Mark McGwire admits steroids use

[Auggie]

Associated Press, January 11, 2009:

NEW YORK -- Mark McGwire finally came clean Monday, admitting he used steroids when he broke baseball's home run record in 1998.

McGwire said in a statement sent to The Associated Press on Monday that he used steroids on and off for nearly a decade.

"I wish I had never touched steroids," McGwire said in a statement. "It was foolish and it was a mistake. I truly apologize. Looking back, I wish I had never played during the steroid era."

LINK: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4816607

-----------------------------

Barry -- you're up.

[joeybee12]

1. Don't hold your breath on Barry...n/t

[madinmaryland]

2. If that happens, there will be a couple of heads here exploding!

[trumad]

6. I seriously doubt it...

They'll come up with new excuses....that's all.

[El Supremo]

11. A real good excuse is that Barroid is under indictment.

So I certainly don't think he'll come clean.

[Yavin4]

8. Are There People Who Still Believe That Barry Didn't Juice?

Amazing.

[madinmaryland]

12. There really are. Amazing is right!

[trumad]

3. Uh---first off---no duh..

I use to love McGwire... I lived in SF when he came up as a Rookie and thought he was one of the best.
But the minute he clammed up in the House hearings... My love for him came to an end---because he's a fucking cheat.

I do give him props though for finally coming clean.

Snarf--- Barry Bonds will never come clean because he loves to string around his jock sniffing little cult---IE: Douche one and Douche two.

[tishaLA]

4. You could knock me over with a feather

What a shocker!

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

17. Truly surprising.

[wilt the stilt]

5. pretty obvious

look at his HR totals and how they came about. he was in a big decline and then whamo -homers. not a HOF. at least barry is a HOF

[Iggo]

7. Wow.

I thought he'd never come clean.

Yep. Mr Bonds is up next. (And Barry, sticking to your story is not the same as telling the truth.)

[MaineDem]

9. I'm shocked! Shocked, I tell ya.

What a surprise. Creep!

[hughee99]

10. I predict next year he gets a lot more votes for the HOF...

I don't think he'll get in next year, but I think his vote total will go up a good bit.

[trumad]

13. I predict he'll never get in.

[hughee99]

19. I'm not sure...

I wouldn't vote for him, but the admission will help him get some votes (though not enough)... what would help his case is if a number of people already in were to be confirmed as users. Imagine if Eddy Murray, Rickey Henderson, Cal Ripken, Ryne Sandberg, Tony Gwynn and Wade Boggs turned out to be users, along with those thought clean yet to be inducted (guys like Griffey, Chipper Jones, Jeter and Pujols, for example), that would help his case. I think that's his only real hope is if it turns out to be much more widespread than previously though, it would muddy the waters and voters would have a harder time holding it against him.

There's going to be some users that get in eventually (Bonds, Clemens, A-Rod, Manny), and the more users there are, the harder it will be to draw the line.

It will be interesting to see how they treat Gary Sheffield (with his BALCO ties) and Jim Thome (who seems to be considered clean). I suspect Sheffield won't get in on the first ballot, but I bet he eventually gets in. Thome's numbers may seem all the better to voters if he can avoid the taint of steroids and he could potentially sneak in on the 1st ballot depending on the competition his first year.

[BulletproofLandshark]

16. I think he realized after this year's HOF vote he was never getting in.

Therefore, he had nothing to lose by coming forward.

[hughee99]

20. I suspect it might have been a condition of his employment.

If he wanted to be a coach for the Cards, he had to get this shit out of the way as early as possible.

[dakota_democrat]

14. Refresh my memory...

Did Sosa juice? I remember he got caught with the corked bat.

[joeybee12]

15. he was on the list of 104 when they tested in 2003...anonymously supposedly...n/t

[1gobluedem]

18. From a FB friend

"Mark McGwire admits to steroid use. In other news it's cold outside in January and sunrise in expected to occur tomorrow morning in the east."

[LisaM]

21. I don't understand why his record wasn't asterisked

the fact is that MLB felt that they needed the McGwire-Sosa race to get fans interested after the strike. It slays me - why is the average fan more willing to accept steroid use than think it's okay for workers to strike? That tells me a lot about the values in this country, or the spin the owners made the media put on the strike, while puffing up the home run race.

Everyone is pretty sure Barry Bonds used steroids. The disconnect I have is that he was much more vilified for it than McGwire, which is totally unfair.

I think all their records should be blanked out.

[trumad]

23. Oh God that is so fucking easy to answer..

"pretty sure" Bond's used.... Come on Lisa.

Bond's was vilified because he had the rep as being one of the biggest douchebags in all of baseball.

[ProfessorGAC]

24. A Six Tool Player

Had the five tools and was, all by himself, one of the biggest tools of all time.
GAC

[LisaM]

25. Ted Williams was supposedly a jerk, too

that doesn't mean you judge him by different standards. I'm no fan of the way Barry Bonds acts, either, but here you have McGwire clearly juicing, yet an adoring media hangs on his every hit.

[trumad]

26. Nobody adores McGwire anymore...

I can't believe you're comparing Bonds to Ted Williams?

