Luke Waltons Forehead presented by the Sports Dude.

Here is a link to the ESPN interview with him about it, give it a read. Here is my take.

Look, steroids or not, the dude has always been the guy the media loves to drag through the mud. Some of it he has brought on himself, he is a class-A jerk, but some of it he does not so deserve. Whether you think he is on the juice or not makes no difference to me, I really could care less either way. But I think the Congressional Hearings brought this on, if you ask me. He saw what McGwire went through, how they grilled him and all but made him look like a scared school girl. The thing about McGwire is, however, he was the anti-Barry to the media. He was well liked; he was a “hero”, even when they found the human growth hormone in his locker baseball fans forgave him. But Barry, we have been looking for that steroid so hard we all but have planted it there. I think Barry saw how Mark was treated and said “Damn, they loved him, can you imagine how much worse it is going to get for me since they hate me?” I think he now realizes that this season, with the all but guaranteed passing of Ruth, the pursuit of Aaron, that the media, the fans and the general public would be too much. Like the dude or not, but he still is human. I think he realized with this historic chase he was about to embark on this season that the asterisk may have been too big, too heavy of a burden to have over his head all season long. Like I said, I think after watching Mark McGwire and how they treated him at the hearing, how everyone is speaking of him now, and knowing that the public viewed McGwire as a “hero” just made him say “Shit, I am screwed!” Basically, I just don’t think he wants to face it.

Is he a punk, a puss, a scared little bitch? Who knows, but “juiced” or not he still is a human being. I just think he didn’t want to go through it and this is his way to make an exit and just say “forget it!” It would have been nice to see him at Comerica Park this season, but now it seems like that will never happen. I remember him at his press conference at the beginning of spring training being grilled about steroids then. When asked about steroids as a form of cheating he said “As cheating? I don't -- I don't know what cheating is. I don't know cheating, if steroid is going to help you in baseball. I just don't believe it. I don't believe steroids can help you, eye/hand coordination, technically hit a baseball, I just don't believe it and that's just my opinion.” In my opinion, I think steroids may help a little, but not enough to where it makes that big of a difference. Do they need to stop, do they need do get to the bottom of this? Yes, they do, but they also need to leave well enough alone. In Bonds case, steroids or not, he is one of the greatest hitters to ever play this game and I would have like to have seen him go out on his own terms, in his own way. Maybe he still will, but something tells me this may be an exit strategy buy him to get out while he still can. A shame really, but hey, it is what it is right? Later – the sports dude.