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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
The Jim
Published Letters: 703 Editor's Choice: 9
Thanks King for this article. I was watching the love fest for Kwan last night and could not believe what i was hearing. They are talking about a person that never won the top event in there (individual) sport as an all time great. Even in team sports not winning the top event is reason not to crown the person an all time great look at Marino for example. Marino is the discussion but almost no one would put him above Elway or Montana. Everyone in the Discussion for all time greatest basketball players has won a ring same as hockey.
Some one mentioned Pete Sampras and this is an apt analogy but not the way they used it or even the way you used it King. Kwans winning of all the world championships is much like winning a ton of Aussie Opens its nice but to be an all time great in Tennis you must win Wimbledon and the US Open.
Oh and one last thing how does Christine Brennan have so many accounts? Well i actually blame her for much of this over hyping of Kwan. Brennan can not go two syllables with out mentioning Kwan and her greatness and how she can do no wrong.
Someone mentioned that the use of PED does not help the sports and here I just have to disagree. The alleged steroid use of Sammy Sosa and Mark McGuire "saved" mlb during the summer of 98. The tour is in trouble because of this issue if PED where legal no one would care. The NFL is probably a washed with PED but no one cares as seen by the total non-story of Merriman.
PED are not some magic pills that would make me into a world class athlete and the starting left fielder for the sox. They dont turn anyone into a bodybuilder over night, it is hard work in the gym that does this most steroids only allow them to recover faster to put in more hard work in the gym. And really there is not much proof that PED have a substantial effect on performance. Someone mentioned that there is not much difference from Thorpe to Arron as there has been from Arron to Bonds, this is just nonsense. The last 15 years have seen a wholesale difference in training and technology in baseball. It was not until the early 90's that year round training was widespread, the use of computers and video cameras for scouting, better nutrition plans and the list goes on. Never mind the new bats in 2000.
I find it hypocritical that we as fans want the athletes on the field as soon as possible and bemoan injuries like turf toe but then blast them for using one of the best methods for their recovery. Also, why is it that Lysik surgery and Tommy johns get a free ride both that improve performance artificially with no work on the recipients side?
Why all the insluts to women that want to get laid? Why are they vapid or bimbos or any other terms used against them.
Why dismiss the one night stand? This backlash against the sexual revoultion is kind of disturbing.
Some one earlier tried to compare what Bonds did to some golfer when there is no comparison. The golfer used an illegal piece of equipment known to be against the rules of the sport. Bonds on the other hand has never been accused of using illegal equipment he was smart and in the beginning of his monster late career run switched to the hard bat which was legal and better then ash bats. Bonds if he did use PED did it to his own body with substances that where not illegal in his sport (and not being enforced is the same as being not illegal). If you really want to compare what Bonds did to a golfer look no further then Tiger Woods who had Lasik surgery that improved his eye sight to better then nature. That is a true performance enhancement. That required no work on Tiger's part.
And to all the people that say I should read Game of Shadows i will the second you read "The Juice". For a sport where cheating is not only condoned but celebrated people sure like the view from the Ivy Tower.
To this nonsense that Bonds is some kind of late career freak. Bonds was 36 when he hit his career high number of Home Runs while Aaron was 37 years old when he hit his career high. This is definitive proof that Aaron is a cheater.
If you read Baseball Between the Numbers you would see that Bonds is the type of player that is ripe for a late career power increase. He was a balanced player that lost his speed so instead worked on his power and low and behold by going for home runs the most disciplined hitter in history is able to increase his home run numbers.
I still do not understand what it is about steroids that on face value makes them the worst thing in history. It has been repeated several times. I think throwing spits balls is many times worse then using steroids. I still don't understand why training and taking supplements is hard work but if the supplement is a steroid it is cheating? I don't get why Speed is laughed off when it has been shown to enhance performance while steroids again are somehow self-evidently worse.
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