Idiots Write About Sports

You will not find a more sensible article about the Barry Bonds story than Joe Sheehan’s piece at Baseball Prospectus.

If you’re not a BP subscriber (shame!) you won’t be able to read it, so let me quote a key part:

That Bonds is the face of [BALCO] is fortunate for the media, which can get away with a lot more rolled eyes and lowered standards than it might otherwise. Bonds’ relationship with the media is a huge part of this story… because there’s not even a pretense of objectivity any longer… Bonds won’t provide information, so the media substitutes his disdain for it and hand-waves the rest.

The fact is, Bonds was correct in much of what he said yesterday. The media does keep running back to the same stories over and over. There are larger problems in our society than athletes using performance-enhancing drugs. Whether steroids are cheating isn’t the black-and-white question it’s been presented as, not in a game that turns a blind eye to the kind of amphetamine use baseball has seen.

…Bonds is facing these questions in part because… his grand-jury testimony, and that of others, was leaked to the media. That is the biggest crime in this situation to date, and almost no one has addressed it with the same gusto as they have the connections between Bonds and his personal trainer. Where are the investigation and the indictments for that crime?

Well, it's a self-answering question: primarily because the public loves a good story. However, it strikes me that, despite all the smoke and heat being generated by Canseco, the synopsis that I can get out of it thus far strikes me as essentially sound, to wit: winners do use drugs, steroids aren't the end of the world, and governments trying to tell you otherwise are protecting sinecures. Whether Bonds took steroids is a different question (at this point, it's almost certain he did), but even if he did, steroids won't give you the necessary hand-eye coordination to hit the ball over the fence.

The public does love a good story... of course, many atrocities are committed in the name of the will of the public. :-) I honestly see no linkage between Bonds/BALCO and the Canseco story... they are totally different worlds with only the overarching steroid issues in common. Bonds' press conference the other day would not have changed one bit (okay, except for the one question about Canseco) had Canseco said nothing.

I do take from both Canseco and BALCO that, essentially, winners AND losers take steroids. Some people apparently also don't take them, although nobody is sure who is who.

Assuming Bonds' leaked testimony is true -- and I think it is -- he clearly took "cream" and "clear" given to him by Greg Anderson, for a period during one season. Of course, this is an example of the media using that very limited admission and lumping Bonds in with other players who have admitted to ramant steroid use, which is silly.

It's funny about Bonds -- if almost everyone's using steroids, he's still far and away the best player of the era. If nobody's using steroids, he's far and away the best player of the era. So are the people who are calling for his head (and expunging of his records) basically alleging that Bonds is using steroids, but nobody else is? Hoo boy. Which takes us back to the beginning, which is the media taking Bonds apart in public because he's a prickly pear who doesn't like them.

What's sad about all this is, Bonds is clearly a special player, one of the greatest ever. And yet the conventional wisdom here will undoubtedly mute talk of his greatness. Which I think is just ridiculous. If steroids made Bonds into Superman, why aren't there any others like him?

"I do take from both Canseco and BALCO that, essentially, winners AND losers take steroids."

Remember Marvin Benard.

I'm not asking for asterisks but I just don't like Bonds. I think he's a selfish, arrogant asshole. I think that's half the reason why the media is latching on to this story. They have a chance to stick it to somebody who's treated them badly for the length of his career.

You've got every right to dislike Bonds. He is a prickly pear. And maybe worse. But I think it's more than half the reason the media is latching on to this story. I think it's 90% of the reason.

Posted by Jason at February 25, 2005 04:26 PM

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