Strange Famous

Why isnt A-Rod catching the same kind of heat and bile that Bonds did?

As I understand Bonds never was actually caught, and A-Rod has been; Bonds never admitted he took juice, A-Rod has done... if A-Rod breaks the home run record will jeans makers be being his home run balls and marking them with *'s?

I would expect the New York Yankee's to drop the guy, tell him his contract isnt going to be paid out because he broke the conditions of it by being a cheat, and let him rot in the minor leagues. But I dont expect he'll get more than a slap on the wrists. So every other young player coming up will know - the best thing to do is hit the juice, because even if you get caught nothing much will happen.

I dont advocate people who break the rules of sport facing criminal charges, but I do believe that if you are proven beyond doubt to have deliberately taken performance enhancing drugs - that should be a career.

__________________
"Do not tell lies, and do not do what you hate,
for all things are plain in the sight of Heaven. For nothing
hidden will not become manifest, and nothing covered will remain
without being uncovered."

The Gospel of Thomas

djtestudo

There are several different issues here.

1) The test in question that was leaked was taken at a time when the league and players' union had agreed on a preliminary testing program; if five-percent or more of the players tested positive, there would be a real program put into place starting the following year.

However, all the tests were supposed to be anonymous and were taken without any penalty for a positive test. So, there really cannot be any penalty on Rodriguez based on the original agreement.

(The reason they weren't kept anonymous is because the federal government seized the results shortly after they were tested as part of the BALCO investigation which will lead to Bonds later on.)

2) Specifically when it comes to the Yankees, they have two reasons to not release Rodriguez (other than the obvious one: he's the best player in the sport enhanced or no). First, the positive test came from when he was with the Rangers, so unless they want to make some kind of argument that they were misled in the deal that brought him to New York (and considering they got him for next-to-nothing, they would get laughed out of the room) they have nothing to say there. Second, there have been several other players (notably Jason Giambi and Gary Sheffield) who were exposed as users during their tenure as Yankees, and instead of dumping them they were essentially embraced after their "apologies".

3) The reason Bonds is being pursued in such a manner is that he is accused of lying under oath to a federal jury during the aforementioned BALCO investigation. He also happens to be a very unsympathetic figure due to a well-known history of attitude problems, meaning there is a large percentage of the population that would like to see him get what they feel is what he deserves.

Really, it's analogous to the FBI getting a conviction on Al Capone for tax evasion over any of the more-serious crimes that he may have committed.

It's also similar to what Roger Clemens is going through.

Really, the main thing is that Rodriguez tested positive once, at a time when there was no penalty, and since has still put up the numbers of the best player in the sport without testing positive again. In addition, he still has another eight-to-ten years to show what he can do without steroids. He can still earn-back the fans.

__________________
"Final thought: I just rented Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine. Frankly, it was the worst sports movie I've ever seen."
--Peter Schmuck, The (Baltimore) Sun

Xazy

I can not speak for other areas, I knew NYC had a lot of press and news on it and no one was really looking positive on A-Rod. The gist of what I got was he would admit guilt in an interview, and people would begin to look past it, especially if the team started to win. Most columnists and sports commentators on tv all felt A-Rod was our hope that the record would be untainted like from bonds, and now with him being guilty himself that they both should be expunged. They also said it was highly unlikely.

Personally with the insane prices of baseball tickets, the baseball strike, and the steroids and lack of real crackdown or punishment for violations I do not really follow baseball anymore.

guyy

Another question is why the NFL doesn't catch more shit for steroids. A few tokens get sacrificed every season, but that's a joke. There was more fuss about Randy Moss smoking dope. I guess it's a situation like cycling where to crack down on it would mean shutting the down the whole sport.

Anormalguy

Bonds comes across as an egoistic asshole, and A-rod seems quite likeable. Fair or not, personalities play a large role in the court of public opinion.

__________________
In a society where the individual is not free to pursue the truth...there is neither progress, stability nor security.--Edward R. Murrow

Strange Famous

But cheating is cheating - whether the guy is likeable or not shouldnt have anything to do with it.

When you take juice, once you stop, you dont suddenly lose all he benefit you had from it. You dont magically lose all the extra muscle and so on.

The fact is that the years he spent cheating is still giving the guy a physical advantage. Everything A-Rod does is tainted now. Same goes for Bonds (if he ever fails or failed a test)

Yes - he is still a fantastic athlete whatever, but he's a cheat none the less.

__________________
"Do not tell lies, and do not do what you hate,
for all things are plain in the sight of Heaven. For nothing
hidden will not become manifest, and nothing covered will remain
without being uncovered."

The Gospel of Thomas

Glory's Sun

The only difference between the players is that Bonds lied to a Federal Grand Jury..

I'm just waiting to see if Selig has the balls to do anything real now.

Bear Cub

LOL, good one.

__________________
Living in the United Socialist States of America.

Jimellow

I'm curious if Alex Rodriguez could sue the person that leaked the records indicating he had used steroids. The tests were performed under the pretense of being anonymous and solely a means for getting a figure to see if testing and rules should be implemented in the future. If those results were leaked and players exposed, shouldn't the person that leaked the information be held accountable?

The tests were supposed to be anonymous, and it's my understanding that steroids weren't explicitly banned from baseball at the time of the testing, even though I'm pretty certain they are illegal in America.

The most interesting aspect of the whole story is the situation where data that is supposed to be anonymous is later leaked, and whether those exposed are to be held accountable for actions they were supposed to be exempt from, for whatever reason.

__________________
Desperation is no excuse for lowering one's standards.

djtestudo

If you can get that information out of the reporters, sure he can sue. He won't EVER get that info, though. Nor should he.

__________________
"Final thought: I just rented Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine. Frankly, it was the worst sports movie I've ever seen."
--Peter Schmuck, The (Baltimore) Sun

C4Fan

After reading through this thread I was considering posting a long, detailed reply. However, Xazy has pretty well summed it up for me. Just replace "baseball" in his quote with "sports" in my case.

Fifty, forty, thirty, even twenty years ago I was an avid sports fan and unfortunately spent a lot of time in front of the boob tube watching every important game........precious time of my life wasted.

I like to think I've grown up a bit and moved on to more important things in life.

dan