[LisaM]

27. I'm not though I admit I'm having trouble imparting what I'm trying to say

It just bugs me that MLB was able to overlook McGwire and Sosa's obvious steroid use because of the storyline. This, after they vilified all the players during the strike.

[trumad]

28. Disagree

Remember--- Steroids weren't a big topic at that time. Canseco is the guy that really started the whole Steroid story.... It is said that Bond's started taking Steroids during the McGwire, Sosa home run season.

[LisaM]

29. I think steroid use was covered up at the time

People were trying to justify McGwire's sudden bulk and saying he was using that stuff the Nebraska football team was using - creatine - and that it was all legal, but I think a lot of people were plenty suspicious.

I beleive Bonds started doing it then too.

[erpowers]

33. I Think You are Right

I remember when the steroid scandal broke I saw stories about how some sports writers tried to play down talk of the chances that McGwire might be using steroids. One writer went as far as to say it was good that McGwire openly displayed another sports supplement in his locker. In addition, even after McGwire has broken Roger Maris' record there were some people who criticized the media for making such a big deal about McGwire when there was a chance that he had taken steroids in order to break Maris' record.

[Upton]

30. Check out trumad

the McGwire apologist. Lisa is right, there's been two sets of standards...one for Bonds and one for everyone else.

[trumad]

34. Ahh look who finally pipes up in this thread...

Douche two---a proud member of the dumb mother fuckers club. The club that believes that Barry's head and feet grew to enormous size simply from his weight lifting.

Yo Douche... McGwire is a cheating scumbag who at least admitted his steroid use...unlike your hero BB.

You're such a fucking douche.

[ProfessorGAC]

38. Same Old Tune

Getting REALLY boring.
GAC

[madinmaryland]

22. ZOMG!!

[erpowers]

31. Should Maris Get His Record Back? Should McGwire Give the Money Back?

Now that Mark McGwire has admitted using steroids during the home run record season should Roger Maris get his record back? I understand that currently the record is held by Barry Bonds and he has not admitted to using steroids, but should something be done to either give Maris the record again or give him more time in the record books. What I am trying to say is should MLB increase the length of time that Roger Maris held the home run record. For instance, should MLB go back to 1998 and give the record back to Maris at least until the year in which Barry Bonds broke it. If anyone is wondering yes, I would support taking the record away from Bonds if and when it came out that he definitely used steriods during or around the time of his home run record season. I will also acknowledge that noone knows whether or not Maris was taking some form of performance enhancing drugs, but we not know that two fo the men that broke that record took steroids durng the time that that broke that record.

On the issue of McGwire being sorry for using steroids I am wondering if McGwire should give back the money he made during the steroids years. During that time McGwire probably made more money as a result of using steroids. If McGwire is truly sorry should he then give back the money he made during that time period?

[mix]

32. He and Sosa were competing on equal terms (except for the corked bat, i suppose).

I was in Chicago during that time...their pursuit of the record was a great moment, too bad it is so tarnished.

[trumad]

35. Corked bats offer no advantage.,,,

A myth the Myth Busters revealed.

[mix]

36. that's interesting...

so Sosa was mistaken in thinking it gave him an advantage?

[trumad]

37. Yep

Myth Busters actually proved the ball, when hit with a corked bat, did not travel as far.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXoywQqXUVc

[caraher]

39. That clip sure didn't show much

But some real scientists agree - corking the bat reduces distance:

Corking a bat lightens the lumber, which in turn increases bat speed and, the conventional wisdom holds, hit distance. Corkers typically drill a hole at the end of the bat, hollow out the "sweet spot," and fill it with wine corks or Superballs. The hole is then sealed with a combination of sawdust and pine tar. The result is a bat that's several ounces lighter than advertised, though still as long and thick as its heavier peers. A lighter bat, of course, is easier to whip through the strike zone.

The theoretical edge seems infinitesimal. Assume a corker reduces his bat's weight by 1.5 ounces. An average major league pitch travels from the pitcher's hand to the plate in a hair under half a second. The corked bat will give the hitter an additional five-thousandths of a second to see the pitch, judge it, and get the bat head moving through the strike zone.

A quicker bat may help a struggling hitter catch up with pitches, but it actually reduces his ability to smack long drives. The primary equation that determines a batted ball's distance is p = mv, where "p" is momentum, "m" is mass, and "v" is velocity. Though a corked bat will travel at a greater velocity, the tail-off in weight lessens the mass. As a result, sluggers like Sosa will actually see the length of their moon shots decrease. In his book The Physics of Baseball, Yale physicist Robert K. Adair estimated that a corked bat will shave about a yard off a 400-foot tater.

More likely to benefit, then, are slap hitters who specialize in singles. But the advantage is more psychological than anything else—a corked bat is essentially a placebo for hitters on the skids. They also splinter more readily, which makes catching the cheaters a lot easier. Rather than risk long suspensions, Adair advises, players should opt for lighter bats, perhaps by using a lighter grain of wood. Or they can just choke up three-quarters of an inch, which produces the same uptick in bat speed as corking.

[madinmaryland]

40. Uhmmm. Dude. You are quoting the Myth Busters. How about a real link!

:rofl: