People who actually believe that an organisation like MLB, led by a man like Bud Selig, cares enough about the integrity of the game, and the quality of health of not enough his players, but society as a whole, that he would seriously admit he was late in reacting to a reasonable threat of steroid use in the game, and would take appropriate corrective measures.
All MLB players, including Barry Bonds, have the right to be innocent until proven guilty, and should only be judged by the guidelines set by the sport at that time. While taking certain performance enhancing drugs in illegal, there are still natural supplements used by players to get an edge over the competition. Until either Baseball gets serious about it’s testing policy, or a player is caught, players need to be given the benefit of the doubt and accorded all the privileges and awards that he is deserving of. Maybe Bonds is taking time off now, not only to heal from his injuries, but to avoid any testing the new policy would make his submit to. Who knows? But at his age, if he does not come back soon, and steroid free, he will never be the Home Run King and that would be punishment enough for him, given the circumstances
About the Author
Gary Whittaker is the editor of http://www.tenwebzine.com, a webzine with balls!
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