There You Have It America; Bonds Didn't Knowingly Use Steroids, Now Stop Judging

You know what Barry Bonds was convicted on yesterday? For being tricky.

Good Job America way to waste everyone's time and money and let a bunch of sports columnist convict the man on hearsay.

Bond's was convicted of Obstruction of Justice, but on the other 3 counts of steroid use he was found completely innocent. Know what came out of this trial? nothing that everyone didn't know. His trainer lied to him about what he was using and he didn't know what the cream was.... good job court.

Everyone can say what they want about Barry Bonds but you can't say that he knowingly cheated the game of baseball. It's an outrage that the public is still going to convict him, that he still won't be allowed into the Hall of Fame, and that baseball as a sport are going to put up a wall during the "Steroid Era" up and not let these great players in. A damn shame.

In case you don't know Barry Bond's credentials here they are:
1. Holds record for most MVP awards (7) and consecutive MVP awards (4) (1990, 1992-93, 2001-04)
2. Holds records for most home runs in a season (73)
3. Holds records for most walks in a career (2,512)
4. Holds record for consecutive seasons with 30 homeruns (13).
5. Only player in 400 home run and 400 stolen base club
6. Only player in 500 home run and 500 stolen base club
7. 14 time all star (1990, 1992-98, 2000-04, 2007)
8. One of four players in 40-40 club (40 home runs and 40 stolen bases)
9. Holds record for most consecutive seasons with .600 slugging percentage or higher (8)
10. 5-time SF Giants Player of the Year (1998, 2001-04)
11. 14-Time All-Star (1990, 1992-98, 2000-04, 2007)
12. 7-Time Baseball America NL All-Star OF (1993, 1998, 2000-04)
13. 3-Time Major League Player of the Year (1990, 2001, 2004)
14. 3-Time Baseball America MLB Player of the Year (2001, 2003-04)
15. 8-Time Gold Glove winner for NL Outfielder (1990-94, 1996-98)
16. 12-Time Silver Slugger winner for NL Outfielder (1990-94, 1996-97, 2000-04)
17. Led the Major Leagues in home runs (1993, 2001)
18. Led the NL in batting average (2002, 2004)
19. Led the NL in on base percentage (1991-93, 1995, 2001-04, 2006)
20. Led the Major Leagues in slugging percentage (1990, 1992-93, 2001-04)
21. Led the Major Leagues in extra base hits (1992-93, 2001)
22. Led the Major Leagues in on base percentage (1992, 2001-04)
23. Led the NL in runs (1992)
24. Led the NL in RBIs (1993)
25. Led the NL in walks (1992, 1994-97, 2000-04, 2006)
26. Led the NL in intentional walks (1992-98, 2002-04, 2006)
27. Led the NL in runs created (1992-93, 2001-02, 2004)
28. Led the Major Leagues in total bases (1993, with 365)
29. Led the Major Leagues in runs created (1993, 2001-02, 2004)
30. Led the NL in games (1995)
31. Led the NL in extra base hits (1992-93, 2001)
32. Led the NL in at bats per home run (1992-93, 1996, 2000-04)
33. 3-Time NL Hank Aaron Award winner (2001-02, 2004)
34. Led the Major Leagues in batting average (2002, with .370)

Pretty fucking impressive. He's a legend to the game and the fact that John Q. Public and Baseball Writers can dismiss this trial and say petty arguments like "his head grew" or "look it him from his rookie year to the year he broke the record" are just uninformed people.

So to all the Bonds haters out there...... Suck a dick

Fisk Calls It Like He Sees It

People are going to slam McGwire for awhile, and he 100% deserves it, but I thought Fisk did a hell of a job...

"[McGwire] says, 'Well, it doesn't help eye-and-hand coordination.' Well, of course it does," Fisk told the Tribune for Wednesday's editions. "It allows you more acuity physically and mentally and optically. You are going to be stronger and you are going to be better.

"Some of these numbers that are out there are really warped. Should they be considered? You saw how McGwire was viewed in the Hall of Fame voting. If you take the length of time that [steroid users] use that stuff and subtract 15 or 20 home runs a year for those guys, where are their numbers then?"

Oh, and he doesn't stop there. He goes on to attack McGwire for saying that the PEDs did not help his home run production (the biggest piece of shit lie ever!!!)...

"That's a crock," Fisk told the Tribune. "There's a reason they call it performance-enhancing drugs. That's what it does -- performance enhancement. You can be good, but it's going to make you better. You can be average, but it is going to make you good. If you are below average, it is going to make you average. Some guys who went that route got their five-year, $35 million contracts and now are off into the sunset somewhere. Because once they can't use [steroids] anymore, they can't play anymore."

"Try having your knees operated on and catching for 30 years," Fisk added. "Do you think you feel good when you go out there? [McGwire] had to stand around and play first base. So excuuuuuse me."

Then he started after Clemens...

"The reason he got let go from the Red Sox [after the 1996 season] was because he was starting to break down," Fisk told the Tribune. "His last couple of years in Boston just weren't very productive, a la 'The Rocket.' Then all of a sudden he goes to Toronto and he wants to show somebody something. Then he gets two consecutive Cy Young Awards [in '97 and '98]. Come on, give me a bucket.

"It's obvious to players. You notice that stuff. You know how hard it is to play the game. You know how hard it is to be productive at any age, but especially at an older age. You see guys who are as productive later on as they were early [in their careers]. It offends guys that stayed clean."

