Collideoscope

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

If anyone had any doubt that Barry Bonds used steroids, that doubt should soon go away. Two San Francisco Chronicle reporters have written a book that contains step for step details on what drugs Bonds used and how he used them. The alleged facts were compiled from grand jury testimony stemming from the BALCO scandal and from eyewitnesses.

Beginning in 1998 with injections in his buttocks of Winstrol, a powerful steroid, Barry Bonds took a wide array of performance-enhancing drugs over at least five seasons in a massive doping regimen that grew more sophisticated as the years went on, according to Game of Shadows, a book written by two San Francisco Chronicle reporters at the forefront of reporting on the BALCO steroid distribution scandal.

(Click here for an excerpt from Shadows, which details Bonds' steroid use. It is also available in the March 13 issue of Sports Illustrated, which hits newsstands beginning on Wednesday. Shadows will be published on March 27.)

The authors, Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams, describe in sometimes day-to-day, drug-by-drug detail how often and how deeply Bonds engaged in the persistent doping. For instance, the authors write that by 2001, when Bonds broke Mark McGwire's single-season home-run record (70) by belting 73, Bonds was using two designer steroids referred to as the Cream and the Clear, as well as insulin, human growth hormone, testosterone decanoate (a fast-acting steroid known as Mexican beans) and trenbolone, a steroid created to improve the muscle quality of cattle.

BALCO tracked Bonds' usage with doping calendars and folders -- detailing drugs, quantities, intervals and Bonds' testosterone levels -- that wound up in the hands of federal agents upon their Sept. 3, 2003 raid of the Burlingame, Calif., business.

It's amazing to me that this book has caused such an uproar in the sports world when it has been evident for years that Bonds has used steroids! I guess this book provides the hard facts that people need before accepting the truth.