Jay Leno doesn’t give Marion Jones a break

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You can usually count on Jay Leno for laughs. But he seemed seriously perturbed by Marion Jones’ appearance last week with Oprah Winfrey.

Many people commented that Jones was making too many excuses for herself and still not telling the entire truth.

But one particular part of Jones’ plea for mercy drove Leno over the edge:

As part of his monologue Wednesday night, Leno said: ‘Disgraced Olympic track star Marion Jones was on ‘Oprah’ last week, and she said the reason she took steroids while training for the Olympics, and I quote, this is her reason, ‘I didn’t love myself enough.’ Oh, shut up! Is there a gold medal for excuses? Give this to this woman please. She took steroids because she didn’t love herself enough. Really? You think that’s the reason people take steroids? They don’t love themselves enough?’’

He added he didn’t think that excuse would work for Barry Bonds, who seems to love himself quite a bit.

-- Randy Harvey

Top photo: Marion Jones, after winning the gold medal in the 200-meter race at the Sydney Games. Credit: Doug Mills / Associated Press

Inset, left: Jay Leno. Credit: Reed Saxon / Associated Press

Inset, right: Jones at a 2004 news conference. Credit: Mary Altaffer / Associated Press