Detailed story on his steroid use. This could be the straw that breaks the camel back.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/baseball/mlb/03/06/news.excerpt/index.html

The quotes are interesting too. He basically dodges around all the questions, never saying he didn't take them directly.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/baseball/mlb/03/06/bonds.quotes/index.html

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/baseball/mlb/03/06/news.excerpt/index.html


Bonds exposed
Shadows details superstar slugger's steroid use

NEW YORK (SI.com) -- Beginning in 1998 with injections in his buttocks of Winstrol, a powerful steroid, Barry Bonds took a wide array of performance-enhancing drugs over at least five seasons in a massive doping regimen that grew more sophisticated as the years went on, according to Game of Shadows, a book written by two San Francisco Chronicle reporters at the forefront of reporting on the BALCO steroid distribution scandal.

(An excerpt of Game of Shadows that details Bonds' steroid use appears exclusively in the March 13 issue of Sports Illustrated, which is available on newsstands beginning on Wednesday. The book's publication date is March 27.)

The authors, Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams, describe in sometimes day-to-day, drug-by-drug detail how often and how deeply Bonds engaged in the persistent doping. For instance, the authors write that by 2001, when Bonds broke Mark McGwire's single-season home-run record (70) by belting 73, Bonds was using two designer steroids referred to as the Cream and the Clear, as well as insulin, human growth hormone, testosterone decanoate (a fast-acting steroid known as Mexican beans) and trenbolone, a steroid created to improve the muscle quality of cattle.

BALCO tracked Bonds' usage with doping calendars and folders -- detailing drugs, quantities, intervals and Bonds' testosterone levels -- that wound up in the hands of federal agents upon their Sept. 3, 2003 raid of the Burlingame, Calif., business.

Depending on the substance, Bonds used the drugs in virtually every conceivable form: injecting himself with a syringe or being injected by his trainer, Greg Anderson, swallowing pills, placing drops of liquid under his tongue, and, in the case of BALCO's notorious testosterone-based cream, applying it topically.
According to the book, Bonds gulped as many as 20 pills at a time and was so deeply reliant on his regimen that he ordered Anderson to start "cycles" -- a prescribed period of steroid use lasting about three weeks -- even when he was not due to begin one. Steroid users typically stop usage for a week or two periodically to allow the body to continue to produce natural testosterone; otherwise, such production diminishes or ceases with the continued introduction of synthetic forms of the muscle-building hormone.

Bonds called for the re-starting of cycles when he felt his energy and power start to drop. If Anderson told Bonds he was not due for another cycle, the authors write, Bonds would tell him, "F--- off, I'll do it myself.''

When informed of the book this morning and asked if he was concerned about it, Bonds told a group of reporters gathered around his locker, "Nope. I won't even look at it [the book]. For what? I won't even look at it. There's no need to." He then walked away.

The authors compiled the information over a two-year investigation that included, but was not limited to, court documents, affidavits filed by BALCO investigators, confidential memoranda of federal agents (including statements made to them by athletes and trainers), grand jury testimony, audiotapes and interviews with more than 200 sources. Some of the information previously was reported by the authors in the Chronicle. Some of the information is new. For instance, in an extensive note on sourcing, the authors said memos detailing statements by BALCO owner Victor Conte, vice president James Valente and Anderson to IRS special agent Jeff Novitzky were sealed when they first consulted them, but have been unsealed since.

The preponderance of evidence is by far the most detailed and damning condemnation that Bonds, formerly a sleek five-tool player, built himself into a hulking, record-setting home run hitter at an advanced baseball age with a cornucopia of elaborate, illegally-administered chemicals. Through 1998, for instance, when he turned 34, Bonds averaged one home run every 16.1 at bats. Since then -- what the authors identify as the start of his doping regimen -- Bonds has hit home runs nearly twice as frequently (one every 8.5 at bats).
The authors describe how Bonds turned to steroids after the 1998 season because he was jealous of McGwire. Bonds hit 37 home runs in '98 -- a nice total and the fourth most of his career at that point -- but he was ignored by fans and the media who were captivated by McGwire's 70 home runs and his duel for the record with Sammy Sosa, who hit 66 that year.

According to the book, Bonds, in comments to his mistress, Kimberly Bell, often dismissed McGwire with racially-charged remarks such as, "They're just letting him do it because he's a white boy." But Bonds looked at McGwire and his hulking physique and decided he needed to dramatically increase his muscle mass to compete with him.

