Until I read this excellent piece by sports columnist Dan Wetzel, I'd always thought that New York Yankees fans were the most foolish - or to be nice, most naive - fans in baseball. And, to be sure, Yankees fans have tolerated the likes of Darryl Strawberry, convicted felon, and Jason Giambi, who shoots more than the sky.
But, not even Yankees fans have yet displayed the monumental stupidity that San Francisco Giants fans have. It is inconceivable that any "star" can pump himself full of steroids, lie about it, and be welcomed back by the home crowd simply because he is at least one guaranteed home run for every home game.
Yankees fans may have given Jason Giambi, another BALCO client, a bigger round of applause than the classy Derek Jeter on Opening Day, but this is wilful ignorance. To cheer the return of Barry Bonds is impudence.
There's a reason why steroids are illegal. 'Roid rage, anyone? But even if they weren't, there is no place for drugs of any kind in professional sports. None. These guys get paid inordinate sums of money to play the same game at 25 that they did at five. The least they could do is to perform on the strength of their natural skill.
It is one thing that some members of the New York Mets (during the 2002 season) may have toked up a bit. To think that marijuana, of all drugs, could lend anything positive to a player's statistical output is a pipe dream. Smoking cannabis was clearly an extension of college-boy tomfoolery. By no means worthy of overlooking, but excusable.
Steroids are a different matter entirely. The changes they initiate in the body are more negative than positive. And the effect on one's sociability are stressed to the max. For years now, I have been an advocate for the decriminalisation of soft drugs. Hallucinogens, cocaine, heroin and anabolic steroids, with good reason, are hard drugs for which prohibition may be justified (even if the War on Drugs is a heavy-handed farce).
Article comments
1 - Bob A. Booey
I find it hard to hate Barry because, freak of science or not, he's the greatest hitter of all-time and has been the last few years. Before the steroid rumors, when he was a much smaller man, he was still a Hall of Famer with 3 MVPs under his belt.
So while there's definitely some smoke around him and his bulked-up body, he's just SO good that it's almost awe-inspiring to see what a baseball player is capable of, legally or illegally.
That is all.
2 - Matthew T. Sussman
I'm with Jayson Stark on this one:
The reality is that when Bonds took steroids, it wasn't cheating, because there was no testing and no punishment.So if you boo him, it's because you don't like that he took steroids � a perfectly valid reason.
So now rooting for Bonds or Giambi becomes a moral decision? I want no part of that.
3 - Bob A. Booey
I think if you admitted steroids, you're basically done for the Hall of Fame, as a reality.
Palmeiro's out and so's Giambi, who probably won't have the numbers anyway despite his recent resurgence. Raffy's case was worse because he was so indignant and self-righteous before Congress.
As I said a while back here, Palmeiro's numbers are VERY suspect. He was a very good singles hitter, but his power numbers took a spike exactly when Canseco alleged that he was introduced to steroids with Texas. And Raffy has the very same pattern of rapid decline that can't even be explained by age (or perhaps it can, in that steroids artificially staved off the effects of age-related decline) that his teammate Sammy Sosa evinces.
Bonds has never admitted it on the record or been proven to have used steroids, although we all sort of suspect very strongly he did.
Sosa clearly was an abuser as well, but there's no hard proof on him either. And his career is likely about over -- he'll be lucky to get a $1 million dollar deal, if not a minor-league deal to DH for some poor club next year.
That is all.
4 - Tan The Man
"The reality is that when Bonds took steroids, it wasn't cheating, because there was no testing and no punishment."
Uh, actually it is cheating, it's just not illegal.
5 - Tan The Man
Well, relatively speaking, at the time, taking steroids wasn't illegal.
6 - Anthony Grande
Babe Ruth didn't take steroids and he hit 714 home runs, something steroid Bonds can't even accomplish.
Barry Bonds is a sorry example to this great game of ours. He is a cheating, cry baby, whining, Racist and deserves to have an asterix next to his 72 home run season record.
7 - RogerMDillion
"Are Orioles fans the only ones who still care deeply about the game and its sanctity?"
what was there reaction to the alleged steroid-using, corked bat-swinging, leaving-the-stadium-before-the-game-is-over-and-lying-about-it Sosa?