Look folks, I think steriods are ridiculous, I think it's clearly cheating, I think that any athlete who uses them should be banned from their sport. I think it's bullshit that Barry gets to be in the record book ahead of Ruth and Aaron. But since we all turned a blind eye to the issue, can we really lead a push to ban Bonds from the Hall of Fame now?
There's no way that a man goes from looking like this in the prime of his life (1990, when he was 26)
to looking like this when he's in his 40's without a lot of artificial improvement 
.Can you really look at this Sports Illustrated photo essay and not think that clearly the man was on steriods? Forget the drug tests (which, recent evidence shows, are very uneffective), forget any open admission from Barry... the proof is in the photographic pudding. The proof is in the numbers.
Barry is a jerk, which makes it even easier to cheer for his downfall. But even if the man were a saint on every other level, he'd still be a freaking cheater. It's time to admit that and move on.
Should he go in the Hall of Fame? Maybe. His numbers were good enough before. But if Pete Rose can't go in, why should Barry? Even if Barry gets in, you have GOT to caveat the record books with an asterix explaining that he's only #1 because he used steriods. And if you do that, you're gonna have to do that for Sosa and McGwire and maybe dozens more in the future.
Baseball needs to make a firm stand now and establish a hardline policy regarding performance enhancing drugs. They need to establish rules about how users may or may not be recognized in the HoF if there's credible evidence that they cheated.
*Sigh*...this is why I never watch baseball anymore.
Posts
0 comments: