Quote:
Originally Posted by HOF Auto Rookies
Let them in. They were THE best at their position, EVER! And that's what the HOF is about, the best of the best. None failed a test, and it's not like steroids made them HOF'ers. Bonds was already a monster at the plate 'pre' steroids and easily had a HOF career, and Clemens was nasty, you saw his rookie year.
Yes, steroids can potentially make you stronger and bigger, I'm not calling anyone out specifically but it seems like so many people are too ignorant to know the other side of steroids, and so sick of people claiming that steroids are always used to help with increasing your performance. MOST players used steroids to RECOVER FASTER! Not a always get bigger, faster, stronger. Steroids actually can't make you faster because you cannot change your Type 1 or 2 muscles. But if you were a struggling pitcher who got shoulder surgery and may not have a job, you're damn right you're looking to take steroids to come back quicker from that injury.
Even in taking steroids, getting bigger muscles and having the sexy biceps or becoming stronger does not necessarily mean AT ALL that you're going to be a better player, most likely it would go against you if you got too large. Steroids do not help your hand-eye/optical focal coordination. They decrease your range of motion and your flexibility if you get too large, which would be detrimental to your game.
Which is more detrimental for the game, a player for supposedly taking a drug compared to a player being a racist or beats there wife? I saw the latter. Bonds was good for baseball, and so were McGwire and Sosa, they revived the game with that magical summer of '98, people watched the game again because of them, they saved baseball. Remember, most of this is all acqusations.
It's funny how everyone gives a crap about ballplayer's getting caught and not allowing them in the Hall or whatever, but for NFL players, no one gives a damn for failed substance abuse and performance ehancing test failures. But I guarantee the large profile NFL players will get in the Hall who have gotten caught. I mean heck, Ray Lewis and Dante Stallworth killed a man, what was the punishment? Lewis a slap on the wrist, and Stallworth avoided jailtime or had a few weeks with other stipulations. And players get more punishment for taking a drug, that's funny.
But my stance is look past the character and what they did as a person, and focus on what they did on the field, which is what the Hall is about. Bonds, A-Rod etc were dumb to take drugs, they were easily going to be the best ever in the game or close to it without them.
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True, the steroids mostly speed recovery. Which is exactly what makes it help build strength for an athlete who trains.
When things were coming out I asked someone I knew who was a wrestler/bodybuilder (classic wrestling, not TV wrestling) about steroids.
He said that the aid in recovery was the key. Typically someone needs downtime in training, heavy weights one day speed the next, or a couple days of weight followed by a couple light days. The muscles get damaged and get rebuilt a bit bigger and stronger. But it takes time, and overdoing it makes you weaker.
But with steroids the recovery is fast enough that someone can train hard every day. So the benefits of the workouts are at least twice as fast. Some stuff also lets the rebuilt muscle be much stronger, so a combination leads to a lot of mass and strength very quickly.
The downside is that once a person lays off the stuff they're going to be injury prone since now the workouts do far more damage than normal recovery time can account for. Nearly all the main users had a lost year with maybe a second "off" year after as they got hurt and readjusted to being normal again. And a rash of those happened in the year or two leading up to the testing program. still more came as the program was begun although the first year was very weak testing.
It's not possible to fail a test that isn't taken.
Steve B