Barry Bonds and Steroids

Yanny,

I have to disagree with you here.  Bonds is getting a lot of crap because of the steriods and because of his percieved sucess because of the steroids.  The message that teenagers take from him is that use the steroids and you will be the best – certainly not the proper guidance considering the very real dangers of steroids.  For those players who take them, but do not really stand out as the best, this message is not as strong and therefore it is perhaps better to ignore them.  There are lots of cases of deaths (usually suicide as steroids can cause depression) caused by teenager steroid use.  The other side effects alone can cause lots of problems and there are possible long-term effects.  On a personal note, I had some friends in high school who used steriods heavily - roid rage is real, and at least one of these friends now has some medical problems probably because of the steroids.  This is a much bigger problem than society admits.

And I think he deserves a lot of the criticism he receives.  He is a cheater because he uses/used these drugs.  After all, Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron never took performance enhancing drug (at least as far as we know) so how many home runs would they have hit with steroids?  The statistic of more home runs by Bonds will incorrectly imply he is a better player.  Even though MLB didn’t ban the substances at the time, you cannot make a good case that steroids were ever truely ethically acceptable or on par with vitamins and excercise because of the known health risks.

Now your link pointing out the flaws of others who perhaps got away with their “cheating” or other problems is also not directly relevant to Bonds. Bad behavior should not be rewarded even if some do manage to evade consequences of their bad behavior (Mark McGuire used performance enhancing drugs, he got caught with Andro which the human body turns into a steroid, but he will get away with it).  After all, Pete Rose and Shoeless Joe Jackson are not and will not be in the hall of fame because of their gambling actions although they deserve it based on their playing abilities.