The first is an African American son of a famous baseball player, born in 1964 and weaned on the game by spending the greater part of his youth hanging around the San Francisco Giants clubhouse and dugout. His father was a star player, and best friends with Hall of Fame inductee and All-American baseball hero, Willie Mays, who also happens to be the first man's godfather. The pedigree goes even further, as another Hall of Fame player, Reggie Jackson, is a distant cousin. His aunt Rosie finished 8th in the women's 80 meter hurdles at the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.
The second is a Caucasian man, born in Plano Texas in 1971, with no athletic pedigree to fall back upon.
The first man went to Arizona State University, a hot-bed of college baseball supremacy long before college baseball was shown on ESPN. The man was drafted number 1 by the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6th overall. After 1 year in the minor leagues honing his considerable skills, Barry Bonds was called up to the major leagues to play for the Pirates. In 1993, Barry signed a lucrative contract to go home and play for the Giants, his life-long wish.
Man number 2 became a professional cyclist in 1987 at the age of 16, and in 1991 won the National Championship. In 1992, he finished 14th in the Olympic Cycling Championships, and in 1996, he finished 12th. Between those 4 years, he did manage to win a competition or two, and was recognized as a talented cyclist, to say the least. At the end of 1996, Lance Armstrong was diagnosed with testicular cancer; a cancer that had spread to his brain and his lungs and was now considered life-threatening. He went through an excruciatingly difficult year of radiation and chemo therapy; one in which his strong athletic frame was decimated by the disease and the drugs meant to treat it.
These two men are linked and they're not linked together in this year of our Lord, Two Thousand and Six.
They are linked and they are not linked? What the hell does that mean? Lemme 'splain Luzy...
Both men reached the pinnacle of their professions. Following Lance Armstrong's recovery from cancer and the subsequent treatment, he went on to win 7 consecutive Tour De France road races, the most grueling and celebrated race of them all. He was number 1 in the world, and he stayed there until his retirement.
Barry Bonds set the single season home run record of 73, and has recently passed the legendary Babe Ruth to sit at second on the all time list behind Hank Aaron. As of this evening, Bonds has 720 home runs - 6 beyond Ruth and 35 shy of Aaron.
These first bits of career information link these two men as bona fide superstars in the world of sports; of that there is no question. The second link they share is a dubious one, indeed. Both are and have been the subject of a world of conjecture regarding the use of anabolic steroids, specialty "designer steroids", so-called because their chemical make-up renders them impervious to testing, and suspicions of any number of other performance enhancing drugs. The use of such drugs is of course forbidden in each sport, and it is also illegal to possess or use such drugs without a prescription from a doctor for a quantified medical problem. Neither man has ever tested positive for any illegal substance, but both have been accused repeatedly for years now. Of course they both deny their use, and they both want to protect their athletic stature and historical place...and rightfully so.
Here is the part where they are not linked. Barry Bonds has a reputation as a surly, condescending, arrogant, elitist athlete. Lance Armstrong has the reputation of being a friendly, outgoing, courageous cancer survivor, overcoming the greatest odds ever to become a champion. Bonds is black...Armstrong white. Bonds plays baseball, an essential part of the American sports scene - Americana itself, if you will. Armstrong cycles, and not many people give a hoot about cycling. Bonds started his career tall and thin, but still he possessed the type of skills that had many believing he would end up in the hall of fame. Now Bonds looks as if he could bench press the Empire State Building. Armstrong was above average for the most part, and after enduring all he endured, came back to be the greatest in his sport - ever.
The questions about both are quite obvious.
In less than 1 year, between 1999 and 2000, Bonds put on nearly 35 lbs of weight, while lowering his body fat from 18% to something close to 12%, and his arms, chest, legs, neck and head seemed to nearly double in size. He went from a darn good home run hitter to a flippin' beast who hit the most monumental length home runs anyone had ever seen, and all of this while going from age 36 to 37, a time when every other ballplayer in history started the inevitable downward spiral towards retirement. This was also during the time period that many, many former baseball players are coming out now and saying steroid use was rampant and out of control.
Armstrong competed in a sport that had doping issues as far back as the early 1960's, with a rider in the Tokyo Olympics being so hopped up on amphetamines he collapsed and died during the Olympic race. It was a well know fact for nearly 40 years that cycling was dope-central, and the only way to compete was to become a doper yourself, otherwise you couldn't keep up because the playing field was not level. But here was a guy who not only survived cancer and it's devastating effects on the body, but he came back after the recovery and zoomed forward from a middle of the pack guy to the best ever, as if the cancer had never occurred and he was always that good to begin with.
One is revered, and one is reviled. One is facing grand jury proceedings regarding potentially lying about the use of steroids, and the other is hosting ESPN's ESPY awards for athletic excellence in the previous year this coming weekend. As a matter of fact, the awards were taped last week, and it has been reported that Barry Bonds showed up, tuxedo and all, and was told there were no seats available for him. I find that interesting...ESPN...Mecca, for lack of a better term with regard to sports and sports programming, had no room for the man that could very possibly be the greatest home run hitter of all time? Really?
Personally, I don't like either of them. I can see Bonds and his arrogance - that's not very difficult. But I have always had my suspicions that something was amiss about Armstrong as well, even before the accusations started. There was something about the way he conducted himself that made me uneasy. If you've ever known anyone that went through the whole chemo/radiation thing....and I admit I've only known two people that have...it has been my experience that walking down the street and going to the movies after it was all over was as exciting as it ever got. I've never heard of anyone going through all that - then becoming something they never were to begin with - and I'm just talking about normal people doing normal things. Not world class athletes doing world class athletic things.
Do I think Bonds and/or Armstrong did steroids? That's not for me to say. Do I think there is a double standard of treatment going on here? That I have no problem saying. If Bonds is a suspect and is going to be found guilty in the court of public opinion, then Armstrong should be as well. If Armstrong is given a free pass - based upon his word that he didn't do it and a lack of scientific proof - then Bonds should be given the same pass.
But that is not how this thing is working.
You see, Bonds has messed with too many of our precious numbers. 73 home runs in a season. Babe Ruth's 714 washed away. And now he's setting his sights on our most precious sports number of all- 755.
Armstrong threatens nothing. He's a cyclist, and nobody gives a rats-ass about cycling. He conquered cancer, and is rightfully a role model for that accomplishment, and we don't want that tarnished. Problem is - if the accomplishments after the medical accomplishment are bogus, what kind of message is that to send...especially if the recipients of the message are kids?
Especially... if we find out somewhere down the road there were some things done that were improper, and we choose to further brush it aside and ignore it as we seem to be doing now.
Think about it...
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