So here we are, February 28th and Barry Bond's court date is scheduled for March 2nd. Hold up, it was scheduled for March 2nd, but now there is no telling when it will happen because it has been pushed back for a time to be determined later.
What do I think about this? What does the rest of Juggernaut ENT think about this? Simple. We think it is absolutely hysterical. The score now is Barry Bonds: ALOT and the Judicial System: NOT A DAMN THING!
The funny thing about all of this is they want to prosecute him for purgery, but in the end, Bonds said he used the cream and the clear and he did it under oath. Basically he admitted to using Performance Enhancing Drugs (PEDs), he just never admitted to knowing they were PEDs. Why is that not enough for the lawyers and politicians involved in this? Why must they waste their time, not to mention our tax dollars on chasing Barry Bonds and trying to get a guilty verdict against him?
Bonds admitted under oath in 2003 that Greg Anderson administered “the Clear” and “the Cream” to him. However, those substances were not classified as illegal steroids until 2005. If they were not classified as illegal until two years after he admitted under oath and four years after the "positive" urine sample from 2001, how has he done anything wrong? Hell, A-Rod is getting off the hook for a test he took in 2003 because there was no steroid policy that year and Bonds' positive test is two years older than A-Rod's.
This is the latest sign that, after five years, millions of dollars and untold man hours, the case against Bonds is in shambles. The likelihood it can ever be put back together looks increasingly slim. While not total vindication, this is a satisfying day for Bonds. If the appeal is denied, the charges may be dropped for lack of evidence. Bonds has maintained his innocence on claims he lied under oath when he told a grand jury he never knowingly took steroids.
And then there is Greg Anderson, the type of friend we all should have on our side. Greg Anderson, who served three stints in prison totaling more than a year for refusing to speak to prosecutors. Anderson stood before Judge Susan Illston on Friday and told her he would not testify at the trial, even as she threatened to jail him for a fourth time. Man you gotta love a friend like that. A friend who is willing to go to jail over and over again to protect you. I don't care what his payoff will be when this is all over, but you gotta love the guys ability to keep his mouth shut no matter what.
Why is the government so hell bent on nailing Bonds? Almost everyone believes he took PEDs, even if he didn't know he was taking them out right. He has since been blacklisted in baseball much like the 1919 Chicago Black Sox. It's time to move on and put this to rest.
But no, Bonds broke the Home Run record and baseball, of all the sports, holds true to its records. because Bonds was taking PEDs and broke the most sacred record he has to be banished and giving the Scarlett Letter. Let's not take into account that damn near every other baseball player during Bonds playing days was doing the same thing.
No one seems interested in looking into Brady Anderson's stats. In 1995 Anderson hit 16 homeruns. then is '96 he jumped to 50. Then declined to 18 homeruns in '96. Wow, a 34homerun jump and then a 32 homerun decline and no one wants to make a stink over this? No one is chasing after McGwire or Sosa anymore either. Nope, it is all about Barry Bonds because let's face it, the media hates Bonds because he is not "media friendly." And why should he be? You would get tired of a camera or a microphone in your face each and every time you stepped out of your house, your car or the locker room.
Yes, athletes are in the lime light and they are pursued by the media, but at some point they need a break too. Peyton Manning is all over the damn television with commercials and appearances on Saturday Night Live, but in the end he still gets time alone for himself and his family. Barry never got that from day one.
Now back to stats, let's look at Barry's stats and see where the big jump first started. Up until 2001, when Barry hit his record 73 homeruns, he had hit 40+ homeruns 4 times. He hit 30+ homeruns 10 times and 20+ 13 times. In fact, Barry's worst year was his rookie year when he hit 16 homeruns in 113 games. in 1989, his fourth year in the majors, he hit 18. After hitting 73 in 2001, Bonds hit 40+ the next three years in a roll. Yes, he jumped from 49 to 73, but unlike Anderson, Bonds always put up big numbers and was always tops in homeruns.
If the feds can’t prove Bonds took illegal steroids, then they certainly can’t prove he lied when he said he didn’t knowingly take them.
All the government has left is a tape of Anderson talking about injecting something, but never mentioning steroids, and the testimony of a handful of witnesses, including an ex-girlfriend and a former business partner. Without the physical evidence, the case was weakened – which is why the government will appeal the evidentiary ruling. If the appeals court upholds Illston’s ruling, the case may be over.
This at least offers Bonds and his fans some thread of a counterargument. If the government appeal fails and the charges are dropped, Bonds never will have definitively failed a drug test nor been convicted of any crime.
