Will you sign my asterisk?
The eventual finally happened and against my Nats nonetheless. I'm so angry that I can't even put together a coherent blog post. Here's some thoughts I've stolen from around the web."Bonds leaves the game immediately after getting what he wants out of it."
"Well, I guess the scalpers price for tickets to tomorrow night's game is taking a nosedive."
On quick polling, Yahoo, SI and CBS SportsLine have used the asterisk on their fronts --- ESPN and Fox (the two entities that have the basball contract, hardly a conicidence) do not.
DC Nemesis offered up this gem - "while not certain the baseball caught in the crowd tonight will probably sell for more than Aaron made in his last year - $250k in his last year"
Mrs. Expat Teacher asked me why I don't like Barry Bonds.
Here's why from the SI article -- Beginning in 1998 with injections in his buttocks of Winstrol, a powerful steroid, Barry Bonds took a wide array of performance-enhancing drugs over at least five seasons in a massive doping regimen that grew more sophisticated as the years went on, according to Game of Shadows, a book written by two San Francisco Chronicle reporters at the forefront of reporting on the BALCO steroid distribution scandal.
The authors, Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams, describe in sometimes day-to-day, drug-by-drug detail how often and how deeply Bonds engaged in the persistent doping. For instance, the authors write that by 2001, when Bonds broke Mark McGwire's single-season home-run record (70) by belting 73, Bonds was using two designer steroids referred to as the Cream and the Clear, as well as insulin, human growth hormone, testosterone decanoate (a fast-acting steroid known as Mexican beans) and trenbolone, a steroid created to improve the muscle quality of cattle.
Depending on the substance, Bonds used the drugs in virtually every conceivable form: injecting himself with a syringe or being injected by his trainer, Greg Anderson, swallowing pills, placing drops of liquid under his tongue, and, in the case of BALCO's notorious testosterone-based cream, applying it topically.
According to the book, Bonds gulped as many as 20 pills at a time and was so deeply reliant on his regimen that he ordered Anderson to start "cycles" -- a prescribed period of steroid use lasting about three weeks -- even when he was not due to begin one. Steroid users typically stop usage for a week or two periodically to allow the body to continue to produce natural testosterone; otherwise, such production diminishes or ceases with the continued introduction of synthetic forms of the muscle-building hormone.
Bonds called for the re-starting of cycles when he felt his energy and power start to drop. If Anderson told Bonds he was not due for another cycle, the authors write, Bonds would tell him, "F--- off, I'll do it myself.''
posted by Expat Teacher @ 1:09 AM
