Germ War wrote:I think Gareth Keenan said it best.
As I'm not convinced Bonds was the only player using performance-enhancing drugs, I don't believe his accomplishments really "stain" the game the way people believe. Does it make it right? No. But, the fact remains that the huge presence of the media in this day and age makes it easy to skew your perception of a player, rightly or wrongly, and one has to wonder how that media influence would translate in a historical context.
I'm not suggesting Barry Bonds isn't an asshole. I am suggesting that he played within the limits of the game, and if anything, the steroid scandal is baseball's fault. Barry had a competitive advantage available to him (as did any other player, if they so chose), and he took it, all within the rules and guidelines allowed by the league.
Does it diminish his achievement? Possibly. But he owns the record, and as far as I'm concerned, the steroid era was a level playing field, simply by baseball's negligence for having established rules in place.
Long story short: Fuck Bud Selig.
that essentially how i feel. i was happy for him when i saw the footage on the news last night. other people in baseball have taken and are taking performance enhancing drugs, steroidal or not.
christ. this is a society in which is it not only permissible but advocated that we use pharmaceuticals to feel better, work (ie, handle stress) better, socialize better, sleep better, fuck better, shit better, etc. why shouldn't people be allowed to use them to play a sport better? utterly hypocritical.
put an asterisk by the record. start a separate stat for before and after steroids began. no one REALLY cares. they just care that someone is so fucking good as bonds, steroids or not. someday it will come out that 40% of baseball is juicing one thing or another, steroidal or otherwise.