OK. Serious BALCO questions... Please no idiocy

I just read this...

http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/news/story?id=3337583&campaign=rss&source=ESPNHeadlines

Victor Conte is hyping a book, as a lot of you know, and if you know much about his history he is sort of a P.T. Barnun type -- he'll sling whatever he can to earn a buck (not even saying this as a criticism. God bless the guy if it works).

I just have seen a pattern for a long, long time--maybe others don't. He selectively throws people under the bus, and a lot depends on whether those people get in the way of his ability to earn off of the notorious fame he has achieved. I always contrasted Marion Jones with Barry Bonds, for example. Jones was penniless and of no use to Conte, and she all but defiantly called him a liar. So he threw her under the bus. Bonds, I suspect still serves some purpose for the guy--whether he is paying Conte for his silence (and I have no knowledge about this being true; just something I wouldn't be surprised by) or whether Conte's salesmanlike mind sees potential to still exploit his relationship with Bonds for further financial game, somehow.

But then I read a story like the one above, and I see another guy thrown under the Conte bus... Notice that 1) Conte has never come clean. This shit comes out in dribs and drabs depending on what money-making opportunities present themselves (in this case a book). So for a lot of people, I'd imagine it calls Conte's credibility into question. What strikes me most, though, is that Conte claims Mosely knew exactly what Conte was giving him. Conte told him everything. Does anyone doubt this? OF COURSE any world class athlete is going to know what is being put into his body and is going to have a lot of questions.

Yet, we're supposed to believe what Barry Bonds allegedly told a grand jury (and the stories of others who were involved with BALCO). That sure, Conte gave him stuff -- a cream, other substances, but hell, he thought he was rubbing on flax seed oil.

As much of a salesman as Conte fancies himself, why would he have us believe what is in the story above--which actually sounds legitimate: he gave a guy steroids, the guy knew exactly what he was taking, he obviously sought out Conte because Conte HAD the steroids, etc. But we are then supposed to believe that this wasn't the case for EVERYONE who did business with Conte -- until somewhere a few years later, Conte throws another person under the bus because he or she no longer serves any purpose. Why would Barry Bonds have been ANY different than Shane Mosely? Why would Conte be honest with Mosely, tell him everything he was doing, but just give Barry Bonds flax seed oil or give him other stuff and lie and say it is flax seed oil? Why would he expect anyone to believe that?

 

My bet is he had full knowledge of everything Conte was giving him... Just like my bet is almost every athlete who seeks out a PED dealer and does business with him knows exactly what he's taking.

The story I linked to seemed very believable. Athlete seeks out PED dealer. Dealer tells him exactly what he is giving him. World-class athlete is hyper-attuned to everything he is injecting himself with, rubbing on himself and letting disolve under his tongue.

I'm still wondering about Conte's timing every time another one of his former clients he was protecting gets thrown under the bus. And I'm wondering just how much Barry Bonds is paying him for the charade that *he* was different than Marion Jones or Shane Mosely. Again, I have no evidence or proof of it. But I can't imagine too many other explanations. I'm assuming it is more than Tony Lyons can afford to pay for a book that isn't going to sell very many copies. Was there even an advance or is the strategy for Conte to try to extend his 15 minutes even further with yet another media barrage they think will generate the publicity to get it on Oprah's list?