No doubt in my mind, it's just Sour Grapes.

[wrveres]

"Free Barry from the chains of the Uninformed,"

link
For some, this is simply an attempt to negate the accomplishments of Barry Bonds. I tend to agree with Bobby Valentine -- I've seen Bonds do things no other human being can do, just as Ruth and Ted Williams and Mantle and Mays and Aaron did things no other human being can do. Muscles don't play baseball. Hands and eyes play baseball. Longevity books it.


Great merit: Six MVPs and ... 756 home runs?

So Barry Bonds remorselessly and relentless marches on, beyond the 660 home runs of Willie Mays, on past the 714 home runs of Babe Ruth, and finally, by the 755 home runs of Henry Aaron. Barry Bonds will become the greatest home-run hitter in baseball history.

And apparently, that's what outrages many people, deep down inside.

It has nothing to do with any steroids. Please. Oh please.

A long time ago I wrote a funny little book called "Why Black People Tend To Shout." Now, if you hear that title and you don't laugh -- then you need to read that book! It is a humorous book. I was taught by the master, Mr. Mark Twain, that humor was the great leveler, that against the power of laughter, nothing can stand. Well, this 'Roid Outrage is funny to me.

What Barry Bonds has done is show great merit in the game. Unfortunately, when you are what is called "black," that can be inconvenient; often when you show merit, the rules on merit are changed to make them more obtuse.

When Aaron was approaching Ruth's home-run record in the early 1970s, all the stories were about how he had to endure all this racist hate mail and kidnapping threats against his daughter -- how he had to endure against the real protagonist, the Status Quo. It wasn't about how great a htter he was.

I'd say that's the part that's cheating. I'd say Aaron got cheated.

It's all fine and good to make up myths about so many events, athletic ones included, that don't contain any African-Americans, and I don't have to list them all here, and in fact don't have time, but sometimes I get the feeling some sports fans would like it better if all of sports history was rather like an episode of "Friends." Fine, when it comes to making movies, and giving out awards, and waxing nostalgic. But it seems to me when a man spends 20 years showing merit, in reality, not fiction, he ought to able to eat his grapes without people saying how sour they are, what a cheater he is, how impure his records are, how what he's doing doesn't count in the grand scheme.

No? That's exactly where he does count.

We don't judge Barry Bonds, friends.

I do fear we only judge ourselves.

Guilty before proven innocent
The implications are as clear as the fear in Turk Wendell's eyes when Barry Bonds steps to the plate.

Bonds is big, strong and lethal at the plate, Bonds takes steroids, Bonds is a fraud, Bonds' records should be wiped from the books and Bonds should just go to hell because we never liked him in the first place anyway.

Wendell -- a man who wears a chain of animal teeth around his neck, mind you -- says Bonds is a steroid user. Wendell may be an active player, but he's just the latest to join the Bonds-bashing bandwagon. The Bonds-on-steroids issue isn't about presumption of innocence before guilt. It isn't about steroids. It's not about putting an "asterisk" next to Bonds' 73 home runs. I don't even think it's an issue of race.

It's really about another chance for the media to jump all over a man they love to hate and a player they love to discredit.

Food for thought: Barry Bonds is listed at 6-2, 228 pounds. Brett Favre is listed at 6-2, 225. I'm sure both totals come in a little light.

Maybe it's time to blow up all the Bonds criticism.

Yet, as one columnist wrote a couple week ago, after suggesting the Bonds "story" can no longer be ignored: "It's the drugs, stupid. It's always been the drugs."

More food for thought: You know how many times Bonds has hit 50 home runs in a season? Once. You know how many times he's led his league in home runs? Twice. You know how many writers suggest Bonds is the smartest hitter in the game, that he knows which pitch is coming, that his eyes and patience allow him to wait for exactly the pitch he can drive out of the park, that what makes him superman isn't all the home runs he hits, but the way he does it, despite drawing all those walks, which puts him on base a must-be-a-misprint more than 50 percent of the time? Very few.

But of course, nobody likes Bonds anyway -- writers or opposing pitchers. So bring him down when you can. Say that he's nothing without the drugs, nothing but a cranky, sour SOB, that deep in his soul he's not this good, because nobody can really be this good, nobody can put up these softball numbers in the major freakin' leagues.

Freak? Yes, Bonds is a freak.

