On this week's edition of HBO's "Costas Now," commissioner Bud Selig, Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling and chemist Patrick Arnold discussed Bonds, his pursuit of Hank Aaron's home run record and suspicions that Bonds has used steroids. Schilling and Arnold both said they believed Bonds had taken performance-enhancing drugs. (See other details of Costa's HBO report here)Before Wednesday's game against the Atlanta Braves the next day, Barry Bonds was asked if he had seen the show and had any comments. His response? "You mean that little midget man who absolutely knows jack shit about baseball? Who never played the game? I saw it." Bonds later in the week admitted that he hadn't actually seen the show at the time, but added, "Bob Costas can kiss my ass. He's not an athlete and he doesn't know shit about baseball."
In a phone interview on Thursday, Bob Costas said he wasn't upset with the San Francisco Giants slugger, saying, "I've actually always had a pretty cordial relationship with Barry. I have no ill feelings toward him personally. I regard him as one of the greatest players of all time who got an inauthentic boost and then became a superhuman player. I wish him no ill whatsoever." Costas said that he understands why Bonds would denigrated him. "He's under tremendous scrutiny and some pressure. It's no big deal. This is a consequence of doing your job, and I've never tried to do my job in any case with the intention of calling attention to myself. I think if people watch the program, they can judge for themselves."
Responding specifically to being called a midget, Costas quipped, "As anyone can plainly see, I'm 5-6 1/2 and a strapping 150, and unlike some people, I came by all of it naturally."
When Barry Bonds was later told of Costas' comment about coming by his physique naturally, Bonds responded, "How do you know?" before going on to say he didn't care.
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