Plausible Deniability
I have no idea what that title means, I just know it is some fancy schmancy legal term being tossed about this morning when discussing Barry Bonds and his grand jury testimony. Again for the record, there is no bigger Barry Bonds fan than myself, so my opinions may be skewed and way off base. All this “breaking news” and grand jury testimony should not be coming as a surprise to anyone. Athletes have use steroids and other performance enhancing substances since there existence, and they will continue to do so until the day they die.
Let’s take Bonds as a baseball player and examine his career. He has always been motivated by challenges. After the 1999 season (the worst of his career) and knee surgery he decided he needed to improve his condition and weight training. That off season he began a high intensity program of weights to improve his strength and bulk up his muscle mass. In 2000 he hit 49 homeruns, scored a career high 129 runs, batted .306, OBP .440 and slugged .688. This is not a year that is in question when it comes to steroids or the BALCO investigation. He was motivated to get back to being a great ballplayer after and injury. Eight years earlier he felt he was treated unfairly by the Pirates organization and set out to prove he was worth the money he was demanding. All he did that next season was hit 46 homeruns, score a career high 129 runs, drive in 123 runs, bat .336, slug .677, win the MVP and take the San Francisco Giants from 72 to 103 wins. In 1993 46 homeruns was a monumental total, remember there have been 4 teams added to Major League Baseball since then. Part of the home run boom has to be attributed to the fact that there are 20 more starting pitchers who should not even have jobs. Undoubtedly he has taken some performance enhancing drugs. I am not here to say that he is innocent and he has never done any kind of steroid. I am just saying there are a multitude of other factors that have led him to be a great baseball player. He was blessed with a great ability to hit a baseball and a strong desire to become the best that he can be. When did he start using steroids? Nobody really knows, so how can you put an aesterix or ban him from play or the hall of fame? All indications point to his “relationship” with BALCO beginning with the 2001 season. What about the 2000 season? The 1993 season and all the other seasons? Please stop saying this affects his Hall of Fame status and all this other bullshit.
Now lets discuss whether we give a shit or not? I say we as fans really don’t care. Remember, “Chicks dig the long ball.” We all love it. We stop to see home runs. When a guy hits a dinger we yell to the guy in the other room, “Hey Rafael Santana just hit one out.” We never yell, “Hey U.L. Washington just sac flied home Buddy Biancalana.” We want guys to mash the ball, we love it. The moment we stop loving it we will stop putting it in the box score, and showing it on SportsCenter. Again the Spice Girls Syndrome takes affect here. We want to stand with friends at a dinner party (not that I have ever been to a dinner party) and say, “it is wrong for these athletes to take steroids. It Gives them an unfair competitive advantage.” Yadda Yaddda Yadda. Then when you leave the dinner party and you check your fantasy stats you will yell at the computer screen because for the eighth games in a row Richie Sexson has failed to hit a home run. And please do not give me that one about morality and what are we supposed to tell the children. You know what, fuck the children. I have heard people on the radio say what are parents supposed to tell their kids. One guy wrote an email saying his son heard that Jason Giambi was a cheater so he took his poster of Giambi off the wall and came crying to his dad saying he did not want to watch baseball anymore. Great, freaking fantastic, don’t watch baseball anymore, I do not give shit, one 9 year old kid in Indiana isn’t go to take any sweat off my sack. You know what kid, Denis Leary said it best…………Life Sucks, get a fucking helmet!
Please can we stop it with all this nonesense. To me it is a total non-story. I hope they are all on steroids and cocaine and opium. I am fine with it. This will not affect baseball attendance or money making in any significant way. If MLB management thought it would hurt, they would have put an end to it a long time ago. Bud Selig doesn’t care, everyone is still making bank off of these players and this game. As long as they continue to do so the MLB drug testing policy will be as soft as the Indianapolis Colts defense.
Lastly, I do not need morality in my sports. Remember, I am they guy who thinks it is cool that Ron Artest tried to pummel as many fans as he could. I watch sports for the fun and entertainment value. And hey of some steroids can help some dude hit a ball 500 feet, and he is willing to take that health risk on behalf of entertaining the American public, then so be it. I firmly believe that any athlete who was competing at the highest level thought he could get away with it would probably try it. Willie Mays and Hank Aaron never had the chance to try it, who is to say they would not have done it had they been around in these times? Certainly not me, I have a Bachelors Degree in Communications from York College of Pennsylvania, far from what anyone would consider a smart individual. I think Larry Doby would have needles hanging out of his ass personally, if he could have the chance to hit 70 homeruns.
