Game of Shadows: Barry Bonds, Balco, and the Steroids Scandal That Rocked Professional Sports

by Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams

Book Overview

This is the complete inside story of the most notorious steroids scandal in sports history from the award-winning reporters who broke the news. Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams reveal how an... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1592401996
• ISBN13: 9781592401994
• Release Date: March 2006
• Publisher: Gotham Books
• Length: 332 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.7" x 9.2"
• Age Range: 14 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 9 and higher

Customer Reviews

Insightful Look at Drugs and Sports

“Game of Shadows,” published in 2007, remains pertinent in the ongoing discourse on drug use in sports. The portrayal of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) in the 90s and early 2000s appears quaint compared to their widespread presence today, not just in professional athletics but also in local fitness centers. The book sheds light on various aspects of PED use during that era: the clandestine efforts of labs to outpace testing methods, athletes’ relentless pursuit of a competitive edge, public demand for bigger, faster, stronger performers, and the potent influence of money and fame on decision-making. As elite standards rise, everyday individuals perceive them as the norm, fueling increased drug usage for short-term gains at the expense of long-term health. For those intrigued by the subject of doping in sports, “Game of Shadows” offers valuable insights.

Bonds Fans: Take Note!

I don't know how anyone can read this book and retain a shred of respect for the athletes who pumped themselves up with steroids and an array of other illegal substances, in order to best their competition. The authors call them what they are: not champions, but drug cheats. Bloated hulks like Barry Bonds- who continues to lie about his steroid use- should have been thrown out of baseball years ago. Where is Judge Landis when we need him? The book also details the drug cheating in other sports, and the athletes' justification that, if they didn't use steroids, they would have no chance to excel in any professional sport- that's how rampant steroid use is. The authors also detail how government officials, in thrall to the business of professional baseball and reluctant to do anything that might damage the sport, continued to protect even those athletes who had admitted in closed testimony to steroid use, by refusing to make their names public. But despite the momentary furor this book caused when it first came out, nothing has really changed. MLB's drug testing procedures are a joke. Bonds has been allowed to go right on hitting his drug-cheat home runs, and will no doubt eventually break the all-time home run record set by Hank Aaron- a disgrace if there ever was one! The picture the authors paint of Bonds is appalling- what an arrogant, obnoxious, over-privileged SOB! Dislike of Bonds has nothing to do with his race, although he likes to think that it does. People dislike him because he's not only a drug cheat, but a liar, an abuser of women, a serial adulterer, an insulter of fans, teammates, and reporters, and a generally worthless human being. But I guess that's of no importance to Bonds' blindly loyal fans. This is a birlliant piece of investigative reporting!

A Sad but Important Book

In an interview I heard on KNBR, the local sports talk radio station here in the San Francisco bay area, Barry Bonds' lawyer railed against the authors for publishing the grand jury testimony, so I of course had to go and read the book. I didn't want to actually buy the book, so I swung by the local Barnes and Noble to skim through it. Well, I started reading the book and literally could not put it down. I eventually had to leave the store, so I bought the book despite my original intentions and finished it two days later. As a lifelong Giants fan, I didn't want to contribute any royalty money to the authors, but I couldn't help myself. The book has the narrative flow of a good crime story, which in fact it is. One thing that surprised me though is the pervasiveness of steroid use. Bonds is on the cover of the book, and he's clearly the primary target of the federal investigators, but so many people were implicated in the book, it's hard to put all the blame on Bonds. I came away from the book feeling more sadness than anything else. I exulted in Bonds' amazing accomplishments knowing that I was seeing a performance of historical magnitude. To borrow a phrase that Bill James used in a different context, Bonds' numbers ranged "from the excellent to the surreal", and I felt an immense sense of privelege to be a fan seeing it all first hand. Now that I've learned how it was chemically induced, I feel disappointment and emptiness, but at least I know the truth.

The Truth

The sad truth is that baseball is no longer about talent, achievement, or hard work. Major League Baseball is a multi-billion dollar corporation that provides entertainment for fans who pay inflated prices to see something memorable, something thrilling, to get their money's worth. Who cares that the memorable events they see before their eyes are the achievements of pharmacists and steroid distributors? As long as the fans are hard up and happy, they will keep opening their wallets and spending dollars. I am so glad this book was written to expose the sham that our favorite pastime has become. This book looks deep into the world of BALCO, Victor Conte, and the investigation of his pharmacological mill. Along the way, it exposes the athletes who ran from exposure while breaking records - Barry Bonds, Marion Jones, etc. Several fans will discredit this book believing it is based on speculation and rumor. Yes, there is no hard drug test that (insert athlete's name) failed (because such tests did not exist). But after reading the book through, it is not hard to draw conclusions based on the evidence the authors investigated. And it is not flimsy evidence either. The government has thousands of documents it retrieved from BALCO's dumpsters, computers, lab reports, ect. not to mention witness testimony and admission by several athletes. It paints a grim picture. I feel sorry for fans who want to believe Barry Bonds is innocent simply because they want to believe it.

Bonds getting steroids from AIDS patients, using bovine hormones

Bonds getting steroids from local AIDS patients (via his "trainer/dealer" Greg Anderson), and use of injectable cattle hormones designed to improve the marbling of commercial beef, are but a few of the amazing revelations in the Fainaru-Wada/Williams book. By far the best sports book I've read since Moneyball, the exhaustive research done by the authors is compelling, and the fact that they're local to the Bay Area serves to give the saga a hometown feel. It is also a tome that ranges far beyond the singular issue of Barry Bonds and goes into much greater detail at a macro level than the previously excerpted articles from Sports Illustrated. Sections where they detail the special treatment that star athletes received at BALCO headquarters in Burlingame are especially telling. The fact that BALCO reps would actually shepherd their customers through the blood testing at local hospitals illustrates just how widespread the cheating had become -- and how cocky all the particpants were increasingly becoming in defying all attempts at credible testing. Sections where former Bonds confidantes and myriad others in his "cult of personality" are threatened physically as Bonds goes through impotence, 'roid rage and the other deliterious effects from usage of the hormone and steroid cocktails are downright scary and read almost like a true crime thriller. I was initially a little skeptical about these authors having an axe to grind, but "Game of Shadows" has surprisingly been one of the more enjoyable reads so far for me this decade. For a guy that was at Pac Bell when Barry launched #500 off Chan Ho Park, I almost feel dirty that I bothered to attend and root him on in the first place. Good to see that this book has prompted a long overdue investigation by former Senate majority leader George Mitchell into MLB's pervasive steroid problems. To be sure, there is plenty of blame to be laid at the feet of others as well as Bonds, most notably Selig and the MLBPA. However, as Bonds nears the HR marks of Ruth and Aaron, the most storied records in pro sports, it is inconceivable to imagine anyone celebrating the false achievements of a complete and utter pariah -- unless they ignore all information to the contrary.

wow, what a book

Ok i admit I was more than willing to believe that barry was on the juice going into this book. But wow where my eyes opened. the detail they go into in unbelieveable, and those who believe this to be a witch hunt would say it is too much to believe. Barry's lawsuit only goes to show how much truth there is to this book, instead of sueing for libel, he's sueing that the information was illegally obtained, look people this isn't rocket science here, if it wasn't a fact than he would have sued for libel, but he didn't. if you care at all about baseball or steroid use, then read this book, it will open your eyes like nothing i've read before