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« Sunday « December 5, 2004
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Aaron on Bonds: No matter what, 'It's wrong'
(ESPN.com)
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Hammerin' Hank Aaron: "First, since I played the game myself, I know that you can't put something in your body to make you hit a fastball, changeup or curveball," Aaron told the Journal-Constitution on Saturday. "Drugs won't help you hit the ball. But can they make you recuperate consistently enough to hit the kind of home runs that these guys are hitting?" Aaron paused, sighed and added, "Let me say this. Any way you look at it, it's wrong."This whole situation, BALCO, should be filed under "tempest in a teapot." At the end of the day, who really cares if athletes try to enhance their performance through chemicals? Isn't that what people pay to see: freakish performances beyond human limit? And aren't there more important problems in the world that need our attention, that are matters of life and death to millions upon millions?
That being said, Hank Aaron's comments hit upon what I've believed all along: steroids or not, hitting major-league pitching is a skill that doesn't depend on sheer muscular strength alone. Only a tiny fraction of humans can do it well on a consistent basis. All his career, Bonds has done it better than the best. How much of a boost could he, allegedly, have received? The MLB has a lax drug policy, so if Bonds, allegedly took steroids, he's certainly not alone.
The more troubling thing about this whole situation, and I've not heard or read a single journalist in our echo-chambered sports media bring this up: but how in the world is grand jury testimony being leaked to the media? And why isn't the media questioning the source of those leaks, and the motives of whoever is behind it? It's like the media has an axe to grind, and they're taking leaked testimony to be so-called smoking gun evidence. The MLB has a history of pitchers who doctored baseballs with grease and other substances, and batters who "modified" their bats with cork, rubberbands, and super-balls -- that is, people who actually cheated in the course of real gameplay -- so what's the big deal with someone, allegedly, polluting their body to get an edge? And if an asterisk (*) is put next to Bonds' name when he breaks Aaron's record, so what. In 10 years, no one will remember anything but the fact that he hit all those bombs.
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