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BY T.J. QUINN
NY DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER
Saturday, March 5th, 2005
Barry Bonds offered a litany of excuses for using steroids yesterday, although he stopped short of a confession.
In a 30-minute conversation with the Oakland Tribune and ESPN, Bonds said reporters are paying far too much attention to doping in baseball.
"You're talking about something that wasn't even illegal at the time," Bonds said, perhaps referring to the fact that baseball did not test for steroids until the 2003 season. Steroids were and are illegal under the federal Controlled Substances Act.
"All this stuff about supplements, protein shakes, whatever. Man, it's not like this is the Olympics," he told reporters in Scottsdale, Ariz. "We don't train four years for, like, a 10-second (event). We go 162 games. You've got to come back day after day after day. We're entertainers. If I can't go out there and somebody pays $60 for a ticket, and I'm not in the lineup, who's getting cheated? Not me. There are far worse things like cocaine, heroin and those types of things.
"So we all make mistakes. We all do things. We need to turn the page. We need to forget about the past and let us play the game. We're entertainers. Let us entertain."
Bonds told the grand jury in the BALCO steroid trafficking case that he took substances described by law enforcement as steroids, but was not aware what they were. He has not publicly admitted using steroids, however, and during a Feb. 22 press conference called reporters "liars."
Yesterday, Bonds even repeated one of his eyebrow-raising comments at that press conference, when he said he couldn't define cheating.
"You want to define cheating in America?" he said yesterday. "When they make a shirt in Korea for a dollar-fifty and sell it here for 500 bucks? And you ask me what cheating means? I'll tell you how I cheat. I cheat because I'm my daddy's son. He (Bobby Bonds) taught me the game. He taught me things nobody else knows. So that's how I cheat. I'm my daddy's son."
As for his own son, Nikolai, Bonds takes a strong anti-steroids stance.
"It busts me up when they show some teenager who's been on steroids and his life is suddenly messed up," Bonds said. "It's the parents' job to be a parent to that kid. It's like when my son says to me, 'Aren't you my friend?' Hell no, I'm not your friend. I'll be a friendly dad, but I'm not your best friend. I love you. The system doesn't love you. You think the system is going to do for you what I will? I want what's best for you. I tell my boy, 'If I see you doing steroids, I'll bust you up.' And I mean it."
Bonds also touched on the subject of anatomy.
"What's all this about my head size? My hat size is the same today as when I started," he said. "My head hasn't grown. I've always been a 7-1/4 to a 7-3/8 my whole career. You can go check."
On the other hand, Bonds had hair when he came up and now shaves his pate clean.
"They say it (steroids) makes your testicles shrink," he continued. "I can tell you my testicles are the same size. They haven't shrunk. They're the same and work just the same as they always have."
NY DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER
Saturday, March 5th, 2005
Barry Bonds offered a litany of excuses for using steroids yesterday, although he stopped short of a confession.
In a 30-minute conversation with the Oakland Tribune and ESPN, Bonds said reporters are paying far too much attention to doping in baseball.
"You're talking about something that wasn't even illegal at the time," Bonds said, perhaps referring to the fact that baseball did not test for steroids until the 2003 season. Steroids were and are illegal under the federal Controlled Substances Act.
"All this stuff about supplements, protein shakes, whatever. Man, it's not like this is the Olympics," he told reporters in Scottsdale, Ariz. "We don't train four years for, like, a 10-second (event). We go 162 games. You've got to come back day after day after day. We're entertainers. If I can't go out there and somebody pays $60 for a ticket, and I'm not in the lineup, who's getting cheated? Not me. There are far worse things like cocaine, heroin and those types of things.
"So we all make mistakes. We all do things. We need to turn the page. We need to forget about the past and let us play the game. We're entertainers. Let us entertain."
Bonds told the grand jury in the BALCO steroid trafficking case that he took substances described by law enforcement as steroids, but was not aware what they were. He has not publicly admitted using steroids, however, and during a Feb. 22 press conference called reporters "liars."
Yesterday, Bonds even repeated one of his eyebrow-raising comments at that press conference, when he said he couldn't define cheating.
"You want to define cheating in America?" he said yesterday. "When they make a shirt in Korea for a dollar-fifty and sell it here for 500 bucks? And you ask me what cheating means? I'll tell you how I cheat. I cheat because I'm my daddy's son. He (Bobby Bonds) taught me the game. He taught me things nobody else knows. So that's how I cheat. I'm my daddy's son."
As for his own son, Nikolai, Bonds takes a strong anti-steroids stance.
"It busts me up when they show some teenager who's been on steroids and his life is suddenly messed up," Bonds said. "It's the parents' job to be a parent to that kid. It's like when my son says to me, 'Aren't you my friend?' Hell no, I'm not your friend. I'll be a friendly dad, but I'm not your best friend. I love you. The system doesn't love you. You think the system is going to do for you what I will? I want what's best for you. I tell my boy, 'If I see you doing steroids, I'll bust you up.' And I mean it."
Bonds also touched on the subject of anatomy.
"What's all this about my head size? My hat size is the same today as when I started," he said. "My head hasn't grown. I've always been a 7-1/4 to a 7-3/8 my whole career. You can go check."
On the other hand, Bonds had hair when he came up and now shaves his pate clean.
"They say it (steroids) makes your testicles shrink," he continued. "I can tell you my testicles are the same size. They haven't shrunk. They're the same and work just the same as they always have."
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