Did Steroids, Sports, And Barry Bonds Just Become A Racial Issue?

[Echo]

Jesse Jackson Outraged At Lack of Protection For Barry Bonds

04-04) 18:51 PDT New York (AP) --


The Rev. Jesse Jackson says Major League Baseball and San Diego police failed to protect Barry Bonds and should be trying to find out who threw a syringe at him in the Giants' opener.


The object was thrown near the San Francisco slugger as he came off the field following the eighth inning Monday night in San Diego. Bonds picked up the syringe — about the size of a fat cigar — and carried it off the field.


"That fan should have been arrested," Jackson said. "That object could have had a needle in it. It could have hit him. The commissioner of baseball must be outspoken in protecting any players whose lives are in jeopardy, whose security is at risk."


The object did not appear to have a needle, and Bonds called it a syringe.


"It appeared to be of the size of something you would use to baste a turkey, and not a syringe per se," Padres chief executive officer Sandy Alderson said.


Richard Andersen, the Padres' official in charge of Petco Park, said he was told by security officials that it was a toy syringe. He also said approximately a dozen other toy syringes were confiscated from fans entering the ballpark on Monday. One fan had several in his pocket and others had syringes taped to their shirts.


"It did not appear to be a medical syringe," Anderson said.


"This knucklehead doesn't represent the fans of this city," he added. "It was just one fan doing something stupid."


The Padres planned to close off a standing-room-only area just beyond the left-field corner while the Giants are in town because some fans were "acting very inappropriately" on Monday while Bonds was playing left field, Andersen said.


Jackson, a longtime civil rights leader and former presidential candidate, said Bonds has been treated unfairly by those who accept as fact accusations that he used performance-enhancing drugs.


"For some people, it's about suspicion of drug use because they have no proof. For others, it's a cover for other anger that they have," Jackson said. "For example, the closer Hank Aaron got to Babe Ruth's record, the more violence and hate mail he received.


"You cannot let this thing build to the point of irreversible danger," Jackson added.


Alderson said the Padres were attempting to identify who threw the object but he did not think they were likely to do so.


"There is no indication that he was hit," San Diego Police Department spokesman Dave Cohen said, adding that no arrests were made and police are not investigating. The person who allegedly threw the syringe was gone when police arrived, Cohen said.


Jackson disagreed with the decision not to investigate.


"That's unacceptable," he said. "He deserves another level of security."


Alderson, a former executive vice president for Major League Baseball, said the Padres had prepared extensively for Bonds.


"We had extra security at the field yesterday, both uniformed police officers as well as private security, on field as well as in the stands," he said. "We've taken some additional precautions for tonight that we think will address some of the issues that arose yesterday."


Bonds entered the season with 708 homers, trailing only Ruth (714) and Aaron (755) on the career list. Following the publication of a book that alleged Bonds used performance-enhancing drugs for a five-year period starting in 1998, baseball commissioner Bud Selig picked former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell last week to investigate steroids use in the sport.


Several fans brought signs to Monday's game critical of Bonds.


"I guess none of this is unexpected," Selig said in Chicago. "I'm saddened by it in the sense that opening day was such a good, positive day. Every game was sold out. It was really a great baseball day. But controversy will spawn with that type of activity, whether I like it or not."


Major League Baseball has had a security official with Bonds since spring training. Kevin Hallinan, baseball's senior vice president for security, plans to be at Dodger Stadium this weekend when the Giants play there.


"I can assure you that baseball is protecting all of its players and it's an important priority to us," Hallinan said.


___


Associated Press Writers Rick Gano in Chicago, and Elliot Spagat and Bernie Wilson in San Diego contributed to this report.

[Venice_Bodybuilder]

Considering all of the real racism that continues to exist in the world, you'd think Jesse Jackson could find somebody's cause to champion besides a multi-millionaire baseball player.

[amadgenius]

Jesse Jackson is an "A" class clown...I can not stand that guy. He is like a tick...a bloodsucker transmitting febrile diseases to whatever he latches onto.

[Echo]

I started this thread in the hopes of stimulating a discussion and not being a lightning rod for an argument. I, too, have my own concerns about Reverend Jackson. But I am not ready to completely dismiss some of the racial concerns that are arising about this whole performance enhancing drugs business.

Consider these questions: What male athlete does the media most want to "nail" for using performance enhancing drugs? Answer: Barry Bonds, of course. What female athlete does the media most want to "nail" for performance enhancing drugs? Answer: Marion Jones. Name some notable athletes who have paid the greatest price for being implicated for using performance enhancing drugs(stripping of medals, economic loss, etc.)? Answers: CJ Hunter, Kelli White, Tim Montgomery, Ben Johnson.... Is it not true that all of the athletes named in this paragraph are of African descent?

