Letters to the Editor
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It's bigger than that...
What some of you guys don't realize is that in this global market there is a titanic struggle going on between sports to capture the hearts and minds of the next generation of the world.
Forward looking owners are branching out of local sports. The Glaser family of Tampa own the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but to most of the world they are known as the owners of Manchester United, and the scary thing is that with the Internet, satellite and so on people are paying attention. Some guys at my job who have never been outside of the US are much more likely to be talking about Wayne Rooney or Ronaldo than about any of the Bucs star players.
Sports like Rugby with its incredibly exciting, fast flowing, and extremely sporting world championsips televised worldwide recently, are also coming up to compete.
So it is no coincidence that the NFL is fighting back by taking Miami and New York right into rugby's (and soccer's) backyard in the search for expanded fan bases and the next generation of players.
This Bonds thing is horrible, horrible, horrible for baseball as a world wide product. It is like what Tiger Woods caught using an illegal ball would do to golf. It would undermine the whole concept on which the sport is marketed, the quest for records, for being better than anyone who has gone before.
It is all very well for cynical Salon readers to say "yeah, yeah, who cares?", but these Salon readers are not the world wide market. They are not the youth of tomorrow who may or may not make baseball their sport of choice.
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To: Amerigo
You said "But in as much as young people are influenced by anybody or anything, they might be influenced against using steroids when they see a big shot like Bonds in the slammer."
This is the same argument that those on the right use to rationalize laws against marijuana, prostitution, "obscenity", Janet Jackson's nipple, etc. It is just as repugnant coming from a hard core Salon reader as it is coming from Edwin Meese III.
Putting Barry Bonds in a cell that could be holding a rapist or a murderer is just dumb, regardless of the rationalization used to get there.
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Perjury.....LOL
This very day (and any other day) in every city, county, state, and federal courtroom in America, in all contested cases, criminal or civil, one or the other or both sides are lying.
How many people are currently in jail in America for perjury?
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Deterrence
This is the same argument that those on the right use to rationalize laws against marijuana, prostitution...
I would say it works. Most men in the United States avoid using prostitutes, because the embarrassment of being caught would be so humilating as to destroy their lives and probably lose their jobs.
Of course an awful lot of people use marijuana, but then there are an awful lot of people who don't and I am sure that some of them have been scared off by thinking about the consequences of being caught.
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Barry's busted, but apparently steriods aren't that bad for us
Check out this interview with a Tufts professor who has reviewed the scientific literature and believes steroids really aren't that bad for us. Brook Silva-Braga recently interviewed him on theinterviewpoint.com, a newly launched online video news source that features interviews with high-profile newsmakers, politicians, artists, muscians, etc.
http://www.theinterviewpoint.com/ITP/Interviews/44CDF341-1DE2-41AA-9FF0-50622222B04F.html
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Bonds
Very few people can turn on a ball like Mr. Bonds could. Very few people can drive a ball oppo like Mr. Bonds could. No one has ever combined discipline and power like Mr. Bonds has. There were about 4 years when 90% of his at bats were on sports center. Quite a spectacle. I was/am a lefty hitter. I know how tough it is to take that inside pitch, crush it, and have it stay fair (they like to hook). Barry was better than anyone at that. It's about keeping your hands inside the ball, and his hands were so fast, he could do it. And, with the help of steroids, he could do it and drop 475' jacks right down the line. (not to say he couldn't before steroids, but, as he aged, they certainly helped)
I guess if you lie under oath, you deserve jail. But I'm a little uneasy about this. It was a witch hunt, on Halloween. Tons of guys did it. Barry's problem was that he was already at the top of the game. Fans are more accepting of the middling pitcher who shoots some deca now and then, or the backup catcher who wants some bulk. But, when you are as gifted as Barry Bonds, supposedly as good as a natural human can be - and THEN you juice, we're not so forgiving. Actually, we are, as long as you don't break Hank Aaron's record.
King: I'm not sure about your Rose reference. Maybe the world outside of the 513 always thought Rose was a sleazeball who bet on baseball games. But inside the 513, Rose was an open textbook on how to play baseball, and a sketch of how to not behave. (a real sleazeball would bet against his team. Rose bet for the Reds EVERY time he bet. Call him what you will, stupid, foolish, whatever, I like where his heart was)
Bonds, on the other hand will be remembered as the Greatest Cheater to ever play a professional sport in the United States.
Ken Griffey Jr: Now THAT'S how you're supposed to be an arrogant homerun hitter.
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Let's count...
How many people are currently in jail in America for perjury?
Well, we know Scooter Libby isn't.
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To Amerigo again
Are you serious? A lot of things work. That doesn't make them good ideas.
Cutting off the hands of thieves seems to work, do you want to do that, too?
We can stop boys and girls from masturbating if we attach implements to the wrists that make it impossible for them to stimulate themselves. Should we do that, too?
We can prevent drunk driving if we eliminate cars, are you for that?
I am just following your line of reasoning. See how silly it is?