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4xchampncountin
Guest
According to a story floating around, Jason Giambi of the New York Yankees allegedly admited to a grand jury that he took illegal steroids.
The grand jury is investigating the actions of BALCO, a sports supplement company who supplies Giambi, Barry Bonds and many other high profile athletes with performance inhancing drugs. Someone allegedly got their hands on a transcript from the case where Giambi admitted taking injectable steroids supplied by his BALCO agent and personal trainer. Giambi said he knew nothing of Barry Bonds or any other player taking any type of steroids, saying those things were kept very private.
There are many, many ramifications if this turns out to be true. There is talk that the Yankees may try to void the remaining $80 million on his contract saying that his statistics were inflated by the steroids, basically tricking the Yankees into giving him the 7 year $120 million contract they gave him to steal him from the Oakland A's. Although I can't imagine that getting very far. The players union will fight that to the death. The union's stance is that the collective bargaining agreement basically outweighs anything in a particular players contract. The agreement states that a player gets basically no penalty for a first time drug use, mostly intended for cocaine, hippie lettuce, etc. Although it would almost surely apply to steroids also. The real reason the Yankees want to void the rest of his contract is that the guy is a stiff. He had a couple of good years and the Yankees overreacted and paid him a king's ransom to get him from the A's via free agency.
People are saying the game is now tainted. I say that is complete crap. If anyone thinks that Giambi is the only player on steroids they are completely naive. These guys are on creatine, ripped fuel, and hundreds of other performance enhancing substances every day. Kurt Gibson's memorable home run in the world series wouldn't have been possible without some heavy narcotics allowing him to pinch hit with a severely injured leg. These guys get pharmaceutical help every single day. To say that even if Giambi took steroids (which seems pretty likely) that every thing he did on the field is tainted is rediculous.
If Barry Bonds is found to have used banned substances that doesn't mean he didn't hit every one of those 700+ home runs he has hit.
There is not a substance in the world that will allow you to put the bat on the ball when it is coming in there at 90+ mph and is sinking, slicing, curving, tailing and anything else.
The grand jury is investigating the actions of BALCO, a sports supplement company who supplies Giambi, Barry Bonds and many other high profile athletes with performance inhancing drugs. Someone allegedly got their hands on a transcript from the case where Giambi admitted taking injectable steroids supplied by his BALCO agent and personal trainer. Giambi said he knew nothing of Barry Bonds or any other player taking any type of steroids, saying those things were kept very private.
There are many, many ramifications if this turns out to be true. There is talk that the Yankees may try to void the remaining $80 million on his contract saying that his statistics were inflated by the steroids, basically tricking the Yankees into giving him the 7 year $120 million contract they gave him to steal him from the Oakland A's. Although I can't imagine that getting very far. The players union will fight that to the death. The union's stance is that the collective bargaining agreement basically outweighs anything in a particular players contract. The agreement states that a player gets basically no penalty for a first time drug use, mostly intended for cocaine, hippie lettuce, etc. Although it would almost surely apply to steroids also. The real reason the Yankees want to void the rest of his contract is that the guy is a stiff. He had a couple of good years and the Yankees overreacted and paid him a king's ransom to get him from the A's via free agency.
People are saying the game is now tainted. I say that is complete crap. If anyone thinks that Giambi is the only player on steroids they are completely naive. These guys are on creatine, ripped fuel, and hundreds of other performance enhancing substances every day. Kurt Gibson's memorable home run in the world series wouldn't have been possible without some heavy narcotics allowing him to pinch hit with a severely injured leg. These guys get pharmaceutical help every single day. To say that even if Giambi took steroids (which seems pretty likely) that every thing he did on the field is tainted is rediculous.
If Barry Bonds is found to have used banned substances that doesn't mean he didn't hit every one of those 700+ home runs he has hit.
There is not a substance in the world that will allow you to put the bat on the ball when it is coming in there at 90+ mph and is sinking, slicing, curving, tailing and anything else.