Everybody seems to have forgotten Jason Giambi's steroid admission. As far as I am aware, he is still playing ball for the Yankees and earning millions. Has there been an interuption in his revenue stream? Is it remotely arguable that the African-American athlete may be paying a higher price for performance enhancing drug "indiscretions?" What do you think?

[Blackman]

Ahhhhh, the matter of race in America. I tend to lurk in general because I don't like getting into fights, much less cyber ones. But, this draws me out a bit and, Echo, you make some valid points. From what has been stated thus far, I would completely disagree with Amadgenius. Indeed, Mr. Jackson, in my judgement, alinged himself with someone he shouldn't have, made anti-Semetic commentary, and was clearly adulterous. He, also, however, has been arrested and beaten numerous times and, literally, laid his life on the line in order to hold this country accountable regarding honoring it's defintion of holding certain truths to be self evident. These are facts well documented in print and on film that has been televised for years. He is FAR from being a clown. Echo...in my opinion, the Barry Bonds matter does present us as a nation with a "delicate" delima. I agree with you with the examples you used and the juxtaposition of Mr. Giambi. In my opinion, due to race, a double standard appears to be applied and behaviour by one person is vilified in another. And, often, that person is "demonized", as it were. That does appear to be happening with Mr. Bonds and it is ridiculous (and dangerous) that someone can throw a syringe at him. It will probably worsen until, hopefully, something is done about it. And, yet......what of personal responsibility????? Like many of us here, I know what someone looks like when they have been juicing. And, I think he did. I also think that Mark McGuire did, too(by the bye....I'm from and am writing from St. Louis.there was a bit of debate about taking away a stretch of highway renamed for Mark.as far as I know, it's still named for Mark). I would like to see more even handedness when it comes to people falling from grace(I also think that Mr. Bonds' interpersonal difficulties no matter where he has played isn't helping him any, either). A cheat is a cheat. Color dosen't make one worse than another and I don't think ANY of us likes a cheater. Thanks for puttin' this out there, Echo. And, Gene, thanx for having this Forum. You're one of the best. ASIAN POWER!!!!

[jason256]

Actually Jesse Jackson may have a point here.

Very little is written about Amy Van Dyken (white 2004 swim medal winner) being part of the Balco investigation (she was one of the athletes Conte 'advised') or for that matter the admission by soon to be ex Stanford swim coach Richard Quick that even he was surprised that his athletes ( medal winner Dara Torres, and others) were not even tested, despite their rather remarkable performance improvements (in both swim times and the weight room) in one year.

Jason

[Zennie]

Actually Jesse Jackson may have a point here.

Very little is written about Amy Van Dyken (white 2004 swim medal winner) being part of the Balco investigation (she was one of the athletes Conte 'advised') or for that matter the admission by soon to be ex Stanford swim coach Richard Quick that even he was surprised that his athletes ( medal winner Dara Torres, and others) were not even tested, despite their rather remarkable performance improvements (in both swim times and the weight room) in one year.

Jason

Great point, Jason.

Look, this post has me rather testy. The fact is that someone threw a potentially hamful object at Barry. That's not right.

Moreover, if anyone BOTHERS to read the book "Game of Shadows" they will find it's full of holes and poorly researched.

See my review at:
http://bballbiz.blogspot.com/2006/03/game-of-shadows-book-on-barry-bonds.html

Finally, nothing becomes a race issue, it's always there and is especially pronounced in the case of Barry. Look, we're in a society where just last week a white couple said to me "You're pretty articulate for a black guy," causing me to remark "Yeah, and I'm more articulate than most white people I know."

I was shocked and pissed - I reacted inappropriately, but I also felt they were challenging me to say something, so they got their wish and shut up.

Or last Friday, when as I was walking out of Tosca, a North Beach bar, some guy -- white -- walking by said "Black man."

Stupid.

In my view society has become more, and not less, racist with the change in generations. In fact, I was talking to a very good friend about this over breakfast, this morning, who agreed with me and who's white. The level of incivility today is shocking and it seems to come from those who are around the 25 to 35 year old demographic, at least that's the conclusion we came to this morning. We're both over 40.

I've come to use a kind of "race index" of my own to determine how potentially racist one is, and therefore if I should avoid them.

