gridlore: Doug looking off camera with a grin (Bonds swing)
Douglas Berry ([personal profile] gridlore) wrote2004-03-04 01:02 pm

Steroids or Sour Grapes?

An excellent article on the steroid allegations swirling around Barry Bonds.

"There is nothing, absolutely nothing on this green earth that you can eat drink, sniff, inject or rub on yourself that can make you hit 700 home runs in the Show. That product exists only in our collective imagination, and if he did drink the spiked Kool-Aid, so to speak, this would include Bonds."

Also, see for yourself: Barry Bonds through the years.. tell me, do you suddenly see the man ballooning up?

Bonds works like Hell, and was trained by his father (a long time major league player, and his godfather, who just happens to be Willie Mays, to hit from the time he could lift a bat. Along with 658 homeruns, he's also stolen 501 bases.. something you do not do if you are packing on the muscle artificially.

Baseball is not only about strength, but about speed and skill. Bonds has all three.

[identity profile] nsingman.livejournal.com 2004-03-04 01:47 pm (UTC)(link)
Yes, but there's no reason why it couldn't be "Steroids AND Sour Grapes." Only a fool would doubt that Bonds is and always has been a terrific athlete and a dedicated professional. I don't think he's a sweetheart of a guy, but I do think that many reporters have it in for him.

However, there are many people like me who firmly believe that the visual and other evidence does indicate that he is indeed Barry Steroids. What is most disappointing about that is the fact that he didn't really need to juice. He was already Hall of Fame bound before 1999. I can't help thinking that in his desperate bid to get a World Series ring (I don't think he ever will with the Giants), and getting older and older, he decided to do whatever he could to keep playing at the level to which he was accustomed.

[identity profile] lysana.livejournal.com 2004-03-04 02:38 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm another one who sees that evidence, sad to say. His face is too puffy for the gain to be working out alone, and he didn't get those chipmunk cheeks to that level until the last six to eight years of his career. He wouldn't gain fat in his face while building muscle on his body if he did it with healthier, saner methods. And his arms jumped in size between 1998 and 2000 in a fashion too fast for mere working out.

[identity profile] sinboy.livejournal.com 2004-03-04 03:45 pm (UTC)(link)
Along with 658 homeruns, he's also stolen 501 bases.. something you do not do if you are packing on the muscle artificially.

Why not? We've had steroid enhanced sprinters get booted from the Olympics?