Claims That She Would Have Won Without Steroids

Having been suspected of using performance-enhancing drugs all the way back to her high school days, it is difficult to even make a fair comparison to what Marion Jones may have been able to accomplish if she was natural. The track star - who was recently released from federal prison after serving a six-month sentence - made an appearance on “The Orpah Winfrey Show” and claimed that she would have been as successful without steroids.

Not only is that preposterous, but goes against everything that has been previously proven. Jones may regret her decision to use PEDs, but to deny what they did for her performance makes her appear even more a liar than she already has. Continue Reading »

Eight Belles’ Death, Big Brown’s Winstrol Use Polarized What was Always the ‘Norm’

On the heels of the state of New York changing its horse racing steroid policy, the upcoming Breeders’ Cup this weekend will have testing for the banned substances. The ‘Sport of Kings’ has always been accepting of the use of performance-enhancing drugs and the recent windfall attempting to connect misfortune with steroids has all of a sudden changed that method of thinking.

If anyone believes that the death of Eight Belles at the Kentucky Derby and the hoof injuries to Big Brown have anything to do with steroids, then they will probably also believe that Barry Bonds felt he was only using flaxseed oil. Horses do have unfortunate accidents on the track, some resulting in their demise. Those incidents have absolutely nothing to do with steroids. It is simply another excuse to hang something on without finding out the true cause. Continue Reading »

Players’ Union and Commissioner’s Office Reach Agreement

Now that the obvious has been admitted, will it mean that baseball’s home run king will return to the game? It was blatant that collusion took place last summer as offenses struggled and Barry Bonds was sitting home. No team had the guts to sign him or go against their brethren by doing so, even if the addition of his lefthanded power would have made a difference for a postseason berth.

If his case is proven, will that open the door for someone to give Bonds a look next spring? It will be difficult to admit a conscious group effort to keep a person out of the game and then have it happen again.

Recently, the Baseball Players’ Union has proven through evidence that teams acted in concert to leave Bonds without a job. They then reached an agreement with the commissioner’s office in delaying the filing of an official grievance, no specific date being set. One has to surmise that nothing will be done until after the World Series is completed. Continue Reading »

Family Members Feeling Heat; Trainer May Decide to Flip

It’s an old ploy, used by a number of different agencies. If you don’t care about your own freedom, then we’ll start picking on your loved ones. Maybe their well-being means more to you, and then we can finally get what we want out of you.

Greg Anderson has sat in a jail cell because he refused to testify against Barry Bonds, who has - for some reason - become John Dillinger and Al Capone rolled into one. They will stop at nothing to get the goods on baseball’s home run king, even if that means going after his mother-in-law.

Both the New York Times and San Francisco Chronicle reported that Madeline Gestas is being investigated for possible tax violations, an obvious tactic to pressure Anderson into coming clean of what he knows of Bonds’ alleged steroid use. Continue Reading »

SF Giants One Light-Hitting Bunch Without Bonds

When the calendar shows that August is closing out in one week and your team leader in home runs has 12, it’s fair to say that small-ball is your style. In San Francisco, Aaron Rowand is the only player on the roster with a double-digit total in long balls, which is not easy to do at this juncture of the season. Even players that hit one out rarely approach the 10 to 15 total. With only 71 total at the time of this writing, the Giants are on an anemic pace for production.

In 2007, Barry Bonds hit 28 home runs, leading the way by a wide margin. The next up on that team were third baseman Pedro Feliz (20) and catcher Bengie Molina (19). Rowand, who played for the Phillies a year ago, hit 27. As a team, the Giants hit 128 during Bonds’ farewell season in town. Continue Reading »

Injuries to Surprising First Place Tampa, Bombers’ OF & DH Moves Opens Up Spot for Slugger

When Barry Bonds grabbed the microphone last Saturday night during the Giants’ celebration of their former outfielders, his statement of “I haven’t retired, thank you,” should have been listened to intently as an offer for his services. The dog days of August are upon us and the races are getting tighter. With the July 31 non-waiver trading deadline behind us, it will be extremely difficult to obtain a potent bat to pad the line-up.

