The Bonds Defense

Poliblogger passes on this Barry Bonds quote:

Bonds said he never paid Anderson for drugs or supplements but did give the trainer $15,000 in cash in 2003 for weight training and a $20,000 bonus after his 73-homer season.
Bonds said that Anderson had so little money that he �lives in his car half the time.� Asked by a juror why he didn�t buy �a mansion� for his trainer, Bonds answered: �One, I�m black, and I�m keeping my money. And there�s not too many rich black people in this world. There�s more wealthy Asian people and Caucasian and white. And I ain�t giving my money up.�


and asks the relevant question:

Why in the world would a multi-million dollar athlete at the pinnacle of his career employ a trainer who was semi-homeless? I will grant that Bonds didn�t need to buy the guy a house, but you are letting a guy who �lives in his car half the time� to use unknown substances on your body?


So, Bonds now says he took what Anderson gave him but didn’t ask what it was. Are you kidding me? Here you’ve got a guy walking around with the Scarlet “S” tattooed on his head, he knows he’s taking a variety of supposedly unidentified substances . . . Absolutely everyone who followed baseball the past five years either (1) thought Bonds was using the stuff or at least (2) was aware of the charges. You thought Bonds was on steroids. I thought Bonds was on steroids. But it never even occurred to Barry Bonds himself that he should look into the stuff he was taking? If so, he was the only guy in the game who wasn’t thinking it. He has to know it won’t pass the smell test.

7 thoughts on “The Bonds Defense”

  1. Absolutely everyone who followed baseball the past five years either (1) thought Bonds was using the stuff or at least (2) was aware of the charges. You thought Bonds was on steroids. I thought Bonds was on steroids. But it never even occurred to Barry Bonds himself that he should look into the stuff he was taking? If so, he was the only guy in the game who wasn’t thinking it. He has to know it won’t pass the smell test.
    If he asks questions then he a) loses plausible deniability and b) has to stop taking the substances. If he just goes along with it, then he looks like an idiot, but not a cheater and can continue taking the mystery substances.

  2. The whole “I thought it was flax seed oil” defense is a joke to me. First, Barry Bonds is very in tuned to his workout regimine and his nutrition. I find it insulting that he would lead us to believe that he simply took something because his homeless trainer told him to take it (Even Shooter had a home in Hoosiers). Second, I’d like to know in what kind of container Anderson was handing over these substances. If we are to believe Bonds, it had to have been in an unmarked container. I don’t care how well I know a person, if they hand me a container and say “take this” I am going to want to do a little more investigation as to what is in that container. Especially if I was a multi-million dollar professional athlete who has had a very rocky relationship with both the media and fans in the past.

  3. If I recall correctly THG wasn’t a banned steriod until after the 2003 season.
    Is his use much different than other players’ use of Andro before it was banned?
    How is Grand Jury testimony making it into the papers? How can we confirm that the testimony reported in the paper is accurate?

  4. For what it’s worth, I read that Bonds DID become suspicious of what he was taking, but employed the same guy who was giving him the stuff to do his drug tests. Anderson, of course, told Bonds that his tests showed no steroids. Trying to cover his butt? Or an honest but poorly executed investigation?

  5. Quoting Dave: “How is Grand Jury testimony making it into the papers? How can we confirm that the testimony reported in the paper is accurate?”
    1. Someone (possibly illegally) leaked it to the newspapers. Who leaked it may or may not be the obvious answers. Various people may have had reasons for timing the leak when they did. Even Bonds’ agent or attorney could be the source. Knowing it would eventually get out the thought may have been to get it out and behind him before he passes Ruth and later Aaron. I am NOT saying that Bonds’ people leaked it. I’m just using that scenario to show that the leak could have come from any direction.
    2. You really can’t confirm the accuracy. Grand jury testimony is normally sealed.

  6. Interestingly enough, I take flaxseed oil. It’s in a pill form, as it needs to be injested in order to get into the body’s blood stream & to make it’s way in between the joints, where the arthritis is.
    And all this time I could’ve rubbed some “cream” on my bad knee and it’ll magically soak its way all the way down between the bones. Go figure! I hope I don’t take too long in the shower, lest the liquid soak its way all the way down and I get water on the knee.
    Seriously, anyone who buys Bonds’ cock-and-bull story is kidding themselves.

  7. Dave’s right. It really doesn’t matter. Nothing he took broke the rules. To quote the smartest article I’ve seen yet on the topic, “No professional athlete who took this stuff broke any law and no professional athlete who took this stuff broke any rule. (And, as far as any definitive scientific evidence is concerned, nobody endangered his health with the stuff, either.)”
    Here’s the link:https://www.slate.com/id/2091416

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