Barry Bonds for president and Jason Giambi for secretary of ‘Roid Rage. Bonds and Conti in ’08 BABY!!!!!!!!
Let’s take Bonds as a baseball player and examine his career. He has always been motivated by challenges. After the 1999 season (the worst of his career) and knee surgery he decided he needed to improve his condition and weight training. That off season he began a high intensity program of weights to improve his strength and bulk up his muscle mass. In 2000 he hit 49 homeruns, scored a career high 129 runs, batted .306, OBP .440 and slugged .688. This is not a year that is in question when it comes to steroids or the BALCO investigation. He was motivated to get back to being a great ballplayer after and injury. Eight years earlier he felt he was treated unfairly by the Pirates organization and set out to prove he was worth the money he was demanding. All he did that next season was hit 46 homeruns, score a career high 129 runs, drive in 123 runs, bat .336, slug .677, win the MVP and take the San Francisco Giants from 72 to 103 wins. In 1993 46 homeruns was a monumental total, remember there have been 4 teams added to Major League Baseball since then. Part of the home run boom has to be attributed to the fact that there are 20 more starting pitchers who should not even have jobs. Undoubtedly he has taken some performance enhancing drugs. I am not here to say that he is innocent and he has never done any kind of steroid. I am just saying there are a multitude of other factors that have led him to be a great baseball player. He was blessed with a great ability to hit a baseball and a strong desire to become the best that he can be. When did he start using steroids? Nobody really knows, so how can you put an aesterix or ban him from play or the hall of fame? All indications point to his “relationship” with BALCO beginning with the 2001 season. What about the 2000 season? The 1993 season and all the other seasons? Please stop saying this affects his Hall of Fame status and all this other bullshit.
Now lets discuss whether we give a shit or not? I say we as fans really don’t care. Remember, “Chicks dig the long ball.” We all love it. We stop to see home runs. When a guy hits a dinger we yell to the guy in the other room, “Hey Rafael Santana just hit one out.” We never yell, “Hey U.L. Washington just sac flied home Buddy Biancalana.” We want guys to mash the ball, we love it. The moment we stop loving it we will stop putting it in the box score, and showing it on SportsCenter. Again the Spice Girls Syndrome takes affect here. We want to stand with friends at a dinner party (not that I have ever been to a dinner party) and say, “it is wrong for these athletes to take steroids. It Gives them an unfair competitive advantage.” Yadda Yaddda Yadda. Then when you leave the dinner party and you check your fantasy stats you will yell at the computer screen because for the eighth games in a row Richie Sexson has failed to hit a home run. And please do not give me that one about morality and what are we supposed to tell the children. You know what, fuck the children. I have heard people on the radio say what are parents supposed to tell their kids. One guy wrote an email saying his son heard that Jason Giambi was a cheater so he took his poster of Giambi off the wall and came crying to his dad saying he did not want to watch baseball anymore. Great, freaking fantastic, don’t watch baseball anymore, I do not give shit, one 9 year old kid in Indiana isn’t go to take any sweat off my sack. You know what kid, Denis Leary said it best…………Life Sucks, get a fucking helmet!
Please can we stop it with all this nonesense. To me it is a total non-story. I hope they are all on steroids and cocaine and opium. I am fine with it. This will not affect baseball attendance or money making in any significant way. If MLB management thought it would hurt, they would have put an end to it a long time ago. Bud Selig doesn’t care, everyone is still making bank off of these players and this game. As long as they continue to do so the MLB drug testing policy will be as soft as the Indianapolis Colts defense.
Lastly, I do not need morality in my sports. Remember, I am they guy who thinks it is cool that Ron Artest tried to pummel as many fans as he could. I watch sports for the fun and entertainment value. And hey of some steroids can help some dude hit a ball 500 feet, and he is willing to take that health risk on behalf of entertaining the American public, then so be it. I firmly believe that any athlete who was competing at the highest level thought he could get away with it would probably try it. Willie Mays and Hank Aaron never had the chance to try it, who is to say they would not have done it had they been around in these times? Certainly not me, I have a Bachelors Degree in Communications from York College of Pennsylvania, far from what anyone would consider a smart individual. I think Larry Doby would have needles hanging out of his ass personally, if he could have the chance to hit 70 homeruns.
Barry Bonds for president and Jason Giambi for secretary of ‘Roid Rage. Bonds and Conti in ’08 BABY!!!!!!!!
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