It also is a terribly humiliating setback for the government and its obsession with the pursuit of drug cheats in baseball. Prosecutors long ago identified Bonds as the biggest catch. While potential perjury charges still remain with Roger Clemens, that case is alive because Clemens chose to testify in front of Congress. Maybe Clemens should have taken a page from Bonds and kept his mouth shut.
The appeal will determine the end of this story, but Friday afternoon in San Francisco, the government took a major step backward at a time when it thought it would be going in for the kill.
It's time to put this to rest and move on to the hear and now and do what you can to stop the spread of PEDs in professional sports. Leave Bonds alone and work on the 103 plus A-Rod and see what you can do to rid the game of steroids and bring back the pureness of the game. that is unlikely to happen because as long as salaries continue to increase, the need to be bigger, faster and stronger is always going to be there. Let's face it Strength + Speed + Size = Big Money and that is the bottom line of professional sports.
Instead of focusing on Bonds and the past, why don't you focus on the fact that the common man can't afford to go to a damn game anymore because tickets have gotten so ridiculous. The NFL, MLB and NBA may want to take a look at what the NHL is going through before the find themselves in the same boat. I went to Stars game recently (only because I was given free tickets) and it was worse than going to Clippers vs Grizzlies game. There was no one there. the AAC was empty and echoed like a tomb. I got to looking at the prices for tickets and when you figured the cost for a lower level seat, parking, food, drink and gas to and from the game, you had spent well over $100 bucks for one person. I don't know about you, but I am happy as can be to sit at home on my couch and watch a game in HD for free. No long line for the bathroom, all the beer and food in my fridge that I want and no idiot fan to sit next to or behind.
Then again, this is just my opinion and hell, I am entitled to it.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Friday, February 20, 2009
Steroids and Professional Sports
So I have been sitting here the past couple of weeks watching as the A-Roid, oops I mean A-Rod, story continues to unfold. It just seems there is no escaping this.
I turn on the TV and there it is.
I open the newspaper and more of it slaps me in the face.
I turn on the radio and my ears are flooded with even more.
I have heard so much about steroids, HGH and Performance Enhancing Drugs that I think I have now taken them just through osmosis.
Here is the bottom line opinion of The Oz Factor.
WHY THE HELL SHOULD I CARE?!
Bud Selig, the MLB Commissioner, didn't seem to care when Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and what seems like damn near have of the players in professional baseball were juiced up and hitting the ball further than a twin engine plane could fly. Meanwhile lining his pockets and the pockets of owners with more cash than some small third world countries. Only when Congress got bored and decided they needed something "sexy" to deal with and stepped in and started poking their noses around did Selig and the rest of baseball act as if they gave a damn.
Truth be told, they would have preferred that no one ever took notice and things were nice and covered up like they were in the "Steroid Years." baseball had just come off of a bad Labor Strike and looked as if it could do nothing to gain the trust of fans again. None the less, to the rescue came McGwire and Sosa with their historic and enhanced run at history. And the fans came back in droves. There was a line in Field of Dreams that goes, "if you build it, they will come." Baseball should take note of that line and change it just a bit to give the "Steroid years" a new slogan. It should read "If you juice, they will come."
This whole thing has gotten out of hand. our country is in financial turmoil and Congress feels it needs to focus on steroid use in baseball and a playoff system for college football. Alex Rodriguez is making up family members that bought a PED (Performance Enhancing Drug) in the Dominican and brought it back to him. Quick note to A-Roid, damn I did it again, I mean A-Rod. The drug in question has been proven not to have been sold in the Dominican over the counter during the time you stated. So what will your next excuse and cover up be?
Barry Bonds is hounded by Congress and being taken to court for purgery, yet Benito Santiago was found to have done the EXACT same thing as Bonds and yet no one seems to want to prosecute him. Last I checked, that was a violation of personal rights and falls under Selective Prosecution and this is the reason you will see Bonds walk away again and give both baseball and the legal system the middle finger as he laughs and rides off into the sunset.
We have hunger around the world, the dollar isn't worth the toilet paper we wipe our ass with, homeless families litter the streets of cities across the country and a war overseas continues to go on and yet all anyone is worried about is steroid use in baseball? What the hell has happened to this country?
Now writer's say they would welcome Alex and other admitted steroid users into the Hall of Fame, yet McGwire's votes decline each year and baseball's all-time hit leader, Pete Rose, can't get into the hall because he won't kiss Selig's ass and say "I'm Sorry," for betting on games he managed in. Meanwhile, Michael Jordan was a known gambler and some say his father was killed due to his debts. Charles Barkley is a known gambler and is treated like "one of the guys" and also gets pulled over for a DUI (give him credit though, his apology was sincere and from the heart and quite frankly, I like the guy). Michael Phelps gets busted taking hits from the bong and sponsors continue to support him. yet Bonds is the evil of all sports evils. Whatever!
