Baseball Steroid Scandal Gets Animated

Baseball Steroid Scandal Gets Animated

Barry Bonds, BALCO Controversy Lampooned by Web Cartoon

NEW YORK, Feb. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- The BALCO steroid scandal involving Major League Baseball players Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi, and Gary Sheffield has been lampooned by an Internet animation. The website address is http://www.thehomerunguys.com/.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050218/LAFRU2)

The two-minute cartoon, which can be viewed for free, was written and directed by Will Horan, who says he wanted to portray the BALCO story in a unique, creative, and entertaining way. "I just wanted to do something funny and make people laugh" says Horan, who got the idea after seeing the success of some animations that parodied the 2004 Presidential Election.

As for the popularity of his animation, which was released a couple of weeks ago; Horan says he has seen a tremendous explosion in traffic. "Last week I had over 50,000 hits, and that is with very little advertising. I guess people are just telling their friends and it is starting to catch on," he says with a smile.

The animation, set to original music, is titled "Made With THG" and it contrasts skinny ballplayers hitting a baseball against the big and strong Bonds, Giambi, and Sheffield. Other scenes include Sheffield rubbing a cream on his knee and claiming he didn't know it contained any banned substances, a disapproving George Steinbrenner waving his finger in disgust as his two Yankee ballplayers hold up a mug that says The Clear, and Bud Selig inscribing an asterisk next to Barry Bonds' single-season homerun record.

Also available on the website is a line of T-shirts, which on the back have depictions of the excessively muscular ballplayers and say, "BALCO presents The Homerun Guys." The letters THG stand out in a bright red color, as a clever play on words. THG, known as tetrahydrogestrinone, is the previously undetectable steroid at the heart of the scandal.

Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050218/LAFRU2
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
Source: Maximus Ventures LLC

CONTACT: Will Horan of Maximus Ventures LLC, +1-212-726-0454 or
publicrelations@thehomerunguys.com

Web site: http://www.thehomerunguys.com/


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