Except for him.
…. When Barry Bonds’ 2003 grand jury testimony was unsealed last week, media outlets jumped on a particular portion of the transcript like a powerlifter on a barbell.
“Blood-test results show Bonds’ testosterone soaring,” read one report.
Bonds had “a drug test from seven years ago that showed an elevated testosterone level,” said another.
Bonds “had elevated testosterone levels in January 2001,” yet another said.
From ESPN to USA Today to your local shopper, it was widely reported that the transcript showed that Barry Bonds had a sharply elevated testosterone level in 2001, indicating another “failed test.”
Only one problem: In my opinion, the reporting is not accurate.
That’s Victor Conte, who, for some reason, continues to defend Barry Bonds. Now, why would he do that? Why would Conte write an editorial for the NY Daily News in which he details exactly why the horseshit we keep reading is just that, horseshit? Why is Conte still defending Bonds?
Anyone have any ideas?
UPDATE: Lupica has ideas, and to characterize them as draconian and patently absurd is to give them too much credence:
…. You take illegal drugs in sports and you get caught and then you lie about it and you go to jail. That’s how it works now.
That’s how it works now. That’s some way to look at things. Again, the question isn’t whether Roger Clemens or Barry Bonds should be prosecuted; the question is whether anything any athlete does warrants this kind of money and time and effort by an already disappointing Justice Department.
The sentences handed down in these cases tell you all you need to know to see what a farce this is. Marion Jones got 6 months, and she was sentenced by a judge who had the gall to lecture her about being a good parent while he was taking her away from her young child for lying. Victor Conte, the mastermind of BALCO, was out of jail in less than a year. These cases are dog and pony shows, plain and simple. Disgraceful misappropriation of resources, for little purpose other than career advancement for assholes like Novitzky, or pious moralizing and posturing by whoever stands to gain the most by proving they will save the children.
That’s how it works now, lie, and go to jail. Steal from taxpayers, and have a library named for you. Torture and kill, and get a raise. Lie about playing a game, go to jail.
We have reached the end of the road, absurdity taken to it’s bizarre conclusion.
14 Backtalkers
[...] John wrote a fantastic post today on “…. Nobody knows”Here’s ONLY a quick extractExcept for him. …. When Barry Bonds’ 2003 grand jury testimony was unsealed last week, media outlets jumped on a particular portion of the transcript like a powerlifter on a barbell. “Blood-test results show Bonds’ testosterone soaring … [...]
[...] Original post here [...]
Perhaps Victor Conte is the source of the problem. Why believe that anything is says is truthful?
ljl,
conte gains nothing by supporting bonds, and everything if he says that bonds indeed did ped’s
there is no there there
there is no case….there is no smoking gun…there is just a giant waste of taxpayer money
Care to elaborate what you mean by being the source of the problem, and why if that were in fact the case, that would be relevant to motive?
I think Victor Conte and Greg Anderson both remain loyal to Barry Bonds because Barry Bonds remained loyal to them when he went before the Grand Jury. With too noted exceptions (Kimberly Bell and Steve Askins) Barry seems to get great loyalty from his friends. Could it be that privately Barry is no where near the Jerk the Press has painted him to be? Could it be the Kimberly Bell and Steve Askins actually tried to extort and cheat Barry repectively of money and they are actually the jerks?
To quote Barry Bonds, “Opps”. Obviously I ment Steve Hoskins not Steve Askins.
Opps again. I also ment with two noted exceptions not with “too noted exceptions”.
[...] I can’t recall any SF talent making anywhere NEAR that kind of change. That w…www.radio-info.com??. Nobody knowsFebruary 2004 – January 2004 – December 2003 – November 2003 – October 2003 – September 2003 – [...]
My read on Conte is Snake Oil Salesman. He marketed products and services to athletes that probably had little or nothing to do with “performance enhancement.” He’s probably on to something with some of these drugs and chemicals, but his lack of expertise in medicine, physiology, biochemistry, etc. raises my suspicions. (If you told top athletes that a couple of laps around the rosary beads would help them get better they’d do it.) So why defend Bonds? One, Bonds is likely telling the truth about his infrequent and very minimal interaction with Conte. There’s no animus. Two, it helps his business. His market is a narrow subset of people (world class performers). Defending Bonds is defending potential future clients. I’m also willing to entertain the obvious notion–he’s telling the truth because, well, it is true. The article in the Daily News talks about a tiny little blip on a single–alleged–test. It indicates almost nothing, as Conte points out. It doesn’t hurt Conte to defend Bonds, his public reputation has already been destroyed by his own conviction and the sad Marion Jones affair. She goes to prison today–what a terrible over-reaction to a non-crime!
There is a BIG difference between testosterone and “free testosterone”. The report DID NOT say his testosterone was high, it said his “Free Testosterone” was just outside the high end of normal.
You must have gone to public school.
Did you bother to read Victor Conte’s article linked to from the NY Daily News? Thought not. Looks like your private education isn’t doing you much good when all you do is believe the BS MSM feeds you.
ladies and gentlemen,
today we discovered what our justice dept in interested in prosecuting
they love going after ballplayers….and politicians who bed hookers
think the bonds case is a fubar? check out the spitzer case
somehow the feds got his bank to monitor his accounts….looking for a crime yet to be committed
the bank noticed some wierd transfers….funny, but the dude is a multimillionaire, and he was transfering thousands, not hundreds of thousands
they reported this to the irs….who reported it to the feds….who thought he was hiding bribes……bribes?????
why would an independently wealthy man, with his eye on a possible future wh run take bribes in the few thousands
no apparent source to those bribes either….shoot, doesnt the irs know what he makes per year in dividends?
then, lo and behold, they discover that the monies are going to a front for an escort service
so there are no bribes, and paying an escort service in of itself is not a crime
but does that stop the feds….nope
they keep going…find out that the escort service girls also provide sex…and bang….instant scandal
this is the most corrupt justice dept ever in the history of this great union
neither bonds nor spitzer will ever be convicted, but the repugs have done their jobs and ruined their careers
good job…..asshats
“…. You take illegal drugs in sports and you get caught and then you lie about it and you go to jail. That’s how it works now.”
WHY? Don’t your aunt Edna and your cousin Elmer take steroids for their bunions? Didn’t grandma Edweena get caught with a bag of PCP and just has to attend some NA meetings? Doesn’t workout freak uncle Horacio take blood thinners for when he crosses the Rockies on his unicycle? Don’t I have elevated levels of testoterone as indicated by my baldness and hoardes of women dogging my every step?
Yeah, I’M silly. Lupica makes it sound like Bonds was eating puppies in the clubhouse. Shall we send our favorite starlet to the big house because it’s obvious those are implants? Are we SURE that today’s media hunk’s hairstylist is licensed in the state of California? Maybe Bonds is just a famous figure in an entertainment industry, who people paid a bunch to watch what he did well. Yegads, these are runners and baseball players, not axe-murderers.
“That’s how it works now”… god help us all.