Bookshelf
| Game of Shadows, Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams |
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Game of Shadows, by Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams **** I'm sure most of you have heard of this book, or, at least, Barry Bonds and his pursuit of Hank Aaron's home run record. This is the story of how Bonds became jealous of the attention being garnered by the big sluggers of the late 1990s, Mark McQuire and Sammy Sosa, and decided to do something about it. It's also the story of how a Bay Area shyster by the name of Victor Conte somehow inserted himself the world of big-time professional athletics and brought down some pretty big names (with more sure to come). This is essentially a very sad book. Two things hit me right in the face: 1) Athletes are not brain surgeons -- the stories throughout this book will shock you. I know these folks want to win, but how can they be so stupid? 2) We really do turn a blind eye in this country -- it's not that Victor Conte got away with handing out steroids like candy that really bothers me, it's how damned easy it was. He was blatant in what he was doing and noone seemed to care. This is a fascinating book that gives you a behind-the-scenes look at some real low-lifes. The part about the government investigation is interesting, but the criminals are so stupid it didn't really require Elliot Ness to trip them up. What really intersted me, though, was just waht a disgusting human being Barry Bonds just happens to be. If you already didn't like him (which I didn't), you'll really hate him when you finish (which I do). This is a good, fast read that gave me a lot of insight into how sad it will be when "Hammerin' Hank's" record falls.
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| Last Updated on Tuesday, 23 September 2008 10:58 |