University Network

In the government’s efforts to stop illegal steroid use and distribution, there have been many big names tainted probably permanently. This is what Bruce Jenkins expressed in his article which was mainly about Barry Bonds and the effect that the whole anabolic steroids scandal had on him. Whatever the outcome of the trial may be, Bonds will never have that shot in the Hall of Fame nor will he be treated with the same respect he used to have. Jenkins pointed out that if it was strictly steroid abuse that the feds were after, Bonds would have been just as accountable as the other athletes. But what made him stand out is his loud manner on top of his amazing skills as a baseball player.

From The San Francisco Gate:

People seem to forget the climate of the times, particularly the winter of 2000-01, during which prosecutors contend that Bonds (about to set the single-season home run record) tested positive twice for steroids. The players universally believed that everything was cool, that Major League Baseball wasn’t at all interested in enforcement (and it wasn’t), that they could get away with any foray into the world of performance-enhancing drugs, and that they indulged themselves by the hundreds. Bonds is on trial for perjury, but that’s just a technicality against the feds’ underlying purpose of bringing down the face of the Steroid Era, a man whose relentless arrogance bugged the hell out of them.

If someone should be held liable, it should be Commissioner Bud Selig who lied about not being aware of steroid use in baseball until mid-1998. This was even though he and everyone else knew about the accusation that Jose Canseco had been using performance enhancing drugs several years earlier. Amidst this, it is Bonds who is paying the price more than anyone else. The name he has worked hard to establish will be in ruin as the issue of steroids use will be pinned to his very identity for years to come. That is a worse punishment than being thrown into jail.

Category: Anabolic Steroids | Tags: Barry Bonds, Bud Selig, Major League Baseball, performance enhancing drugs, steroids