Bottom line, guys used, it is no different than those in the 70s and 80s that used "greenies", "uppers" and even coke to gain an edge or some added "energy boost." Corked bats, too much pine tar, the list goes on and on with all the discrepancies that have littered baseball and those that have done it find their way into our hearts and into the Hall of Fame.
Get over it, move on with your life and let it go! it is a part of the game and it is now part of its history. Maybe next time Jose Canseco speaks, you will listen to what he has to say instead of looking at him like he was some madman just rambling on. The unfortunate fact is there will be no true way to tell who used and who didn't use in baseball and there is nothing we can do except either let it go or group anyone and everyone, no matter who there are, under the steroids umbrella and hold them all accountable and punish them all for the cheating ways of a few, or at least in the current case, the cheating ways of A-Roid (okay that's three times I am done) and 103 others yet to be named.
I turn on the TV and there it is.
I open the newspaper and more of it slaps me in the face.
I turn on the radio and my ears are flooded with even more.
I have heard so much about steroids, HGH and Performance Enhancing Drugs that I think I have now taken them just through osmosis.
Here is the bottom line opinion of The Oz Factor.
WHY THE HELL SHOULD I CARE?!
Bud Selig, the MLB Commissioner, didn't seem to care when Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and what seems like damn near have of the players in professional baseball were juiced up and hitting the ball further than a twin engine plane could fly. Meanwhile lining his pockets and the pockets of owners with more cash than some small third world countries. Only when Congress got bored and decided they needed something "sexy" to deal with and stepped in and started poking their noses around did Selig and the rest of baseball act as if they gave a damn.
Truth be told, they would have preferred that no one ever took notice and things were nice and covered up like they were in the "Steroid Years." baseball had just come off of a bad Labor Strike and looked as if it could do nothing to gain the trust of fans again. None the less, to the rescue came McGwire and Sosa with their historic and enhanced run at history. And the fans came back in droves. There was a line in Field of Dreams that goes, "if you build it, they will come." Baseball should take note of that line and change it just a bit to give the "Steroid years" a new slogan. It should read "If you juice, they will come."
This whole thing has gotten out of hand. our country is in financial turmoil and Congress feels it needs to focus on steroid use in baseball and a playoff system for college football. Alex Rodriguez is making up family members that bought a PED (Performance Enhancing Drug) in the Dominican and brought it back to him. Quick note to A-Roid, damn I did it again, I mean A-Rod. The drug in question has been proven not to have been sold in the Dominican over the counter during the time you stated. So what will your next excuse and cover up be?
Barry Bonds is hounded by Congress and being taken to court for purgery, yet Benito Santiago was found to have done the EXACT same thing as Bonds and yet no one seems to want to prosecute him. Last I checked, that was a violation of personal rights and falls under Selective Prosecution and this is the reason you will see Bonds walk away again and give both baseball and the legal system the middle finger as he laughs and rides off into the sunset.
We have hunger around the world, the dollar isn't worth the toilet paper we wipe our ass with, homeless families litter the streets of cities across the country and a war overseas continues to go on and yet all anyone is worried about is steroid use in baseball? What the hell has happened to this country?
Now writer's say they would welcome Alex and other admitted steroid users into the Hall of Fame, yet McGwire's votes decline each year and baseball's all-time hit leader, Pete Rose, can't get into the hall because he won't kiss Selig's ass and say "I'm Sorry," for betting on games he managed in. Meanwhile, Michael Jordan was a known gambler and some say his father was killed due to his debts. Charles Barkley is a known gambler and is treated like "one of the guys" and also gets pulled over for a DUI (give him credit though, his apology was sincere and from the heart and quite frankly, I like the guy). Michael Phelps gets busted taking hits from the bong and sponsors continue to support him. yet Bonds is the evil of all sports evils. Whatever!
Bottom line, guys used, it is no different than those in the 70s and 80s that used "greenies", "uppers" and even coke to gain an edge or some added "energy boost." Corked bats, too much pine tar, the list goes on and on with all the discrepancies that have littered baseball and those that have done it find their way into our hearts and into the Hall of Fame.
Get over it, move on with your life and let it go! it is a part of the game and it is now part of its history. Maybe next time Jose Canseco speaks, you will listen to what he has to say instead of looking at him like he was some madman just rambling on. The unfortunate fact is there will be no true way to tell who used and who didn't use in baseball and there is nothing we can do except either let it go or group anyone and everyone, no matter who there are, under the steroids umbrella and hold them all accountable and punish them all for the cheating ways of a few, or at least in the current case, the cheating ways of A-Roid (okay that's three times I am done) and 103 others yet to be named.
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