The Sports Rumors

My Final Verdict on Barry Bonds

Let me preface this article by saying this; I have spent the past two years listening to fans and the media complain nonstop about Barry Bonds and his quest to break the record. I listened how it’s wrong, and how it’s tainted because he “allegedly” used steroids. I watched Philly fans turn their back and face the opposite direction everytime Bonds was up to bat (they should probably do that anyway because their team sucks ass). There have been 392,745,235 Outside the Lines Nightly reports and investigations on Bonds. Yet we have found nothing. No evidence worth a dime to ban this guy from the league. So I’ve had enough of the bitching and moaning. If you’re a Barry Bonds hater and all of a sudden, in love with Hank Aaron even though you’ve likely never seen a full game of his in your life, click the “x” at the top of the screen and save yourself the time of reading this next piece.

I spent yesterday evening watching TV and listening to various sports journalists like Jay Marriotti, Woody Paige, etc. go on about how Barry Bonds has a “responsibility” to participate in the Home Run Derby because the fans voted him in. He is “obligated” to do it for the fans.

No. He’s not obligated to participate in the Home Run Derby and he doesn’t have a responsibility to the fans either. His responsibility, like Arod’s, is to his team. Barry Bonds is obligated to the San Francisco Giants. Not the fans that voted him into the All Star game. If you invite me to a party, I will come. That doesn’t mean I have to do a kegstand. I don’t have a responsibility or obligation to you to get plastered just because you invited me to your party. Same concept with Bonds. If the guy doesn’t want to swing his hardest at balls being tossed 30 mph at him, he doesn’t have to. Him participating in this slugfest would be good for who? For Major League Baseball. Why should Bonds do ANYTHING for Major League Baseball at this point when it’s not even clear yet that the commissioner, the hypocrite that he is, will be at the biggest sporting event of the year (breaking of Aaron’s record). What has the MLB done for Bonds? They are searching as hard as they can to find ANY slight bit of evidence that can get Bonds kicked out of the league. That leads me to my next bit of ranting.

I don’t care if you’re Barry Bonds, Mark McGuire, Sammy Sosa, Luis Gonzalez, or Rafael Palmairo. I don’t care if you had a spike in home runs during those years in the 90’s or not. I really don’t. I don’t care if you did steroids. Do I think it’s bad? Yes. Do I think its bad for the game overall? Absolutely. But the fact of the matter is, pretty much everyone was on the juice. Not just hitters. Do you think pitchers were playing fair and hitters were the only ones sticking syringes in their.. well, you know where. I can’t understand why more people don’t view this matter in the same light as me. The game in those years was artificial to some extent but if everyone is using ‘roids, (for the most part), then the playing field is still relatively even. Yeah so instead of hitting the wall, some balls were homeruns. Same concept with pitchers though. Instead of taking a week to rest up, they were coming back a day or two quicker. They were throwing the ball a bit harder, a bit faster. Everything stayed relatively proportionate. So to single out Bonds, McGuire, and Sosa, after riding their wave and them pretty much keeping baseball on the map is so hypocritical that it makes me sick.

Lastly, we all know Barry Bonds is going to break the record. It’s a done deal. For those of you who are all bitter about how it’s happening, I understand that and that is fine. But be a witness to history because at the end of the day, the steroids era, good or bad, was history. Bonds breaking this record is history. And you don’t have to be bitter for too long because it’s only a matter of a couple of years before Arod becomes the all time home run king. Bonds breaking this record will actually bring closure and we can all move on, no matter what our opinions or beliefs are about the era. And one more thing. Bud Selig had better be there when it happens because he knew this stuff was going on the entire time. That being said, history is a few weeks from happening. Watch it. Love it or hate it, that’s on you. But at least say you were there when the games best hitter, or the games biggest cheater, broke the most hallowed record in all of sports.

(like it or not, it’s going to happen folks. Witness history. Good or bad, it’s still history)