I know that this is a little late and this is last weeks news, but here is my view on the subject.
Barry Bonds is a cheat. Full stop. I think most people agree on that. He took steroids and then lied about it; it would appear that there is evidence to that effect. He also lied to the government, a big mistake. Now, the question is what should happen to him.
Sport in Britain has a harsher system than baseball. A first offence, or missing a test results in a ban of up to two years. A second results in a ban for life. End of story. Atheletes are tested reguarly over the course of a year, and so what with that regime and the penalties, drugs are not a major issue. Athletics has had drugs as an issue for decades, and so has the harshest penalties.
Here is what I think went wrong. A couple of years ago, I travelled down the West Coast of the US, and the Mariners via FSN followed me down. Several of their players had substance offences and were banned for two weeks; this is no kind of penalty, and not one that makes an athelete think twice that he is risking his career.
Bonds, and other teams sluggers, were on steroids; the teams knew, the coaches knew, the other players knew, the media knew, and I am sure the fans at least suspected. Had a drugs testing regime been put in place at the start of the decade, like in other sports, this would have been fixed; instead Baseball now has the situation where Bonds has THE record.
In athletics, a proven cheats record is sturck from history, and this is what should be done to Baseball's cheats. You can't change the results of games, but you can take away their Hall of Fame staus and reasons for putting them there.
Until Baseball starts taking drugs seriously, this will continue to plague what is a wonderous sport, and taint it for many years. It's time for all to speak out against the cheats be they from any team any race or creed.
After watching RTH and PTI last week, I was shocked to hear many journalists and commentators making excuses and urging that things have not changed; I beg to differ; and really, this is the problem.
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| Cheaters must never prosper |
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markawelch
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Nov 19 @ 5:24AM
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Babe Ruth didn't need steroids.
Nor many other greats like Hank Aaron.........
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nolimitholdum
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Nov 19 @ 5:30AM
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winning is winning,,no matter what it takes,,
sure their are laws against it and should be
but each person has a dream,,and if the risk is worth it,[ go for it ] 
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jelltex
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Nov 19 @ 6:01AM
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Thing is, Bonds would have been one of the greats without steroids. He would have made the hall of fame, had his place in history. He he a place in history now, but for all the wrong reasons.
winning is winning,,no matter what it takes,,
sure their are laws against it and should be
Sportsmean and women also need to be protected from themselves; dying before their time because of wanting to hit an extra 15 yards, tenth of a second quicker, is anyone's life worth that? And what of the signals it sends to children; not good enough? Hey, we have a pill for that.
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eastham
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Nov 19 @ 6:54AM
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The athletes from the old Eastern bloc countries were treated horribly. The worst offenders were East Germany. Athletes were treated no better than animals. I take it back, animals are often treated with more compassion. Here's a story from the the New York Times. The East German program killed people literally and metaphysically.
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exvagabond
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Nov 19 @ 7:00AM
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So what's the problem? Let's have separate sports leagues for the druggies and for the naturals. Then let the fans choose with their money and not their mouths. It's the fans who make sports a business in the first place.
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jelltex
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Nov 19 @ 7:57AM
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So what's the problem? Let's have separate sports leagues for the druggies and for the naturals. Then let the fans choose with their money and not their mouths. It's the fans who make sports a business in the first place.
Yeah, why not? And while you're at it get Ripleys Believe it or Not to sponsor it! And Barnham could be the Commisioner and we could have a real freak show.
Cheats have no place in sport, not when it could kill them, and what if it was your kid who was using steroids, changing his personality? Dying young?
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exvagabond
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Nov 19 @ 10:07AM
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...and we could have a real freak show. Exactly.
Cheats have no place in sport, not when it could kill them... Agreed. And I would not call this "sport." I would call it a freak show, as you said. No rules, so no cheating. So what if it kills them? Lots of people are voluntarily suicidal, and we're on the verge of overpopulation anyway.
...and what if it was your kid who was using steroids, changing his personality? Dying young? Thanks to our spiffy new Freaks League, kids would be able to see this and stay away from it. Right now, it's wrapped up in sport and not so easy to distinguish, and a lot more threcherous than it has to be.
I should hope this Freaks League would fail very soon. But if it doesn't, that would mean that too many people will pay to see it, and that would be a social problem. It would amount to gladiatorial combat, and we are supposed to have advanced over the past 2,000 years. Jeez, even cockfights and dogfights are supposed to be out of fashion now. Let's see.
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hunt4luv
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Nov 19 @ 10:16AM
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A Lie Is A Lie Is A Lie 
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