Anabolic Steroids Blog - iSteroids . com » Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Bill Romanowski: They were hateable athletes even before their steroid use has been exposed

An interesting article from Washington Post on September 15 which poses the question: “Who is, or was, the most hateable successful athlete?” Far more interesting is the result of the irreverent survey as three of the Top 5 athletes have been implicated in steroid scandal, particularly the BALCO steroid scandal. Major League Baseball’s Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens are tied at the number one spot while National Football League’s Bill Romanowski is at number 4.

On Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens:

Both men (Bonds and Clemens) enjoyed late-career renaissances that seemed remarkably impressive at first, until a pile of evidence made us all feel remarkably naïve. …But the beauty of both men is that they were hateable long before anyone began to contemplate what they were jabbing into themselves. Bonds became widely known as surly, arrogant and indifferent to fans back when he still played in Pittsburgh. He hardly endeared himself to the Pirates faithful by repeatedly referring to then-teammate Andy Van Slyke, a fan favorite and a very good player in his own right, as “The Great White Hope.” When Bonds returned to Pittsburgh for the first time as a Giant, he was booed with the cathartic venom of thousands of people finally telling the guy how they really felt about him. But Barry has nothing on Rog when it comes to charming remarks. After winning the 1986 AL MVP, Clemens was informed of Hank Aaron’s opinion that once-every-five-days players shouldn’t be eligible for the award. Clemens’s take? “I wish he were still playing. I’d probably crack his head open to show him how valuable I was.” Nice. Then there was the time during the 1990 ALCS when he told Oakland pitcher Bob Welch, a recovering alcoholic, “Have another beer, be a man.” And who can forget Clemens throwing a bat shard at nemesis Mike Piazza during the World Series? Yup, both Bonds and Clemens are a lot alike. Mostly in not being liked.

On Bill Romanowski:

Many think that, with his nonstop antics, Terrell Owens is spitting in the face of the game. Well, here’s a guy who really did hock one, right into the face of an opponent. That’s just one of Romanowski’s heinous acts; he also kicked a player in the head, broke a teammate’s eye socket with a punch and snapped an opponent’s finger. Oh yeah, and he later admitted to loading up on steroids, so he was a dirty player and a cheat.

The three athletes’ named were dragged down when the BALCO steroid distribution network was exposed by the media, notably by The San Francisco Chronicle journalists Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams. The two reporters later on collaborated with Game of Shadows, a book chronicling the BALCO scandal.

In March 2006, former US Senator George J. Mitchell was appointed by MLB Commissioner Bud Selig to lead the investigation regarding use of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs in the league. Selig was pressured by the controversies created by the publication of the Game of Shadows. In December 2007, the explosive Mitchell Report was released, which implicated more than 80 former and current baseball players.

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