One of my legal friends told me that perjury charges tend to be very hard to prove, since you have to prove the INTENT to lie, not just that a lie occurred. So we'll see if anything sticks.
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One of my legal friends told me that perjury charges tend to be very hard to prove, since you have to prove the INTENT to lie, not just that a lie occurred. So we'll see if anything sticks.
So, the government decided to indict the Home Run King and accuse him of lying to them. Why is it a crime to lie to an organization that grants itself a monopoly on crime in the first place (afterall, what is war but mass murder and taxation but theft on a massive scale?)? My sympathies are with King Barry in this case, rather than some prosecutor working for the crooked Federal Conviction Machine. I don't care whether he took steroids or whether he lied to the government. He has a right to his body, so he has a right to put whatever he wants in there. As for lying to the goverrnment, that is not a crime, as nobody has any responsibility to tell the truth to criminals (if a robber asks you if you have any valuables, do you have to answer honestly?).
Just a tad bit more radical than I am, but I can't exactly disagree.Quote:
Originally Posted by LLP
:)
For the sake of someone who hasn't followed the story since the begining, just what is it that Bonds' alleged steroid abuse allowed him to achieve on the playing field? Did they make his swing more accurate, or was it more like allowing him to 'play through the pain' in some way and extend his career?
There's no way to know how a player's statistics are affected by steroids.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lunch
Pure opinion.Quote:
Originally Posted by HoustonGM
Sure it is. Why don't you school us and tell us exactly how steroids affect a player, then?
:)
And note that baseball has no specific policy that anyone convicted of a crime is automatically suspended or banned. You get suspended or banned from baseball for violating the rules of baseball, not for breaking federal or state laws.Quote:
Originally Posted by HoustonGM
So you can do something that's against the law, and still play in organized baseball. For example, Ron LeFlore was convicted of armed robbery, served his time in prison, and then went on to a have a pretty successful major league career.
On the other hand, you can be suspended or banned for doing something against the rules, even if it's not against any law. Get caught throwing a spitter, and you're going to get a suspension, but you didn't break any criminal law, and the government isn't going to come after you.
As it should be. Just imagine loosing your job because you received a speeding ticket...
:eek:
From what I can tell, steroids allow two things:Quote:
Originally Posted by Lunch
1. They diminish the "recovery time" after workouts with weights. After a person works out intensely with weights, the exhaustion and fatigue can reach into the next day. Steroids supposedly cut out this exhaustion and allow you to keep lifting and lifting and lifting where a normal person would have collapsed.
Supposedly, come August, after four months of long night games, dealing with the media, airplane travel and accumulated minor injuries, most players are worn out. However, since everyone else is worn out, too, no one gains an advantage. Steroids make you feel physically just like you did during Spring Training, allowing you to bring your full skills to bear against fatigued pitchers.
2. Steroids per se don't make you stronger. However, when added to a weight training regimen, you can increase muscle mass far beyond what you could have done without steroids. (See #1, above.)
If you bulk up, you might be able to add several feet to a long fly ball with your increased power. Long fly balls become home runs.
(* * *)
At least, this is what I think steroids do for a player. They don't allow him to hit the ball more frequently, because that's due to hand-eye coordination which is not changed by steroids.
--Pet
And the increased bulk may result in a lose of agility and/or bat speed, which could offset the increase in strength.Quote:
Originally Posted by petrel
There's no way to tell what steroids do for a player's on-field performance, and if there is, I'd sure love to see it.
Real power doesn't come from strength though, it comes from hitting the ball correctly. Obviously, you need to be able to get the bat around in time to hit a major league fastball, but other then that home runs are more about hitting the sweet spot on the bat and using a proper batting stroke. At least, that's what I've read.
More importantly though, steroids are sure to directly help pitchers much more than hitters. Pitchers are constantly not only exerting pure arm strength but their also actually tearing up tissue in their arm due mostly to the mechanics of pitching.
Of course, the recovery time effects of steroids are real. That's their primary medical purpose, after all. That effect on a player surely can't be discounted.
In the end, I believe that the primary effect of steroids for baseball players is that it allows them to maintain their optimum performance level for longer periods of time. So, like you mentioned above, while most players are worn down to a nub by August, a steroid user will still be playing as though it's June.
Steroids aren't some magical substance that actually turns people super-human, especially for baseball players. The effects of steroids do nothing to help hand-eye coordination, which is a very large portion of the skill required to play baseball. As a matter of fact, there are some studies that indicate steroids could actually reduce coordination, since the muscle mass that is regenerated tends to be "slow-twitch" muscle, rather than the "fast-twitch" muscle that your body uses for reaction time.
I'm referring to HGM's statement, Lord High Protector of THE HGM. It's his opinion that there isn't any way to know blah, blah, blah, and not a fact. There are also "facts" out there that do state the ways in which a players stats are affected.Quote:
Originally Posted by ohms_law
'Roids definitely enhance muscles...but muscles don't make a better player - heck, Gabe Kapler was like a professional bodybuilder, but he was just OK in the majors. And you don't see many bodybuilders being picked up by MLB teams. There's still a huge amount that relies on talent and ability - which Bonds had long before his neck became thicker than Arnold Schwarzenegger's thigh. (or Giambi started looking more and more like a Mack truck)
It's too bad we don't know how exactly it was affected, although Clay posted some assumed stats here: http://www.sportsmogul.com/content/steroids.htm. That's probably as close to an accurate measurement as we're going to find, until the FDA team up with the Devil Rays for a clinical trial. :D It sucks not having precise measurements...but you can't just turn a blind eye to it, either, simply because no one plops down a clinical trial in front of you. Maybe it ends up hurting them stat-wise, and they just wanted the challenge. Does that make it right?
Either way, I'll pull for the guys not injecting in the locker room, thanks.
Well I see HOF voters going the same way as with Mark McGwire....they will become self righteous and not vote Barry in.