It's 1) frequency of times the person make a racist comment ("racist" is where they put down someone just because they're black or white.) 2) number of friends of color, or the reverse, they have (with an adjustment for population composition, and 3) the degree to which their comments are laced with racial "code words" like "those people" or "rappers" and so on.

It's draconian, but it underscores the level of rage I've developed over American society's apparent lack of interest in directly attacking this problem. It must go away.

That written, our country is a mine-field of good, well-meaning people, living in some cases cheek-by-jowel to racist people, sexist people, and child molesters.

One has to be careful. I'll bet the guy who threw the syringe at Barry Bonds was one of these three, or some combination of them.

Geez.

[Venice_Bodybuilder]

So now the "liberal media" is filled with racists? C'mon... As I've said before, it's a bad premise to even think of journalists as one collective entity. The media is a confederation of individuals, some of them interested in uncovering truth, others interested in making money. The former are too earnest to be racist---and the only color the latter care about is green.

Mark McGwire took a hailstorm of criticism after his congressional testimony last year. Rafael Palmeiro took even more. Jose Canseco was blasted until people began thinking that maybe the content of his book was true. Lest we forget the most controversial figure in baseball prior to Barry Bonds---Pete Rose.

I don't dislike Jesse Jackson. I think he's done some good things. But when one of the most influential black leaders in America feels it's more important to defend Terrell Owens and Barry Bonds than address the continued social ills plaguing the poor and disenfranchised, that's a gross miscarriage of power and responsibility.

[Echo]

Marion Jones on the other hand, lets face it she got in trouble with some sort of drug use when she was in high school! If your really natural and thats what you believe in then why associate yourself with known cheats and users. Plus you noticed what has happened to her since the big doping year....she is no longer an elite olympic athlete!!!!


I did notice what happened to Marion Jones after the "big doping year".......she became pregnant and delivered a baby. Does every woman return to superstar form following a pregnancy?

[amadgenius]

I understand what you are saying Echo...but to be real about the whole "racial" issue in this country is this; racism will never die in this country, because of one simple fact...that is what this country was built on; that is it's foundation. And in order to truly destroy something totally, its foundation has to go too. And that is impossible to do at this stage of our country. You would have to destroy all things, images, thoughts, words, and ideas...all things. And this is what fuels Mr. Jackson’s fire (lifestyle)…him and other so-called Black leaders; they understand this, so they will never be out of a job...or get a real job. But that is not to say we as a people (black, white, yellow, green, & Polk-a-dot) should not continue the fight for equality, but to understand that it will be a forever thing. With that said, Blacks and all should stay out of all possible trouble...let not your good be evil spoken.I started this thread in the hopes of stimulating a discussion and not being a lightning rod for an argument. I, too, have my own concerns about Reverend Jackson. But I am not ready to completely dismiss some of the racial concerns that are arising about this whole performance enhancing drugs business.

Consider these questions: What male athlete does the media most want to "nail" for using performance enhancing drugs? Answer: Barry Bonds, of course. What female athlete does the media most want to "nail" for performance enhancing drugs? Answer: Marion Jones. Name some notable athletes who have paid the greatest price for being implicated for using performance enhancing drugs(stripping of medals, economic loss, etc.)? Answers: CJ Hunter, Kelli White, Tim Montgomery, Ben Johnson.... Is it not true that all of the athletes named in this paragraph are of African descent?

Everybody seems to have forgotten Jason Giambi's steroid admission. As far as I am aware, he is still playing ball for the Yankees and earning millions. Has there been an interuption in his revenue stream? Is it remotely arguable that the African-American athlete may be paying a higher price for performance enhancing drug "indiscretions?" What do you think?

[Tripper]

I understand what you are saying Echo...but to be real about the whole "racial" issue in this country is this; racism will never die in this country, because of one simple fact...that is what this country was built on; that is it's foundation. And in order to truly destroy something totally, its foundation has to go too. And that is impossible to do at this stage of our country. You would have to destroy all things, images, thoughts, words, and ideas...all things. And this is what fuels Mr. Jackson’s fire (lifestyle)…him and other so-called Black leaders; they understand this, so they will never be out of a job...or get a real job. But that is not to say we as a people (black, white, yellow, green, & Polk-a-dot) should not continue the fight for equality, but to understand that it will be a forever thing. With that said, Blacks and all should stay out of all possible trouble...let not your good be evil spoken.

