The RAB Radio Show – February 9, 2009, Episode 13
ByIn light of the A-Rod steroids revelation, we decided to do a special edition of the RAB Radio Show. We totally winged the show, deciding that an agenda wouldn’t accomplish much. This story is still very young, and there’s so much we don’t know (you’ll notice at one point that Mike and I say “we don’t know” a hundred or so times). We just thought we’d let it all out there.
People are going to get sick of talking about this soon. Some are already sick of it. By Thursday, our regular podcast date, it’ll be a tired subject, so we got together to talk about it tonight, in hopes that we won’t have to deal with every story on the topic from now until A-Rod issues his statement. That’s really the next big thing to happen in this saga.
Oh, how could I forget to mention that we’re joined this time by Ben. He provided an excellent take on the situation last night, and lends his thoughts to our discussion. If only we could have him on every week.
Onto the podcast. It is available in a number of formats. You can download it here by right clicking on that link and selecting Save As. If you want to play it in your browser, just left click the link. You can also subscribe to the podcast feed, which will send it to you every Thursday. You can also subscribe in iTunes. Finally, we have the embedded audio player below.
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BEN!
He sounds so awesome…it is really cool to have his opinions in a podcast.
Guys, the podcasts sound great with the three of you together. Three distinctive points of view, like the dynamic.
I totally agree with Mike. Most people have forgotten about the people that have confessed, he should admit to his mistake.
around 10:50ish in the podcast
It would be all kinds of awesome if the code list was wrong…
I was thinking about that…
Maybe they Arod and Bonds had different effects on his body? Bonds grew a huge head, Arod grew purple lips.
Didn’t Bonds’ head grow like 2 inches?
Dunno, apparently his shoe size also grew.
Heh. Jamal blasting crappy music.
“When did steroids get into the sport?”
When I was a kid in the 70′s and 80′s, there was an axiom in baseball that “You don’t want to lift weights”. The theory was you added bulk, it slowed your bat down. But something changed with the late 80′s Oakland A’s dynasty team. McGwire and Canseco were the bash brothers, they were lifting weights and dominating Baseball.
So weightlifting came into Baseball somewhere in the 1980′s, and (if you’ve ever been around a gym, unsurprisingly) steroids soon followed.
House has admitted to using steroids in the 1970s, making him one of the earliest players to admit to using performance-enhancing drugs. In an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, he described his use of steroids as “a failed experiment”, although he increased from around 190 pounds to around 220 while using them. He viewed the experience as a failure since the extra muscle did not enhance his substandard 82-MPH fastball, while the drugs contributed to knee problems, eventually necessitating a total of seven operations. He claims to have stopped using them after learning about the potential long-term effects of steroid use in college classes during the off-season.
House has stated that “six or seven” pitchers on every major league staff in the 1970s were “fiddling” with steroids or human growth hormone.
I don’t doubt that for a second, but as you said it was a failed experiment. Somewhere along the way the drugs must have improved as well, BALCO was famous for having new, improved PEDs in many different forms with fewer side effects. BALCO was founded in 1984, that sounds about right to me.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BALCO
well house says it was a failed experiment for him…but it coulda worked for other guys
It seems to me that it first became prevalent in the mid to late 80′s. Especially with the bash bros. A’s teams. In fact the first time I heard a reference to steroids was it the 88 world series. Bob Costas makes a remark about Conseco. something to the effect that the ball wasnt the only thing that was juiced that year. It was an odd coment for the times and Vin Scully just kind of blew it off.
when they came to light, and when they were started being used is different
True. I just find it fascinating that thier was suspicion in the press as far back as 88 and was pretty much ignored until the whole Mcgwire, andro in his locker connection in 98.
The trade was Bonds for Alejandro Peña(pitcher), Keith Mitchell(OF) and a prospect to be named.
Joe, your Dad is a smart man.
Mike, it manifests itself in big spots with him trying to hit the ball a mile for his own personal glory, rather than hit it where it’s pitched. Its in the way his ABs change in clutch situations, where he “gets too big” by his own admission. That’s where a “Me first” player gets it wrong. As you said, he simply tries too hard. But that doesn’t refute the accusation, it supports it.
Alex will get his stats no matter what, he’s too talented not to. It’s about him blending in with the rest of the team in key situations and getting the job done, instead of trying to be a hero. Its about doing whatever it takes to win. God forbid he takes a outside fastball the other way instead of trying to yank it to the moon.
This is responding to Joe’s Dad saying Alex is a “Me first” guy. I should have posted that at the top.
Good podcast guys.
I personally think Arod is waiting to see if the whole list of players come out before admitting to it. I doubt the list comes in the next couple of days though so we will see what happens.
interesting read
http://grg51.typepad.com/stero.....ank_a.html
not saying its true, just interesting
That is an interesting article. It would be awesome if it were true.
btw nice job guys
Wow, I thought steroids was a late 80′s early 90′s thing. A couple of comments here suggest it goes as far as the 70′s. I had no idea that sort of stuff was well known in baseball back then. It brings up a lot of questions about a lot of players like Nolan Ryan and how he threw so many innings(299 in 1977) and even if Reggie Jackson used steroids to enhance his on field performance. I guess this problem is way more wide spread than I thought.
Just did some more research, the first anabolic steroid was developed in 1935 by synthesizing from cholesterol. It was first used in the 40′s. LOL way earlier than I thought.
from what i remember from this pointless science class my college makes me take…cholesteral and steroids come from the same family of something.
i slept alot of that class
I somehow hope that now that A-Rod’s stats mean less that he will be less consumed by them and become a greater team player. His statistical legacy is tarnished, but if he carries the yanks to the WS through October his career will have new meaning.
Fail.
Today, I realized that my signed A-Rod jersey is worth less than a left-handed catcher’s mitt. FML.
haha FML for sure.
look at the dumb tshirts people created
http://www.zazzle.com/a+roid+t.....te_created
Its not even that funny, newspapers must have been waiting for an allegation just to use “a-roid”
Yeah those shirts are alright, but they won’t beat this gem that I found:
(I didn’t make it, I just found it)
http://tinyurl.com/b8zv97
hahahah classic.
Man I really thought it was thursday, I got all excited because I thought tomorrow was friday. Way to fuck up my week.
Good show, guys. You summed up how we are all feeling in one way or another. If A-Rod did this and everything points to that he did the best thing he could do is own up and then say he is paying off all his debts, setting up a trust fund for his kids, and is then donating half or more of his MLB salary to a charity that he and the Yanks chose together. Something to help people in these economic hard times. He got that enormous 10 year contract because he was supposed to chase the HR record as a clean player. He went on 60 Minutes after MR came out and took on that mantle. He got the contract under fraudulent pretense. Give a good chunk of the money back to people that need help during this recession and then go play your ass off for the next nine years and restore what you can of your legacy.
Personally I’m not one to tell people how to spend their money. If he wants to buy an island then he should, he earned the money fairly. (go ask bud Selig, the only true criminal in the steroid matter.)
I wish it would hit Itunes faster….
-Scott
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