Bangor Daily News Community

Steroids ruin baseball; Barry Bonds took steroids; So Barry Bonds ruins baseball.

By: Zach

Barry Bonds is predicted to pass Hank Aaron’s all-time homerun record this year (on pace for the end of June actually). This could possibly be the saddest day in American baseball, a.k.a. “America’s Pastime”. It could easily be the end of baseball as we know it. It’s not that I care that much about Hank Aaron; I never saw him play; I wasn't even alive. I do feel bad for him though. Some guy comes along 30 years later to break his record. Not just any guy though; a guy who cheats. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not picking on Barry for cheating, because there are LOTS of steroid users in baseball, I pick on him because he is an arrogant, pretentious liar. I would never wish anything bad upon his life, but the best thing that could happen to baseball at this point is if Barry Bonds’ woke up one day soon with a broken femur and never played again.

These are a few quotes of his to help explain what I mean.

"Doctors ought to quit worrying about what ballplayers are taking. What players take doesn't matter. It's nobody else's business. The doctors should spend their time looking for cures for cancer. It takes more than muscles to hit homers. If all those guys were using stuff, how come they're not all hitting homers?"-- May 21, 2002 

Doctors SHOULD worry about what players take if it is giving them high blood pressure, heart damage, liver damage, and shrinking testicles. Come on, that’s their job. Their job is not limited to finding cures for cancer. The other guys ARE hitting homers, just not as many as you. So that just makes you the best steroid-using homerun hitter…Congratulations.

"No. I don't have to [use steroids]. I mean, I'm a good enough ballplayer as it is. I don't need to be any better. I can't get any better at this age."-- June 2002, in an interview on On the Record with Bob Costas

So why use steroids then?

"I never asked. When he said it was flaxseed oil, I just said, 'Whatever.' It was in the ballpark ... in front of everybody. I mean, all the reporters, my teammates, I mean they all saw it. I didn't hide it."-- Dec. 4, 2003,during grand jury testimony, according to the San Francisco Chronicle

Yeah, because flaxseed oil makes your muscles bulge and your testicles shrink. I’m pretty sure I would notice.

"What did I do? What did I do? … It's almost comical, basically. We've got alcohol that's the No. 1 killer in America, and we legalize that. You've got tobacco, No. 2 or 3 killer in America. We legalize that. There's other issues… Are you guys jealous? Are you upset? Disappointed? What? ..." Feb. 22, 2005,his first public comments after his grand jury testimony was leaked 

What did you do? You ruined “America’s Pastime” by cheating and yeah, we are disappointed and upset. Actually, obesity is now ranked as the “No. 1 killer in America”, but your point is even more irrelevant because smokers and drinkers are not cheating. It’s not healthy, but they aren’t breaking rules. You are.

"You're talking about something that wasn't even illegal at the time. All this stuff about supplements, protein shakes, whatever. Man, it's not like this is the Olympics."-- March 4, 2005

So if it were the Olympics then you wouldn’t have done steroids? Well, steroids are against the rules in the Olympics, and steroids are against the rules in Major League Baseball; what’s the difference?

"You wanted me to jump off the bridge, I finally have jumped. You wanted to bring me down, you've finally brought me and my family down. Finally done it. From everybody, all of you. So now go pick a different person. I'm done."-- March 23, 2005

If that were true, if you were done, I wouldn’t care. I care because you aren’t done; I care because you are likely to hold a record that you don’t deserve. And don’t try to make people feel guilty about how your family is being brought down. You are bringing them down. If you didn’t do steroids, it wouldn’t be that way.

Don't forget to visit http://alogicalillation.blogspot.com for other posts and discussion.