Posted on 08/08/2007 5:16:12 AM PDT by governsleastgovernsbest
When New-York based 'Today' went looking for a local sports reporter to defend Barry Bonds, it didn't turn to the New York Post, whose headline this morning reads "JUNK BONDS: ‘SULTAN OF SYRINGE'. Nor was it likely that the designated hitter would be someone from the Daily News, whose back page screams "King of Shame." Instead, "Today" turned to the New York Times, and in particular to sports writer William Rhoden [pictured here with Lauer], to embrace Bonds.
'TODAY' CO-ANCHOR MATT LAUER: You've been very critical of baseball actually leading up to this milestone for the way they've been wringing their hands trying to figure out what to do with this record. Barry Bonds you wrote, quote, "he will be baseball's king, it's emperor, it's czar." How are you feeling this morning?
NYT SPORTS REPORTER WILLIAM RHODEN: I think it's a great moment, Matt. It really is. It's an historic moment. The number's there, no matter. There's going to continue to be hand-wringing, but there's no hand-wringing in the Bonds household [proving what?] . . . It's just a tremendous accomplishment . . . I don't think anyone doubts that.
View video here.
Fortunately, sports commentator Bob Costas was there to provide balance. In a July episode of the "Costas Now" HBO show he hosts, Costas' guests were Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling and chemist Patrick Arnold, both of whom expressed the opinion, in which Costas joined, that Bonds had taken steroids. Bonds replied by calling the 5' 6" Costas a "little midget man who knows (nothing) about baseball."
LAUER: You have bristled at the idea he is innocent until proven guilty.
SPORTS COMMENTATOR BOB COSTAS: This "innocent until proven guilty" is an insufferable platitude that is masquerading as high-mindedness, as if those of us who don't withhold all judgment need a remedial course in civics. First of all, this isn't a criminal case. We're not talking about depriving him of his liberty, or for that matter his livelihood. But if for the sake of argument it were a criminal case, you would have more than enough evidence not only to establish that he used performance-enhancing drugs, but to establish that he used them in copious amounts and that he wasn't just assisted but transformed as a player as a result. And you would prove that beyond any reasonable doubt.
Lauer then brought another Times reporter off the bench to bolster Rhoden, reading from an article today by NYT reporter George Vecsey, who wrote: "Nobody, and certainly not some chemist in a white smock -- swung the bat for Bonds against objects moving 80 or 90 or 100 miles an hour. He had to do that himself, with the superb reflexes he had as a cocky stripling, and the craft he acquired as a smug and enlarged elder."
This is one of the most specious arguments that has been regularly trotted out in Bonds' defense. Of course steroids don't swing the bat. But they permit the user to swing it harder, turning doubles into home runs. And Vecsey's comment begs the question: just how did Bonds become "enlarged"?
Rhoden never addressed the steroid allegations per se, offering this blanket defense, or better yet, pulling the blanket over his head.
RHODEN: Oh no, he, Matt, he's a great home-run hitter. Period. The end.
The end of what? Rhoden's credibility?
Contact Mark at mark@gunhill.net
Everybody knew that steroids were being used. For Bud Selig to act all high and mighty is laughable, and IMO, disingenuous.
Babe Ruth is still the greatest baseball player and home run hitter of them all. He hit a homer on average every 11.76 times at bat. Bonds’s average is 12.92 and Aaron’s was 16.37.
Hence, with the same number at bats (Bonds, 9774; Aaron 12,364), the Babe would have 831 homers to date versus Bonds and 1051 lifetime v. Aaron.
Oh, and how many seasons did Bonds and Aaron pitch?
I look at what a player did compared to his peers, and Ruth was head and shoulders above his comtemporaries.
As good of years that Bonds has had, he wasn’t head and shoulders above guys like Sosa and McGwire.
Their heads get bigger?
I know mine has. I’ve had to give up wearing pullovers. And I’ve NEVER used steroids. Well, there was this one time a guy rubbed some cream on my backside. But I just thought he liked me. I had NO idea. Honestly. I swear.
Of course he isn’t. Sadaharu Oh is. :)
That could be from ego.
LOL And the closet makes my suits shrink too.
Cheeks and jowls and necks, yes, that is part of the aging process. How much bigger is Bond’s head at age 22 versus 43? Do you have any measurements?
Do you have data to back up that ridiculous assertion?
Plus Ruth was a fat slob. Let’s see how the other guys do with that handicap?
Bonds is a Hall of Fame caliber player without steroids. But the man really being cheated here is Henry Aaron. He was not only was a great player, he possessed the decency and dignity that superstar athletes of today like Bonds are so sorely lacking.
I once saw Aaron play in a game at Candlestick Park. He hit a double. If he had only gotten a homer in that game, Bonds would not have passed him yet.
Dont need any, because I’m a thinker. Then again you probably think Arnold didnt take steroids.
Listen, if you want to believe that Bonds didn't use steroids, I ain't gonna bother trying to convince you otherwise. Though I find it curious to note that even Bonds apologists have switched to the "he was batting against pitchers using steroids" angle.
LOL. Maybe your head has doubled in size as well.
I didn’t state that Bonds didn’t use steroids, I just question these assertions that his head has doubled in size because of it. What medical evidence, aside from prenatal use of steroids, is there that shows that adults will increase their head size if they use steroids? How does it work? Does the cranium enlarge along with the brain? What about the size of the mandible?
Fine, question the assertions all you want. I just know that I'm not the only person to have noticed that his head looks visibly larger. Maybe it's really not, and it's just an optical illusion. Even so, I have no motive to make stuff up. His head, simply, looks freakishly large.
Let's start counting: I doubt it is a great accomplishment, Bob Costas doubts it, Curt Schilling doubts it, I suspect the Commissioner of Baseball doubts it, Hank Aaron (despite his gracious statements) certainly doubts it... you get the idea.
I'd have to say William Rhoden has a problem recognizing the obvious.
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