[Marxism] steroids, sports and white racism

[Dbachmozart@xxxxxxx]

with apologies to those comrades from outside the US, Canada and other  
countries where baseball is passionately followed --
 
 
from a friend --
 
Did you  notice in 2001 that Barry had a big spike in his HR's? He was 
averaging  40-50 a year and then all of a sudden 73.
 
 
If it was proven beyond a doubt that Bonds took steroids, I  wouldn't be 
surprised, but I do become livid when I hear white guys on  sports radio insist 
that their hatred of him is not racial! What  isn't racial in this society? 
Roger Maris hit 61 HRs in 1961 - he hit  39 the year before and never as much 
after. Where is the  questioning of that? How do you go from 39 to 61 in one 
year? 
It's not like he  played in a small ballpark in '61 -- he played 1960 and '61 
in Yankee Stadium.  Roger Clemens is 45 and still throwing over 90 mph - who 
insists that "they  know" that he's taking something? How about all the 
pitchers over 40 still  pitching and winning? Isn't that just a little strange?
 
As far as Bonds' record being "tainted", didn't people say  when Aaron passed 
Ruth -- "yeah he hit more than the Babe, but he needed 2000  more ABs to do 
it". And didn't the players of the generation preceding Ruth,  like Ty Cobb 
feel that Ruth's HRs weren't legit because of the "live"  ball?
 
I place all the blame on Major League Baseball for ignoring  what all the 
fans saw with their own eyes back in '97 or so -- that these  players were 
looking more like football than baseball players. And I don't blame  the 
players one 
bit. Since the age of 9 or 10 they've displayed freakish talent  and were 
advised by parents and coaches to put all their eggs into the basket of  
sports. 
They breeze through HS and the minors, and then at the AAA level, they  see 
other players no better than they are suddenly bigger, stronger and hitting  
lots more HRs. At that point, what do they do - stay "clean", fall behind the  
competition, and maybe never have the career that they've been groomed  for 
their entire lives? Back in the mid '60s, before I ever heard of  steroids, a 
poll 
was taken of Olympian athletes where they were asked, "if there  was a pill 
that could assure you of winning the Gold Medal, but it took 10 years  off your 
life, would you take it?" 80% said YES! Times haven't changed  much.
 
There's no way to go back and retroactively prove who did and  who didn't 
take anything. We had the deadball era, the liveball era, the Jim  Crow era, 
the 
lowered mound/smaller ballparks/over-expanded - dilution of talent  era, and 
now the steroid era. Maybe the embryo-designed in vitro era is  next.


 
interesting reads --
 
<_http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/08/08/ED26RERN71.DTL_ 
(http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/08/08/ED26RERN71.DTL) > 
 
 
 
SI's Vilification of Barry Bonds
_http://counterpunch.org/modiano07272007.html_ 
(http://counterpunch.org/modiano07272007.html) 
 
White Noise and the Black Athlete
_http://counterpunch.org/zirin07202007.html_ 
(http://counterpunch.org/zirin07202007.html) 
 
ESPN's Rap Sheet
_http://counterpunch.org/modiano07142007.html_ 
(http://counterpunch.org/modiano07142007.html) 
 
The Wonderful World of Mike Greenberg and Barry Bonds
_http://counterpunch.org/wilson07132007.html_ 
(http://counterpunch.org/wilson07132007.html) 




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