Steroids? Maybe. Or maybe it's just a man who regulates his body to optimal performance by staying away from those In-N-Out burgers that Jason Giambi craves so much. We don't know, and surely Turk Wendell doesn't either. Bonds has sculpted himself to his current frame from a lean 185 pounds as a rookie, and thus must be using steroids, as writers and talk-jock hosts love to point out? Means nothing. Look at Henry Aaron. When young, he was built exactly like a young Barry, long and lithe; by the time he was hitting No. 715, he had expanded and added bulk. All I know is that pitchers feared both Henrys.Asterisks next to all those records? Don't even bother humoring us with that.

Baseball vs. football | From Jim Caple
230-pound baseball players are on steroids. 260-pound linebackers are just strong


I have more ....

[Mookie4ever]

Blaming racism for this scrutiny is ridiculous. Bonds isn't being persecuted because he is black. He's being persecuted because he is a jerk.

He's been rude to fans and the media forever and they have been looking for a chance to bring him down. People want their heros to nice guys. If this was Tony Gwynn or Michael Jordan the stories would be much different.

[wkelly91]

For some it may be racism, however I don't think that is but a fraction of the people who hate him. Micheal Jordon is universally loved and he is Black.

Bonds is hated because he is a jerk AND because they suspect he cheated. I don't think they would give two flips if he weren't approaching hallowed records. Look at Canseco, most people laugh at him and he admitted to using steroids. Canseco isn't approaching any records, he will be forgotten.

Baseball lovers take the history of the game seriously, and to have someone cheat and be recognized as the best, and be a JERK on top of it really grates at them.

If it is found that a player used steroids all his records should at the least have asterisks next to them, and at the most removed entirely.

Has there ever been a player who polarizes fans as much? Maybe Pete Rose

[KolbSaves]

Blaming racism for this scrutiny is ridiculous

Yeah Ralph Wiley is a joke. Wow he's a straight shooter he's keeping it real, he's got style. It's fun to see him get shot down when he appears on Rome is Burning.

[djacks]

I've heard and read many baseball "experts" lately that have said the next few years will tell us the truth as to whether or not Bonds and others are/were on steriods...if their HR numbers drop, they must have been taking steriods the last few years and now have stopped.

FYI - How many HR's did Roger Maris hit in 1962?

Answer: 33

Conclusion: Roger Maris was on steriods when he hit 61 HR's!!! The Babe shold still hold the record!

[HOOTIE]

Blaming racism for this scrutiny is ridiculous. Bonds isn't being persecuted because he is black. He's being persecuted because he is a jerk.

He's been rude to fans and the media forever and they have been looking for a chance to bring him down. People want their heros to nice guys. If this was Tony Gwynn or Michael Jordan the stories would be much different.

Maybe, maybe not. Btw, Jordan was great for cheating on his wife. But because he's media friendly, he gets no heat.

[mbuser]

Blaming racism for this scrutiny is ridiculous. Bonds isn't being persecuted because he is black. He's being persecuted because he is a jerk.

He's been rude to fans and the media forever and they have been looking for a chance to bring him down. People want their heros to nice guys. If this was Tony Gwynn or Michael Jordan the stories would be much different.

Maybe, maybe not. Btw, Jordan was great for cheating on his wife. But because he's media friendly, he gets no heat.

i don't think you can make the comparison between an athlete cheating on his wife and an athlete taking steroids. we worship michael jordan the basketball player, not michael jordan the husband. i know you can say yes we do with how much jordan media saturation there is. but fact is, his sports persona is public, while his family persona is a private matter that is made public. if it was discovered that mj may have been taking illegal supplements that may have unfairly improved his hoops game, his story would be different, media friendly or not. and i guess giambi has been getting similar treatment from the media and fans during all this because he's black too, right mr wiley?

[tlef316]

Maybe, maybe not. Btw, Jordan was great for cheating on his wife. But because he's media friendly, he gets no heat.

i think the diference is that bonds has cheated the game. even though jordan is a total jerk if he cheated on his wife, he never did anything other than promote the game in a positive way. that is why we celebrate jordan and not bonds.

[Madison]

I really doubt that a lot of the media's problem with Bonds has anything to do with race. Now I do not know any member of the media personally, so I could be wrong but for me, I could care less if Bonds is blue, green, purple, or silver with neon orange polka dots on him. He's still a force to be reckoned with at the plate and he will recieve lots of walks this year.

[KolbSaves]

I would care if he were silver with orange polka dots on him, because that would just be cool.