That is without a doubt the biggest load of crap I have ever heard. This country was founded on the principles of freedom, not racism. The fact that certain racist conventions such as slavery existed at the time does not diminish the foundation of the country. Most of us have moved beyond past ignorance and are working to create a future of equality. The rest still cling to hatred and look for excuses to justify it. These people will be left behind because the world is evolving toward peace. It is out there if you seek it. For once try seeing the world not as you think it is or as you were told it should be, but as what it can become. You will be amazed at the amount of love people have inside of them.

Peace to all, Tripper.

[SHADOWMAN]

In our society(meaning the entitre whole of the civilized world) progression is always going to have it hindrances,,its almost natureal that such exists,,that we may know the work that has to be put into what way achieve instead of it being all to easy to come by!!!! This indeed include all forms of equality!!!!!!! Hving said that,,,there is something to be said for being so damned thickheaded in a type of thinking that mud has more clarity than what is often presented as motives for doing or living a certain type of way,,rasism prime example!!!! The Rev Jackson is indeed a pisser,,but even in the chaos that he births his transparant causes in can there be seen the need for what illumination he brings to it,,people simply must with him as with many of those who would sound the alarming cry of being oppressed and wronged as a person or a people,,take what practical logic that resounds from their alarm and disregard the self serving efforts behind doing what was to be done because progression of a society demand that such light be shown upon the ugly apperance of negative racial bias!!!! I've never ever met nor known of a naturally rightchious person,,utterly devoid of any sin in their lives or self service in their actions towaeds anything in cause that they undertake!!!!!! At this pint in time jesse cannot hide anything regarding where his resiliance for a cause comes from,,,we mere must when ever such as he sounds an alarm take what is substantive in what ever he or they are directing our attention to and deside whether it is worth our anger,,outrage and or participation directly in and then if we are to invelop ourselves as a person or people in what ever the situation is,,do what is needed,,or what we can to resolve the assault upon our society's progression if possible in that particular situation and pay them "the alarmists" no greater mind than necessary during the expression of outrage of what is and its ultimate resolution,,then afterwards no further creatence nor mind to them!!!!!! They,,such as Jesse are mere often times ment by nature to be a pointer nothing more,,thus most of those like him are not at all worth the power theat we embue them,,for they most of them truly stand for nothing but themselves and what they ultimately desire that have nothing to do with our betterment as a society!!!!!!! I've stood mere feet from jackson,,,i was not at all impressed with him nor the passion in his words,,for it was without true substance of the soul!!!!!!!!

[tighthat]

shadowman, that was the most apropos headline to any post in the history of the internet.

[SHADOWMAN]

shadowman, that was the most apropos headline to any post in the history of the internet.WELL THANKS,,THAT SIMPLY POPPED INTO MY HEAD TO SUM UP THE WHOLE AFFECT OF REV,JACKSON'S ENTIRE SUM TOTAL!!!!!!!!!

[amadgenius]

You are kidding me...right?!!! I don't know you dude...and in my 1st post I was not attempting to support racism...but you have to be blind if you think for one second that this "great" country of ours was not built on the physical practice of fear, slavery, and racism. 1st off, this land was the Indians not Blacks or Whites...and you know what happened to the Indians...or do you. And 2nd, slaves built the country. And not to say that we (blacks&whites) are not trying to move forward in better relations...but these are the facts of life...the facts of this country. Yes….freedom was a principle, but slavery was the practice; theory and practice are two totally different things. Listen, I love this country and more importantly I love people, all people; deep down inside we are all fragile and need love. But the thing I hate that many (black&white) try to do is hide the fact that this country still has a race problem. The 1st thing on the road to recovery is to admit that there exist a problem…and then the healing starts. So if we do not admit that…then there will never be a recovery or healing. And I for one do not support the “race card” on all things…that is just crazy to do. Yet this country still has a problem…a hidden problem…but nonetheless a problem. Yes, people do not like to hear talk like this...and many that view this thread and my post will think "why is he such a rebel, just go with the flow". But if I jump up and say something about us supporting breast cancer and raising more awareness, I will be loved by all. So what is the difference in the two...please tell me?! That is without a doubt the biggest load of crap I have ever heard. This country was founded on the principles of freedom, not racism. The fact that certain racist conventions such as slavery existed at the time does not diminish the foundation of the country. Most of us have moved beyond past ignorance and are working to create a future of equality. The rest still cling to hatred and look for excuses to justify it. These people will be left behind because the world is evolving toward peace. It is out there if you seek it. For once try seeing the world not as you think it is or as you were told it should be, but as what it can become. You will be amazed at the amount of love people have inside of them.

Peace to all, Tripper.