It was immediately after that 1998 season, the book said, that Bonds hooked up with Anderson, a gym rat known to obtain steroids and growth hormone from AIDS patients in San Francisco who were legally prescribed the drugs but sold them to make money. The authors write that the San Francisco Giants, Bonds' employer, would later discover through a background check that Anderson was connected to a gym that was known as a place to score steroids and that he was rumored to be a dealer. Yet the Giants -- who didn't want to upset their superstar -- continued to allow Anderson free reign about their ballpark and inside their clubhouse.

The authors write that Anderson started Bonds on Winstrol, also known as stanozolol, the longtime favorite steroid of bodybuilders, disgraced sprinter Ben Johnson and baseball player Rafael Palmeiro. In 100 days, Bonds packed on 15 pounds of muscle, and at age 35 hit home runs at the best rate of his career, once every 10.4 at bats. But he also grew too big, too fast. He tore his triceps tendon, telling Bell that the steroids "makes me grow faster, but if you're not careful, you can blow it out."

The book said Anderson and Bonds subsequently tweaked the program, adding such drugs as the steroid Deca-Durabolin and growth hormone, which allowed Bonds to retain his energy and physique without rigorous training. Not only did the growth hormone keep him fresh, but after complaining in 1999 about difficulty tracking pitches, he noticed it improved his eyesight as well.

Bonds added more drugs after the 2000 season, when Anderson hooked up Bonds with BALCO and its founder, Conte, according to the authors. In addition to the Cream and the Clear, the steroids designed to be undetectable, Bonds took such drugs as Clomid, a women's infertility drug thought to help a steroid user recover his natural testosterone production, and Modafinil, a narcolepsy drug used as a powerful stimulant.

Whereas Anderson's drug acumen had been forged in the gym culture, Conte and his chemists brought Bonds to another level of sophistication, by prescribing him elaborate cocktails of drugs designed to be even more effective and undetectable. For instance, the authors write that in 2002, when Bonds won his fifth MVP Award and had a .700 on-base percentage in the World Series, he was fueled by meticulous three-week cycles in which he injected growth hormone every other day, took the Cream and the Clear in the days in between, and capped the cycle with Clomid. The cycle was followed by one week off. The authors write that Anderson usually administered the drugs to Bonds at Bonds' home, using a needle to inject the growth hormone and a syringe without a needle to squirt the Clear under his tongue.

In addition to detailing the drug usage, the excerpt portrays Bonds as a menacing boor, a tax cheat and an adulterer given to (probably because of the rampant steroid use) sexual dysfunction, hair loss and wild mood swings that included periods of rage. The authors report that Bonds gave Bell, with whom he continued his affair after his second marriage in January 1998, $80,000 in cash in 2001 from memorabilia income not reported to the IRS. Theirs was a volatile relationship. Bell retained answering machine recordings of him after he threatened to kill her, remarking that if she disappeared no one would be able to prove he even knew her.
In 2003, as their relationship completely unraveled, Bell angered Bonds by showing up late for a hotel rendezvous. According to the excerpt, Bonds put his hand around her throat, pressed her against a wall and whispered, "If you ever f-----' pull some s--- like that again I'll kill you, do you understand me?"
A few weeks later, the authors write, Bonds told Bell, "You need to disappear."

In secret grand jury testimony obtained by the authors, Bonds testified that he did not know what the substances were that Anderson gave him and he put in his body, saying at one point, "It's like, 'Whatever, dude.'" Bonds testified under a grant of immunity, though he was told the immunity did not extend to perjury.

Bonds begins this season with 708 home runs, seven short of passing Babe Ruth for second on the all-time list and 48 from surpassing Hank Aaron as the all-time leader. Three knee surgeries limited Bonds to 14 games last season, have reduced his mobility and left in question his fitness for regular duty this year.

In October, Conte was sentenced to four months in prison and four months of home confinement as part of a plea deal with prosecutors. Anderson pled guilty to money laundering and a steroid distribution charge. He was sentenced to three months in prison and three months of home confinement. Valente pled guilty to reduced charges of steroid distribution and was sentenced to probation.

As a fan of Barry Bonds, I hate to believe it. But then again, how can you not?

As a fan of Barry Bonds, I hate to believe it. But then again, how can you not?

I hate to believe that.

I'm a HUGE Bonds fan, and I can't even deny he's on the juice. No way a 35 year old guy gains that much mass without using something.

And man, it must suck injecting roids in your ass.

