barry bonds

It is said that if a man lives long enough, he gets the face he deserves. Barry Bonds got his. It's a damned big face, too, Buddha-esque. Shaped, perhaps, by human growth hormone. Or something pharmaceutical. It seemed only a matter of time before people who knew a lot about BB and didnt especially like him would start talking. Now, they have, and what has emerged in a new book, excerpted this week in sports illustrated, isnt pretty. In short, everything you thought you knew about Bonds was right. The book, apparently, is impeccably researched and documented. The authors say Bonds started juicing in 1999, partly as a reaction to Mark McGwire's andro-enhanced power and notoriety. Here's my take:
Bonds cannot be found guilty for anything he did before baseball outlawed (sort of) steroids. That is, anything he did before the deal the players union struck with Baseball shouldnt be considered tainted. It might have been unethical, scandalous and against the spirit of the rules. It wasnt against the letter of the law, because there was no law. Of course, Bonds broke the law of the land (steroids are illegal w/o a prescription) and you could argue he broke the trust athletes have w/fans, if you believe such a trust exists. But what he did before the agreement was perfectly w/in the rules of the game... Bonds might be a lout and a boor, but he's still a Hall of Famer, same as Mac and Sosa, distasteful as that might seem... as for all the older generation players who will whine, they should ask themselves how their games might have suffered were it not for amphetamines... how many sunday day games might some have missed w/o the little green pill to wake them up after saturday night? Greenies were more prevalent than 'roids... you can boo Bonds, ignore Bonds and call him a cheat... but dont make it retroactive beyond the deal...Live big (naturally)...DOC