Cheaters prosper
This is guest blogger Wile E Coyote.
SF Giants player Barry Bonds has just tied Henry Aaron's record for Major League home runs, to the cheers of many in the stands.
Bonds has undoubtedly been a big-time steroid user.
Baseball used to be a sport that revered its history, traditions and statistical achievements. The guardians of the game should have expunged Bonds's juiced up records and banned him, giving the same treatment to Canseco, McGuire and other drug users.
The failure of these guardians can be attributed to greed. But, why are so many baseball fans cheering an obvious cheater?
Help me out here, please.
SF Giants player Barry Bonds has just tied Henry Aaron's record for Major League home runs, to the cheers of many in the stands.
Bonds has undoubtedly been a big-time steroid user.
Baseball used to be a sport that revered its history, traditions and statistical achievements. The guardians of the game should have expunged Bonds's juiced up records and banned him, giving the same treatment to Canseco, McGuire and other drug users.
The failure of these guardians can be attributed to greed. But, why are so many baseball fans cheering an obvious cheater?
Help me out here, please.
posted by LadybugUSA at 10:23 AM
4 Comments:
I'm not sure that many fans are cheering him outside of SF. Although it's anecdotal evidence, nobody I know personally has any interest in watching his game to see the record be broken. By contrast, I was in college at the time Aaron broke Ruth's record and we were all watching the game with rapt interest.
It's sad that Bonds chose this route because his "pre-juiced" stats would have easily gotten him to the Hall of Fame.
Of course, I also think that the home runs Aaron hit as a DH in Milwaukee should not have counted toward the record! :-)
It is simple. Greed. The owners and the baseball commissioner, who WAS an owner (Milwaukee Brewers) turn a blind eye so long as Barry Bonds does not actually get caught in the act. Check out my comments on www.rightviewfromtheleftcoast.blogspot.com.
As a fan of Bonds and Aaron and baseball you might be a little ahead of yourself here. Bonds has never tested positive for steroids, how about innocent until proven guilty? Also the pitchers throwing against him could just as likely have been on steroids. As there was no ban on the substance and no testing until recently. If there was steroid abuse I guarantee you Barry Bonds was not the only one. So what is the problem with Barry? His attitude? I have been to Giants games and other games and he had as much or more interaction with the fans than anyone else. I don't understand the hate on him. Maybe it's jealousy because he is so good. We all love a player when he's our guy and hate him when he is on the other team.
Steroids never helped with hand- eye coordination and that is the key to hitting a baseball. Barry is not the first guy to ever gain weight as he aged either. And he is a fitness maniac. Why don't you just lay off?
Coyote here.
To deal with the rationales you raise in order:
1. Innocent until proven guilty. Check out the Sports Illustrated article on Bonds. His steroid use is obvious. And this is not a criminal court.
2. Everybody does it. We should throw the book at other users as well. Tell you what. Assuming half the pitchers Bonds faced were users, let's just wipe out half his home runs since he bulked up.
3. Steroids don't help (or, it's hand-eye coordination, stupid). Bat speed matters. A 4% increase in bat speed results in a 16% increase in hitting power. That's the difference between a home run and a long out. Also, if steroids didn't help, why were people taking them?
4. I don't hate Bonds. I just don't cheer for someone whose records came from a bottle.
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