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December 03, 2004
And The Last Domino Falls
(CHECK THROUGHOUT THE DAY FOR UPDATES) From this morning's San Francisco Chronicle: Barry Bonds told a federal grand jury that he used a clear substance and a cream supplied by the Burlingame laboratory now enmeshed in a sports doping scandal, but he said he never thought they were steroids, The Chronicle has learned. Back on July 24, 2002, this is what I had to say: So Bonds says he uses nutritional supplements. Supplements that the experience of the IOC shows are regularly contaminated with steroids. But, like (U.S. Olympic Bobsledder Pavle) Jovanovic, Bonds, if he ever got caught, could fall back on some plausible deniability -- saying he didn't know the supplements were contaminated. Now, this comparison isn't exact, as I was referring to nutritional supplements that could be ingested like food, but the principal is much the same. I'm guessing that BALCO founder Victor Conte will simply confirm all of the details that have been revealed this week during his interview tonight on ABC's 20/20 -- a prospect that probably inspired the Chronicle to publish these stories this week. More later, as word gets around that a man who has recently been hailed as perhaps the greatest player in baseball history has been using steroids. COLLATERAL DAMAGE UPDATE: Just off the AP wire: Olympic star Marion Jones injected herself in the leg with human growth hormone while BALCO head Victor Conte watched, he told ABC News in an interview for "20/20," to be broadcast Friday. Canadian IOC member Dick Pound has always said Americans were in denial when it came to steroids use among American athletes. Looks like it's time to pay the piper. David Pinto looks at the next step in the process: Bonds isn't the only name mentioned in the article, but he is the biggest. What happens next is anyone's idea. Will Selig have the guts to ban Barry? Should he ban Barry and Giambi and Sheffield? If you suspend Bonds for a year, you pretty much finish his chance at Aaron's record. If you ban him for life, you also prevent him from breaking Babe Ruth's record for a left-hander (somehow, I think Bonds wants to pass Ruth more than he wants to pass Aaron) and you keep him out of the Hall of Fame. Does the BBWAA revoke his last three MVPs? This story is far from over. And you thought Selig had enough headaches with the Expos to D.C. vote scheduled for today. And always check in to the rolling conversation at Sportsfilter. More later. SHOULD BARRY LOSE THE RECORDS?: That's the quesiton Newsday is asking in an online poll. Currently, nearly 70 percent of those who voted think his records should be erased from the books whether he knew he was taking steroids or not. MIDDAY UPDATE: Slow Play thinks Gary Sheffield, who trained briefly with Bonds one off-season, should be lauded for the way he handled this issue: He told ESPN that he did use these things briefly, not knowing what they were, but that he takes full responsibility for his actions – that as a grown man it was his responsibility to investigate the nature of the substance. Had Barry done that – especially when it was obvious all this was going to come out anyway – he may “inoculated the jury” of public opinion to a degree and gotten a bit of a pass. I don’t know if it would have passed the laugh test, but making a voluntary admission and taking responsibility for your actions is much more admirable than being outed by a leak of a grand jury transcript. White Collar Crime Prof thinks we should be troubled by any leak when it comes to grand jury testimony. And here's Can't Stop The Bleeding: The next time a Federal grand jury asks anyone in baseball to testify, they might as well put the whole thing on Court TV and save a ton of hassle. Coach Speak looks at what might be next: I think we are witnessing the apex of the pharmacological-based doping era. I think that the revelations and admissions will continue to a point where this time will be considered a watershed moment in elite sport. Fearing detection and embarrasment, athletes, coaches and mad scientists will begin to reach into the "final frontier"- Genetic Engineering. This will be the doping program to end all doping programs. The "Uber-Athlete" will dominate. Whoever has the best molecular biologist wins. To me, that is truly scary. Right now, I really wish I had a Nick Schulz pull-quote to balance that out. And finally, for now, here's Balls, Sticks and Stuff, in a post from yesterday before the Bonds revelation: It is bad enough we have to endure the ever present Pete Rose debate, but a permanent debate on the legitimacy of the record books - and the cumulative and historic athletic ability they represent - will tarnish the sport forever. As I've written before, a sport is significantly damaged once the public routinely questions the legitimacy of what they see on the field. Barry Bonds: A Shoeless Joe Jackson for the 21st century? Maybe not if he hires Jackie Chiles.
Eric
06:49 AM
Trackback PingsTrackBack URL for this entry: CommentsHonest question, though: How much do you trust Conte? Posted by: at December 3, 2004 10:12 AM What about Giambi's MVP award that he got when Dan Patrick lobbied for him on a daily basis on his radio show at the expense of Frank Thomas???? Posted by: at December 3, 2004 11:10 AM Thanks for the link! Posted by: at December 3, 2004 11:21 AM I second David's motion! Posted by: at December 3, 2004 02:30 PM Jones is lucky- NO ONE's talking about her in this. Posted by: at December 3, 2004 03:51 PM What really pisses me off is this -- Pete Rose is banned from Baseball and Bud Selig and his chronies woudl rather reap benefits of these players steroid usage than actually hand down suspensions from Baseball or outright bans. They think gambling on baseball hurts the integrity of the game? What babout outright cheating by using perofrmance enhacers to break records? THAT is messing with the integrity of the game. Guys like BOnds, Canseco (even though he is retired), Giambi, Sheffield, and other shsould be banned from teh game in a crack down of gigantic proportions. Yes it will hur tthe game but it will also save it.... You send a message to others not to do this, and if you do you will face consequences. I'm starting to wonder if Americans understand that word any more - consequences. No one wons up to their actions anywhere..... Posted by: at December 3, 2004 04:03 PM and can my spelling get any worse? I type too damned fast and don't edit my comments :( Posted by: at December 3, 2004 08:46 PM Post a commentThanks for signing in, . (If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.) |