The other day while I was cleaning my apartment, I found a box of old photos of me and some of my friends in high school, back when my weight actually matched the number on my driver's license. Besides the clothes I was wearing, I was pretty startled by how tiny I appeared back then, how narrow my neck and shoulders were and how small my head appeared.

It's a simple fact, one that should be easily accepted, that I've gotten bigger (or fatter, if you want to be a jerk about it) as I've gotten older, as most of the human population does from high school to the mid-20's, or the mid-20's to the late 30's.

I like to call this process "biology."

Critics of Barry Bonds like to call it "proof of steroids use."

I wish I could use steroids as an excuse for how much bigger I've gotten since high school. It'd be more exciting than "I got older." But the truth of the matter is that I just got older. I'm bigger now because I discovered beer and I lived next to two of the best pizza places in the world when I was in college and I realized that I liked not exercising a lot more than exercising.

Most of you share this description, perhaps with slightly different reasons. For example, some of you may like exercising, or you simply just exercise, and you're much bigger and thicker and more muscular today than you were six or seven years ago.

People get bigger as they get older. That's just human nature. It's biological.

Compare yourself to pictures from 5, 10 years ago, and I'll bet you a dollar you were much tinier back then than you are today.

Try this with anyone. A celebrity. An athlete.

Anyone.

I'll throw out a random name.

How about Magic Johnson:








































The photo on the top is from the 80's, when Magic was in his mid-20's. The photo on the bottom is from the 90's, when Magic was in his late 30's.

Observe, if you will, the difference in the size of 80's Magic's head and 90's Magic's head. It's the first thing that stands out to the naked eye. 90's Magic has a fairly gigantic melon, one that is held up by a barely visible neck. 80's Magic's head is much smaller, and you can see his neck. Also observe how much broader 90's Magic's shoulders are compared to 80's Magic. And those biceps. 90's Magic has much bigger biceps than 80's Magic.

My first thought is that Magic just got fat in the 90's. He went from being a point guard who was tall enough to play power forward, to a power forward who was fat enough to play center. Honestly, how much do you think Magic weighs in that picture on the bottom? 350? 370?

He got bigger as he got older. It seems a simple enough explanation. The same is true of Michael Jordan, Andruw Jones, my friend Uttam, my little brother David, my mom, my dad, Beyonce. Basically everyone except Jared from the Subway commercials.

It's foolish to point to a picture from 1987 and expect someone to look exactly the same 15 years later. This is true for ANYBODY, but especially for a world-class athlete, whose job it is to get stronger and faster and keep his body in peak physical condition.

I'm not saying Bonds didn't use steroids. What I'm saying is I won't believe it until I see better proof than a damn picture from 15 years ago. If that's all that's required to prove someone used steroids -- showing how much bigger he's gotten over the years -- hell, I probably took steroids, too. Guilty as charged. I'm way bigger than I was in high school.

So are you, tubby.