Thursday, August 09, 2007

756. Woopity Doo.

I have some thoughts about Barry Bonds being the new home run king of major league baseball, but I don't care enough to put together a cohesive post. So here is a sprinkling of ideas, beefs and opinions about the many different aspects of this story.

Bottom line-Barry's the all-time leader. Despite the circumstantial evidence, nothing has been proven. There should be no asterisk and Bud Selig should have been there.

Baseball, you looked the other way when all these hulksters beefed up. You made your bed, now lay(lie? I never get this correct) in it.

Yes, Barry all these other guys, and pitchers too, probably cheated, but that doesn't excuse your behavior. Two, or fifty, wrongs don't make a right.

I don't know how many fewer homers Bonds would have without performance enhancers. It might be 10, it might be 110. My biggest issue with the steroids is not the extra strength, it is the healing power. The steroids help players recover from injury and fatigue quicker. This could, obviously, aid an older player greatly.

Barry Bonds, without performance enhancers, would still have been one of the top five players of all-time. I guess that just wasn't enough for him. That's the thing that I find particularly galling.

If Barry wasn't guilty of something would his trainer have agreed to sit in jail for the last year instead of testifying before the grand jury?

As a lifelong baseball fan I have always enjoyed watching the "big" moments. It ties the present to the past, weaving it into the fabric of the game, blah blah blah. Ripken passing the Iron Horse, Kirk Gibson's homer, several no-hitters-it's always a joy to watch these events live. Watching Bonds ( I missed the homer live by just minutes) pass Hank Aaron has been a joyless event. I feel a bit cheated by that. Not that Barry Bonds owes me a thing.

1 comment:

Rob said...

Maybe now that he is the 'king', is there any chance that he will:
-leg out a ground ball?
-travel with his teammates?
-hell, speak to his teammates?