Technically, pretty much all medication could be considered (a stretch in some cases) performance enhancing in some form or fashion...
If a baseball player is on, for example, blood pressure medication, that allows him to perform in a state other than what his body would naturally be in. Or let's get picky...how about advil, aleve, or tylenol for headaches or muscle pain?
I agree with much of what has been stated as to whether or not it's a big deal that athletes are on "performance enhancers", and all sorts of things are performance inhancing; however, it is banned and it is cheating.
The argument that it doesn't help you hit the ball is not airtight by any means. Increased bat speed and improved eye sight are the primary ingredients to home runs and steroids/HGH give you that.
The statement that they (steroids) don't make you hit more homeruns, they just make you hit your homeruns further is REDICULOUS! Don't you think that it also turns warning track flyouts into homeruns or even just deep fly balls?! If one is true then the other is true.
i don't even know why i'm jumping into this. everyone will have their own opinions, even after the trial and evidence. just look at oj.
the circumstantial evidence is tough to ignore on barry. BUT i'm willing to say he's not guilty. heck, he hasn't even been charged.
my major problem is barry was a hall of fame player. no question about it. he was one of the greatest young players, along with ken griffey jr, of all time. he was an mvp with the pirates. he was an mvp with the giants.
but then something changed. his whole body type changed. that doesn't just happen naturally. sure, you get older. sure, you get a little out of shape, or you bulk up a little bit, as is the case with barry. but you don't go from being a 30-30 guy to being strictly a power hitter.
the man was special, even without the alleged steroid use. he was a .300+ hitter every year, had the power to drive the gaps and drive in runs, as well as go yard 30-40 times a year.
then, i don't even want to speculate what happened. he obviously had the money to afford whatever he wanted. and suddenly the man became unstoppable. his bat speed, which was always fast, became superhuman. and i swear he got on something to increase his eye sight. from 2000-04, nobody in the history of the game saw the baseball better than barry bonds. he's always had a great eye, but it wasn't in the same category of a ted williams or tony gwynn. but during his supreme power stretch, barry didn't see a good pitch that he didn't hit perfectly. i'm talking about, the man didn't miss a pitch.
look, nobody can argue that barry bonds is a nice guy. he's not. but you also can't argue that he's one of the most talented players ever to put on a uniform. he wanted the fame and notoriety that came with hitting home runs, and he stopped at nothing to get it. i hope he'll be able to look back on his career with pride. in his shoes, i don't know if i could. but we all have a different moral compass.
the saddest thing to me about this whole situation is, even without the alleged steroid use, he's one of the best hitters of all-time. he'd have hit 500-600 homers and have been a sure-fire first-ballot hall of famer. and if he would have just been a nice guy, he'd have been adored by baseball fans all across the country. instead, he chose to take a route where only fans in one city in america are cheering him today. to me, that's very sad.
the bold, the beautiful, theprofessor
guilty and not guilty are relative, especially when dealing with baseball rules, because for far too long baseball just stood back and watched as the sanctity of the game was called into question.
is he guilty? i don't know. i don't know what he took. balco was on the cutting edge of so many things that i don't know if any of them were illegal yet.
but that doesn't mean he didn't bend baseball's rules and he should boast about it.
the bold, the beautiful, theprofessor
His neck looks about the same too. Whereas Bond's neck seems to have vanished. He just goes from shoulders to head. Sort of like having "cankles". A-Rod appears to be legit.
If you throw out Bonds' season where he hit 73, all the other seasons seem to look nice when graphed. He should be in the high 600s to low 700s now, don't you think?
yes if they allow you to play with less pain. Here, you'll like this one, too.
Posted by Gunslinger
"The argument that it doesn't help you hit the ball is not airtight by any means. Increased bat speed and improved eye sight are the primary ingredients to home runs and steroids/HGH give you that."
How about contact lenses? Is it fair to those with 20/20 vision and no need for vision correction that others get to wear contact lenses to improve their sight, elevating them to an equal playing field as those with no sight problems? I know, I know. Contact lenses aren't illegal or banned, but I am just adding to my previous point (and trying to stir the pot). But then again, performance enhancing substances that we normally think about were not always banned now, were they. Not to mention, some people can get better than 20/20 vision with corrective lenses. How fair is that?
"cankles." Can't go wrong with a Maddenism.
As for the numbers, I think...let's assume Bonds did do steriods or something, it may have added say...100 home runs, but who could ever guess about that. Then again, his knee could have knocked him out of the game around 500.
Guess we'll never know for sure, so I say let's move on and talk about football!