Sorry about all the quotes, but they are all too classic to not put them up. I agree 100% with everything Fisk had to say, but the sad thing is there is very little you can do about it now, other then not letting it happen again. McGwire, Bonds, Sosa, are all in the record books already. I don't see the MLB having the balls to take them out, and you really can put a asterisk next to their name, because you don't really know who did and who didn't use steroids. I guess you could put it next to McGwire's name because he admitted it, but what does that do? If you did that it would just give another reason for guys like Bonds and Sosa to never admit it.

Baseball is my favorite sport right now, it is too bad that we sat back and revered something that was fake. Guys like Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth should be revered and atop the record books, but now we are stuck with talented players who may have been good enough to break these records without any help, but did it anyways (when actually the doctors should probably be the ones given credit).

It's just too bad.

Quick Thoughts on Sosa

If you were surprised then you have been living under a rock for the last 15 years. Sammy Sosa is the same as McGwire, Palmerio, Bonds, and the rest of the HR heroes of the 90's. The whole era is a joke, and to be honest I have gotten to the point where I have written off the 90's. To me it doesn't really matter they ruined all the records and it is just kind of sad for the guys who really weren't "cheating". Sosa is a piece of shit, and his legacy is now officially ruined. He was already caught with a corked bat, was part of the whole Congressional hearings fiasco, and I really don't care at all. The only thing that will be interesting is to see if people just write this off and let him in the Hall of Fame, or if he will join the rest of the disgraced and hopefully disappear from our memories over time.

The New Era In Baseball

Over the past couple of weeks the steroid controversy has been on the front page of every major paper/web site (including our own). So, maybe it is time to start looking to the future. If the steroids are really gone, and the MLB is ever going to get past this they have to focus on something new. Homerun totals are down (in terms of guys hitting 50+), and there is no signs that they will be back anytime soon. We have seen some great pitching over the past couple of years, but people seem to like offense over pitching. So, what is the "New Era" of baseball going to be??

In my opinion, it is going to be the versatile youth movement. We are seeing teams trying to get younger, and have more 5 tool players. We saw the kind of effect this can have last year when the Rays surged past the Red Sox and Yankees by being more athletic and young. Don't believe me? Here is a quick list of the players that will be making headlines for the next couple of years.

- Jimmy Rollins
- B.J. Upton
- Grady Sizemore
- Hanley Ramirez
- Matt Holliday
- Ian Kinsler
- Brandon Phillips
- Carl Crawford
- Jose B. Reyes

The list goes on and on. Gone are the days of sluggers hitting 50+ HRs, but it is being replaced by guys who could hit 30 HRs, steal 30 bases, and hit above .300. Basically... "real baseball players". There will always be a place for a big slugger, but overall teams want guys who can play the field, get on base, steal a base, and when needs still hit it out of the park. So everyone welcome to the "Versatility Era". I love it.

For the 4645756th time, Fire Bud Selig

The other day I was watching Randy Johnson's 19-strikeout game on MLB Network and the timing of the game was interesting. During the commercial breaks Bob Costas and others on the network were analyzing the Alex Rodriguez situation. While Arod didn't play in this game, he was a key component to that 1997 Mariners' parade of sluggers. As the game's greatest player is being ridiculed and lambasted on every radio and TV show as well as every type of periodical, the idea that we don't know whether Ken Griffey Jr. took steroids started to creep into our minds.

This one really hit me hard because I was a certified Griffey die-hard in the '90s (who wasn't?). There is every indication that he and other superstars were clean but we can't really be sure because of the information flow that is surging in from players. After learning Arod was on steroids we shouldn't be shocked to hear which of the other 103 players that will be named.

I don't think we can form a complete opinion on the steroids issue as a whole because we simply don't have the facts needed. Do we know definitively how long they have been around? Which players were tipped off before taking a urine sample test? What are the specific effects for each kind of drug taken?

For example, Barry Bonds was a great, Hall of Fame player prior to steroid use. Brady Anderson was a 10-15 home run lead-off hitter before his 1996 50-homer season that we all know was steroid induced. How can we quantify which steroids turned good players into great ones and decent players into all-stars?

I've had over a week since the Sports Illustrated article came out to read up on the information Arod has given us as well as look over some of the names from the Mitchell report from over a year ago. There are no consistencies when comparing the names and the eras in which players used these drugs. We know Jose Canseco was taking steroids in his MVP season of 1988, that Lenny Dykstra was taking them with the Phillies in the early 1990s, Jason Grimsley was juicing in the late '90s and a scrub like Manny Alexander somehow still batted .200 while pumping his butt full of steroids in the early 2000s. MANNY FREAKIN ALEXANDER. You know, the guy whose acne was one of the best jokes to make back in 2000.

Those names give us the full spectrum of players who have taken steroids. From an MVP to a player who was the butt of jokes in Boston for a summer. The more information that comes out, the more we should start to realize it's going to be a while before we really can define the "steroid era" and exactly who was involved.

I suppose the current question is "what now?". While we do know the game has been tarnished, it's not as if we'll stop watching. Just like my argument against the BCS, start at the top. I could go on and on about conspiracy theories that link former Brewers owner Selig and the current owners regarding who kept a blind eye toward steroids but I'll just choose to say this: fire Bud Selig.

Not only is he the worst commissioner in professional sports, he embodies everything that is wrong with baseball. Other than bringing in the wild card in 1995 he has done nothing to inspire confidence among baseball fans. Instead of declaring that the player whom he knew was taking steroids disgraced the game of baseball, Bud should have stepped down. We're going to find out how much he had to do with ushering in this now-tarnished era and he will have to pay for his decisions sooner rather than later. It will be difficult because he has the support of the owners but there will be a time where the evidence and public outcry against him are strong enough to get him out of office.