broadcasters/steroids

[smazza]

    As fans derisively chanted "Balco! Balco!" at Jason Giambi during the fourth inning of the Yankees-Red Sox game Friday night at Fenway Park, Fox's Joe Buck felt he could not avoid discussing the steroids issue that threatens baseball's credibility.

Buck noted that Giambi, Gary Sheffield and Barry Bonds "haven't been charged with anything." They were among about a dozen athletes who testified before the federal grand jury that investigated the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, a supplements maker known as Balco, and handed down four indictments, including two company executives and Bonds's trainer.

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Buck and Tim McCarver's discussion of the steroids scandal  from the stain on baseball's image caused by the more than 5 percent of players tested whose urine came back positive for steroids, to the impact on records set by steroid users  was necessary and largely perfunctory.

McCarver suggested that Mark McGwire's 70-home run season in 1998 "could have been steroid-induced" by androstenedione, a supplement described as a steroid precursor whose distribution the federal government is seeking to ban.

"And it's not just hitters who've taken steroids, it's also pitchers," Buck added.

Their discussion raised questions about how game announcers should deal with the issue. Announcers at Buck's and McCarver's level want to be fair, and they prepare diligently, but they are not working journalists expected to investigate steroid usage.

"As a broadcaster, I want to do a game; I don't want to talk about steroids," Buck said yesterday during Fox's annual baseball production seminar in Manhattan. "I don't care about Balco."

But hearing obvious lead-ins, like the "Balco!" chant, or seeing the change in Bonds's physique compels Buck to speak. He believes that his failure to comment will prompt criticism, especially on a broadcast like Friday's that was specially added to Fox's regular-season schedule, which begins May 22.

Buck said he cannot fail to notice "someone the size of Barry Bonds, a guy so gigantic his head looks like it's going to pop off," then added: "It's embarrassing when you roll a highlight of Bonds when he was with Pittsburgh. It's a different human being. How can you not say something about the difference in size?"

Mets pitcher Al Leiter does not think the Major League Baseball Players Association has effectively described the sport's steroid-testing program or made a sufficient public case for it.

Leiter, who did a star turn as an analyst last year during the National League Championship Series, turned to McCarver yesterday and said: "Timmy, do you know our steroid testing program? How it works?"

"No," McCarver said.

Leiter laid part of the blame for the failure to sell the program, as one that should be given a chance, on the perception that the players' union has a "condescending attitude." Clearly, Leiter is frustrated that the program is perceived as weak and that its provisions are not fully understood.

"Either we're not communicating it or we don't care," he said. He went on to defend the program as a legitimate one whose provisions have been ineffectively disseminated.

Gene Orza, the players association's chief operating officer, who attended the seminar, declined to put his responses on the record.

Ed Goren, the president of Fox Sports, cautioned to the group that announcers should deal with the steroids issue "efficiently and coherently," but that the challenge for them is how to call a game and somehow "in between pitches deal with this debate."

Still, the question is how much game announcers can add to the debate until more information is available. They should not ignore it, but they cannot harp on it. In the absence of news, repeating what has been reported is an unproductive exercise for an audience that prefers to watch games, which are cluttered by too many commercials and sponsored enhancements.

The best announcers can do for now is to familiarize themselves with the provisions of the steroid-testing program and the list of penalties, stay current with possible negotiations to stiffen the program, and remember that no ballplayer has been indicted or singled out by federal investigators

[Velcro]

Good find

[smazza]

i search the net to bring these finds to you

[KnightsRule]

i search the net to bring these finds to you

Even Buck mentions the size of Bonds head, HAHAHA.  I see that Balco founder has released 27 athletes that were being supplies with roids and both giambi and bonds made the list...

[smazza]

when you have testimony under oath I will  read it until than it is conjecture and speculation not worthy of comment