As a fan of Barry Bonds, I hate to believe it. But then again, how can you not?

I hate to believe that.


Why, even before the roids, he was a hell of a ball player.

He went from a 5 Tool player pre-roids to just a Tool on-roids

As a fan of Barry Bonds, I hate to believe it. But then again, how can you not?

I hate to believe that.


Why, even before the roids, he was a hell of a ball player.

Terrell Owens is a hell of a ball player too. Doesn't mean I like them. I don't like jackass players, period.

There's a difference between being a jackass and having an opinion that's different.

As a fan of Barry Bonds, I hate to believe it. But then again, how can you not?

I hate to believe that.


Why, even before the roids, he was a hell of a ball player.

Terrell Owens is a hell of a ball player too. Doesn't mean I like them. I don't like jackass players, period.

So what if Bonds is a jackass twards fans and Media. Thats his choice.
I'd probably do the same if I were in his shoes.
I dunno, I always root for the bad guy anyways. Barry Bonds is hated by many, so he's almost automaticly loved by me.

Here's my take on this:

Bonds is an asshole, period. However, the media is way too into this whole steriod era. The plain and simple fact is that steriods weren't illegal for baseball players. They didn't test for them, so they were allowed to use them. Obviously this gave them an edge. Was it cheating? Sure. But you tell me that if you're a lifetime minor leaguer, really with no hopes of making it to the show, that you wouldn't try the juice.

What Bonds did was no different than that. His reasoning sucked and he is a sleaze for doing it, basically saying he was jealous of McGuire and Sosa.

I'm not a Bonds fan, even though I used to be in the early 90s. What he did was stupid, but it wasn't outlawed. There is too much blame being placed on the players. SELIG NEEDS TO BE PUSHED OUT OF OFFICE. He is the one who tarnished Major League Baseball. Without making 'roids illegal, this was bound to happen. Now that people find out it did happen, they're all of the sudden shocked? Give me a fucking break.

Bonds just tried to gain the edge, just like a lot of players would have done and have done. It's not right, but at the time it wasn't wrong.

Here's my take on this:

Bonds is an asshole, period. However, the media is way too into this whole steriod era. The plain and simple fact is that steriods weren't illegal for baseball players. They didn't test for them, so they were allowed to use them.

I have a stupid question, but aren't using unprescribed steriods illegal in the U.S. for everybody? (I really don't know the answer to that, but I think they are). If they are, then I don't see why baseball needed to have a rule outlawing them if they are already illegal. I mean, murder isn't legal, but does baseball have a rule against that? (Extreme example, I know)

I knew someone was going to go there. Yes, you are correct, HOWEVER, they're not exactly crack cocaine or a hard drug. Steroids is something that's illegal, but unless you test for them you would never know if someone is on them.

I said it was cheating, but if you're not going to get caught why not keep doing it? All the sudden you're the home run king, and no one can catch you.

Selig just decided to look the other way. He knew his players were on roids. But if home runs are good for the game, who cares?

Here's my take on this:

Bonds is an asshole, period. However, the media is way too into this whole steriod era. The plain and simple fact is that steriods weren't illegal for baseball players. They didn't test for them, so they were allowed to use them.

I have a stupid question, but aren't using unprescribed steriods illegal in the U.S. for everybody? (I really don't know the answer to that, but I think they are). If they are, then I don't see why baseball needed to have a rule outlawing them if they are already illegal. I mean, murder isn't legal, but does baseball have a rule against that? (Extreme example, I know)

marijuana isnt legal but i dont see anyone going to the penn over a joint. [smilie=antlers.gif]

Here's my take on this:

Bonds is an asshole, period. However, the media is way too into this whole steriod era. The plain and simple fact is that steriods weren't illegal for baseball players. They didn't test for them, so they were allowed to use them.

I have a stupid question, but aren't using unprescribed steriods illegal in the U.S. for everybody? (I really don't know the answer to that, but I think they are). If they are, then I don't see why baseball needed to have a rule outlawing them if they are already illegal. I mean, murder isn't legal, but does baseball have a rule against that? (Extreme example, I know)

marijuana isnt legal but i dont see anyone going to the penn over a joint. [smilie=antlers.gif]

Visit the 'burbes more often then.

Here's a Follow-Up:


Barry Bonds Took Steroids, Reports Everyone Who Has Ever Watched Baseball
March 9, 2006 | Sports

SAN FRANCISCO—With the publication of a book detailing steroid use by San Francisco Giants superstar Barry Bonds, two San Francisco Chronicle reporters have corroborated the claims of Bonds' steroid abuse made by every single person who has watched or even loosely followed the game of baseball over the past five years.


