It is convenient that steroids are bad for you and thus are made illegal. They make you stronger than you can be by other means. People (fans) feel this artificial strength cheapens the game. That is why they dont like Bonds' records/potential breaking of records. Hank Aaron did it and he was sknnier. So you could argue he was more talented. He didnt have as much raw strength to make up for not hitting the ball squarely.
What if there were the means to get "steroid big", but safely? Would people have a problem with someone essentially born to be 190lbs, becoming 240lbs and mashing HR's? Protein, Creatine, and whatnot make people bigger than they would be otherwise. Maybe not 190/240, but 190/215. Working out makes people bigger than they were born to be.
Where do you draw the line as to what is "artificial" strength? I'd argue that ANY supplement is artificial. Is weight lifting artificial? Doesnt seem like something that would happen during the normal course of the day, unless you sought it out.
If someone went from 190 to 240, without illegal steroids, would you recognize their talent? If so what makes Bonds different? He is still as talented as that guy but got his strength from elsewhere (albeit illegally).
What if Bonds' genes or metabolism prevented him from being 240 no matter how much he worked out and ate? Is the other guy to blame for having good genes? Does Bonds need to do steroids to even the playing field in that case.
Frank Howard was 6'7" 270 lbs. He was lucky. Whats wrong with somebody not that big, somehow becoming that big and hitting HR's.
Some people are naturally bigger than others, do we have to make weight classes for HR's and other stats?
Do we need separate leagues?
I the future there could be things that are as effective as steroids, that are perfectly safe. Are records achieved by those people going to be cheapened. Probably not. So why are Bonds' achievements cheapened?
This subject is much more gray than people think. Like I said it is convenient that steroids are unsafe and illegal, because they work too good.
