Maybe I am just a silly Bonds apologist?
Maybe I am a little too much of both, but I really just don’t care anymore.
Where did it all go wrong in sports? Can we point to a specific moment? Was it when OJ cruised down the California freeway trying to elude police? After all this was a major story and the 24 news network genre of television was expanding, and heck they needed something to talk about. Or are our athletes just that much more untrustworthy and dislikable. Again, to me it doesn’t really matter, I just don’t care on so many levels.
So Barry Bonds lied to the Grand Jury, okay. Is he the first guy ever to do this? No, heck ten years ago our President did it and we love him so much we are going to elect his wife.
Does this indictment really change anything? I don’t think it does, I have always thought Bonds was the bets ballplayer of his generation and even though I know deep in my heart he did do steroids, I also know that most likely abut 85% of his competitors did too. The talk is this basically eliminates Bonds from the Hall of Fame. Okay, Pete Rose isn't in the Hall of Fame, but that hasn't made him any less of a ball player, in fact his popularity has probably grown since 1989. The same can be said for Shoeless Joe Jackson who is now a cult hero in American popular cinema. Heck maybe one day Bonds will be Secretary of State.
But the thing I truly hate the most about this whole “controversy” is the self righteous sports columnist or broadcaster out there. Now obviously today everyone is going to have their opinion and I don’t have the time nor the inclination to read all of them, but I did check out one of my least favorite jerks in the world, Jay Mariotti of the Chicago Sun Times. He writes:
This isn't a sad day for baseball. Hell, this is a joyful day, the first day
of the rest of our lives without the creep who scummed up Henry Aaron, hijacked
the Great American Home Run and held us hostage with his sleaze and smarm. I
spent too many sad days and nights watching him in cathedrals like Wrigley Field
and the waterfront park in San Francisco, loathing his every swing, hating what
he was doing to my boyhood memories, knowing he was living a chemical lie.
Oh well Boo-Hoo for Jay Mariotti. Get over yourself, chances are if we poured over your personal life we may find that you cheat on your taxes or sleep around behind your wife’s back so let’s take it easy with the holier than thou attitude.
Now of course there are going to be tons of negative reactions to my column here today, the legal Jews (Andrew and Josh) are going to tell me what this all means in a legal sense, and Josh being a big Clinton guy will somehow spin it that Clinton lying to the Grand Jury was Dick Cheney’s fault and that if W would have went straight to the police none of this would have ever happened (come on people, a Woody Woodpecker reference, that is huge). I surmise that people like Dan and Martin two baseball aficionados will come on here and talk all about asterisks and striking records from the history books. Maybe some others will have similar opinions to those guys or maybe they just won’t care as much as I do.
In a sports sense I cared so much more that Oregon lost last night in college football and that Memphis beat Oklahoma in college hoops first marquee match-up of the year. Where is a good Knicks story when you desperately need one.
2 comments:
For the record, I do not think that any record should be struck from the books. Nor is any asterisk needed.
Just as we all know that the records of pre-Jackie Robinson players are tainted by the exclusion of non-white players, we will know that the records of the steroids era are tainted as well.
That is, the asterisk is already there.
As for Bonds, I tend to agree with you, Kris. He is the best baseball player of this generation. The whole sport was doing something, and the fact remains that no one was doing what Bonds was doing, so it couldn't have only been because of the drugs.
Unfortunately, Bonds is also a self-righteous, smug, arrogant asshole. My guess is that 30 years from now we'll think of Bonds like we think of Ty Cobb - great ballplayer, reprehensible human being.
What if Bonds used to fight dogs with Vick? Now that would be a story.
Name this song:
Woody kept it hoody/
Didn't go to the police
Post a Comment