ALBANY, N.Y. (May 10, 2007) -- As San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds approaches Hank Aaron's all-time home run mark of 755, University at Albany faculty experts discuss steroid abuse among professional athletes, race and equity in sports and baseball history.
Race played a big part in a recent ESPN and ABC News poll, which showed 52 percent of Americans are hoping Bonds falls short of eclipsing Aaron's all-time home run mark of 755, while 37 percent said they are rooting for Bonds to break the record. Twenty-eight percent of whites and nearly 75 percent of blacks said they were hoping Bonds succeeds. UAlbany Vice President for Athletic Administration Lee McElroy's expertise includes race and equity in sports. He has testified before congressional committees on issues in college athletics, such as gender equity and the welfare of the minority student-athlete. McElroy was elected to serve as president of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) for 2006-07.
Steroids remains a hot-button issue in baseball, especially as the game is on the brink of seeing its most revered record fall. During Bonds' pursuit of the career home run mark, many have suggested the prospect of steroid use staining his accomplishment. In a recent ESPN and ABC News poll, nearly three quarters said they think Bonds knowingly took the performance-enhancing drugs, which he has long denied. UAlbany Psychology professor Bruce Svare has specialized for more than thirty years in the study of anabolic steroids, has authored over 70 scientific papers in leading professional journals and has written numerous books and book chapters in the field of behavioral neuroscience. He served on the National Institute on Drug Abuse Technical Review Panel on Steroid Abuse. He has lectured nationally and internationally on the topic of anabolic steroid abuse.
Where does the all-time home run mark rank among sports records? Aaron's career mark of 755 is commonly referred to as one of the most revered records in baseball history. But how does it compare to other sports records? What is the historical significance of the record - not just for baseball, but for the sports world in general? UAlbany lecturer Rob Edelman has authored books, including Great Baseball Films (Citadel Press, 1994) and Baseball on the Web (MIS: Press, 1998). He wrote an essay on silent baseball films for the recently released DVD "Reel Baseball" (Kino) and is one of the interviewees on the newly re-released DVD of "The Natural."
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