That is if you’re not looking at Barry Bonds as a short-term project. Down in Tampa Bay, the Rays are enjoying their finest season and current hold a three game lead over Boston in the AL East. But they have recently went through some injuries, including outfielder Carl Crawford and closer Troy Percival, two losses that may hurt them down the stretch. The Yankees are in third place and trail both the Red Sox (6.5 games) and Twins (3.5 games) in the wild card race.

It may be now or never for the Bronx Bombers, who today dumped Richie Sexson and sent down outfielder Melky Cabrera. They need to make up a lot of ground fast and their offense has been a problem all summer long. Losing Jorge Posada and Hideki Matsui for long stretches definitely made a negative impact, and a veteran bat that can reach that short right field porch at Yankee Stadium would give them a solid boost, perhaps enough to make a legitimate playoff run in the last season of the original - well, almost original - Yankee Stadium. Continue Reading »

Also-Rans Fill Out Line-Up for 50th Anniversary Celebration to Take Place on Saturday

If he accepts the invitation or not, Barry Bonds is the marquee name out of the players invited to the ceremony this weekend in San Francisco honoring Giants outfielders over their five decades on the left coast. The organization that turned their back on their best player now hold their figurative arms open for him, at least for one night.

No slight towards any of the other players, but without Bonds this is a questionable bunch. Among the invitees, Kevin Mitchell may have won an MVP, but his dominant days were short lived. Jack Clark was a very good player, but not much more than that. Dave Kingman? The ‘all-or-nothing’ slugger played in San Francisco his first four seasons, and then struck out at a remarkable rate for six other teams over 12 more campaigns following his sale to the Mets in 1977.

Mike Felder was a Giant for all of two seasons in the early nineties, Darryl Hamilton less than that. Jeffrey Leonard, while a journeyman throughout his career, at least played for the Giants for five full and two parts of seasons. If this is the best they could muster up, they may as well have skipped the whole thing. You mean they couldn’t convince Max Venable to come on down for the sake of nostalgia? Continue Reading »

Jailed Olympic Track Star Asks for Sentence to be Commuted

With two wars being fought overseas and the situation in Iran becoming even more tense, George W. Bush is quite busy during his last few months in the White House. Perhaps the last thing on his mind is to give a break to Marion Jones, the Olympic track star currently serving a six month prison sentence as part of her plea bargain. After compounding her legal problems of lying to the feds about using performance-enhancing drugs with a fraudulent check scheme, Jones’ chances for early release are not too good.

As confirmed by the Justice Department, Jones is merely one of several hundred applicants applying for sentence commutations and presidential pardons. The difference is that a pardon is an “act of forgiveness” which also removes civil liabilities, while a commutation is either a reduction or elimination of a sentence. Continue Reading »

Agent Calls it Like it is; Home Run King Offering to Play for Minimum

As the second half of the baseball season is upon us, teams that are making playoff pushes start to separate themselves from the second-division clubs. The trading deadline is still two weeks away, and general managers across the league will be adding to their cell phone bills two-fold.

There is one number that hasn’t received any calls all year, even though what waits on the other end has some attributes that fit most teams’ needs: veteran player with playoff and World Series experience; averaged 128 games the last two seasons; is a free agent and will not cost any players or prospects to acquire; will play for peanuts and…is the all-time major league baseball home run king.

With the good come the bad, and with Barry Bonds, that is no exception. Yes, anyone who signs him would be also bringing along a circus created, caused and pumped up by the media. The BALCO steroids scandal will never go away and will be magnified if Bonds ever plays again. But it is hard to argue that his bat wouldn’t be able to help at least one team out there, and since when did sports organizations put anything ahead of winning? Continue Reading »

“The Black Prince” Throws Barbs at Arnold and Weider, Steroids in Bodybuilding and Baseball

To be considered one of the pioneers and a legend in your sport is something that can never go away. Even if he never picked up a weight again, Robby Robinson would always be one of the elite bodybuilders of all time.

While most men at the age of 62 find more time to sit around than exercise and have a diet that make their doctors turn red, the man known as “The Black Prince” still busts it in the gym and has not ‘enjoyed’ as much as piece of pie in over 20 years.

Never one to not speak his mind during the ‘golden age of bodybuilding,’ Robinson still has that trait and it is part of what has made him so great while being understood in certain circles. He has his own opinion on some of the biggest names in his sport and others, like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Joe Weider, Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds. Continue Reading »