December 03, 2004
GUEST ROOM
Hua Hsu:
"Re: Barry & The Dope: the substance in question is called 'the clear.' which, if you want to go there, seems a little fishy. as such, it seems that neither sheff nor bonds wanted to go there, so until it's proved otherwise, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. but still, guys, come on, it was called 'the clear.' as in, the coast is...
yeah, it's all rather bizarre in a way. I'm ambivalent to the larger steroid issue - the game is wacky enough these days with coors field, low mounds, etc - do steroids explain the overall boost in power numbers? bonds' hand-eye precision? how we'll probably never slash ERAs to 1968-like levels? no. to me, those who dope pay the price - if not immediately, somewhere down the line. history remembers the abusers as solitary pings - caminiti, brady anderson, canseco, etc. that's the small faith I place in things.
that said, this whole affair will only trouble me if it involves a wider swath of players. I'm willing to accept that a few enterprising sluggers put the blinders on and rubbed some not-yet-illegal cream - when mcgwire came clean on the creatine (that rhymes, by the way) I was like, Okay whatever, it's all just entertainment and artifice. if, though, it comes out that the steroid use is rampant - that all statistics, not just a few, are tainted - then that might F me up in a major way.
one last bonds thought: unless dude is cursed with Everest-sized hubris, he *probably* has not been doping the last couple of years. perhaps he did once, unknowingly, in the dark, alone, in a fit of absolute desperation, juice up. but I doubt he did last year or the year before, as that kind of flaunting of scrutiny would be awesome. and not in a good way. so hopefully this will all be resolved somehow and you won't have to turn to the archival photos of mustached eastern bloc women as explanatory tools for your kids."
Posted by Sasha at December 3, 2004 08:28 PM | TrackBack