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March 22, 2004
Juice Use: Guilty Until Proven Innocent?
Posted by Nick
Miami Herald's Dan le Batard on Bonds and the question of juice use.
What is happening to Barry Bonds and his brethren isn't fair.
Bonds' bloated face is on the cover of Sports Illustrated with an asterisk superimposed on his forehead, and this serial smearing we're doing feels myopic, bloodthirsty, irresponsible and wrong.
We don't have proof. Wouldn't you like to have some of that? We have a lot of circumstantial evidence we've made admissible in the court of public opinion, but an indictment of Bonds' trainer is not an indictment of Bonds. How does this work? Is everyone who has ever trained with indicted Greg Anderson now guilty by association? That's fair?
Comments (1)
+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Drugs/Performance Enhancers
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Nick Schulz is the Editor of Tech Central Station and has worked in media circles and the ideas industry as a writer, editor, television producer and policy analyst. His writings have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, Slate, The National Post of Canada, The Baltimore Sun, Investor's Business Daily, The Washington Times, National Review, Reason, Policy Review, and several other publications. He is also, it should be said, a rabid sports fan whose fandom is inversely proportional to his overall athletic ability.
1. Brad Hutchings on March 22, 2004 06:20 PM writes...
There is so little generally understood about body building, supplements, muscle development, nutrition, etc. by the general public. I would bet that if you asked most people what is morally wrong with steroids, they would say either "they are a shortcut" or "they are illegal".
To the first point... they are anything but a shortcut. You don't take steroids, kick back and do 12 ounce curls and become governor of California!! If anything, you put in more work and more effort to achieve greater results because you can achieve greater results. When Mark McGwire was "caught" with andro, his explanation was that it helped him recover from workouts faster so he could workout more! When my college roommate and I did leg workouts 15 years ago, we would take a couple aspirin an hour before the workout to reduce pain during the workout, enabling us to do more reps with more weight, and have less after-exercise pain. This is one of a handful of tricks that weightroom enthusiasts deploy. Where does that fit morally in the "shortcut" mindset?
To the second point... It is also illegal to run down to Mexico to purchase medication or shop mail order from Canadian pharmacies, yet countless senior citizens do those to keep their medical costs down. The particular "designer steroid" that Bonds is accused by association of using was not even banned by baseball until last week.
I would love to see a one hour "a week in the life of Barry Bonds" so people can see all the things the guy has to do just to maintain his physique while practicing and playing baseball at the extraordinary level that he plays the game. Joe Blow thinks Barry knocks down a plateful of Big Macs, takes his magic steroid pill, then slugs 400+ yard bombs. That's not how it is.
-Brad
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