In Game Of Shadows, an excerpt of which appeared in Sports Illustrated Wednesday, authors Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams claim that more than a dozen people close to Bonds had either been directly informed that Bonds was using banned substances or had in fact seen him taking the drugs with their own eyes. In addition to those witnesses, nearly 250 million other individuals nationwide had instantly realized that Bonds was using banned substances after observing his transformation from lanky speedster to hulking behemoth with their own eyes.

According to hundreds of thousands of reports coming out of every city in the U.S., Bonds' steroid use has been widely reported and well-documented for years, with sports columnists, bloggers, people attending baseball games, memorabilia collectors, major ballpark popcorn and peanut vendors, groundskeepers, roommates, significant others, fathers-in-law, next-door neighbors, fellow fitness club members, bartenders, mailmen, coworkers, teachers, doormen, parking-lot attendants, fellow elevator passengers, Home Depot clerks, servicemen and women serving in Iraq, former baseball players, Congressmen, second-tier stand-up comics, Sports Illustrated's Rick Reilly, and random passersby all having stated at some point in the last five years that Bonds was obviously taking some sort of performance-enhancing drugs.

Many of those eyewitnesses came forward following Wednesday's revelation with their own accounts of Bonds' seven-year history of steroid use.

"I originally heard that Barry Bonds was on steroids during a Giants game in 2001, when my buddy Phil, who was on the couch next to me, said, 'Dude, that Barry Bonds guy is definitely on steroids,'" said Chicago resident Mitch Oliveras. "After 10 seconds of careful observation, and performing a brief comparison of Bonds' present neck width with that on Phil's old 1986 Bonds rookie card, I was convinced."

"I can see how some people might be shocked about Bonds' doping, but this has been an open secret for years among the people in my industry," said air-conditioner repairman Mike Damus. "I'm sure it's an even more widely known fact in baseball."

"Everyone in our front office has known about Bonds since the 2001 season," said San Francisco-area accounts-receivable secretary Mindy Harris of McCullers and Associates, Ltd. "People in our ninth-floor office, too, and all seven branch offices. None of us were sure exactly which kind of steroids he was on, but we were pretty sure it was the kind that causes you to gain 30 pounds of muscle in one offseason, get injured more easily, become slow-footed, shave your head to conceal your thinning hair, lash out at the media and fans, engage in violent and abrupt mood swings, grow taut tree-trunk-like neck muscles, expand your hatband by six inches, and hit 73 home runs in a single season."

"Come to think of it, we're all fairly certain he's on all of them," Harris added.

"My 6-year-old son and I bonded over our mutual agreement that Bonds was obviously juicing up," San Francisco-area construction worker Tom Frankel said. "I hope that, one day, little Davey will have kids of his own, and that they will be able to easily glean the knowledge that Bonds was a cheater just by looking at the remarkable shift in his year-by-year statistics on his Hall of Fame plaque."

In light of the most recent accusations, which echo what any idiot with a pair of eyes and even the most fundamental knowledge of how the human body works has made in recent years, MLB Commissioner Bud Selig issued a statement Wednesday to address the issue.

"It is unfair to judge Mr. Bonds based solely on the fact that everyone says he has taken some sort of performance-enhancing drug for the past five years," Selig said. "I myself think Bonds has been taking steroids—I'm not blind, after all—but nothing, even an admission by Bonds himself, can conclusively prove that he took steroids, as he has not tested positively in an MLB-sanctioned drug test. Unless that is somehow made to happen, we must all accept his recent unfathomable accomplishments as one of the truly exciting and continuing storylines of this great sport."

When reached for comment, Bonds insisted that he "[doesn't] have time to deal with all these charges."

"I'm not going to respond to these 228 million allegations," Bonds said. "I don't care what every last person in the entire world thinks. As long as my fans believe me, that's the most important thing."
http://www.theonion.com/content/files/images/Barry-Bonds.article_0.jpg


http://www.theonion.com/content/node/46188

I read the SI when it came last night. It was long but good.
I am no longer a fan of Barry Bonds.

I read the SI when it came last night. It was long but good.
I am no longer a fan of Barry Bonds.

[smilie=army.gif]

We knew you'd come around.

God, you talk about evidence stacking up against a man...

Dosnt mean he still wasnt great before the roids.
Because he was.
He let "white boy" go to his head.