Cornerstone of Cheaters

In the past several years, in all mediums of media, I have seen and heard an assortment of comments about the state of baseball and the way Barry Bonds is ruining the Great American Pastime. Is it a racial issue? Is it a general mob mentality issue? Is it the nostalgic aspect of yesteryear invading our adult memories? I am going to answer those questions for you. Yes.

Yes to all of the concerns. Is Barry a generally good samaritan that is getting a bad rap? No he is not a charity case, and Barry doesn’t want to be, but he is on the other end of the stick when it comes to the courthouse of public opinion. I am not saying a black man cannot be treated fairly in the world of sports in the United States. I am saying that it just doesn’t help.

Everything in sports that we read, listen to and watch is commented on by sports media on a daily basis. Whether it is whatever medium (TV, radio, print, internet) and the media personnel want insight. Everyone wants to break the story. Barry has been the guy to never give the media that glimpse into his life, his story. Now, being that closed off has brought us to this. A public Barry Bonds vendetta killing in full display with the guise of it being all about integrity of the game instead of what it really is… displaced anger towards a guy they (media) think is a jerk.

There have been polls and votes to tabulate who wants to see Barry Bonds break the most significant record in sports, Hank Aaron’s career homerun mark. The findings prove that very few people, if any, want to see this accomplishment get achieved. Need we not forget that there was an even more vigorous display of hatred for Hank Aaron to pass Babe Ruth. The people tend to simply forget that the 60s and 70s wasn’t so long ago and things have changed, but not to the extent we want to celebrate.

The players in the 60s, 70s, or 80s were not saints, they were just ballplayers. So why can’t people move on from the fact that Barry is not alone. Did he use steroids? He probably did. So what? He definitely doesn’t stand alone in that category. Why hasn’t anyone come out to say “put an asterisk on the MVP Ken Caminiti won in 1996”? He admitted to being a steroid and cocaine abuser. This proved to catch up to him when he died suddenly a few years ago. So if Barry has been convicted by the court of public opinion of his doing why can’t the public acknowledge that he is one of many and there is no way to single him out as the cornerstone of cheaters? What about all the pitchers that were juiced that he hit homeruns off of? What about all the base stealers that stole more bases? What about all the hits that were robbed by juiced infielders that got more range up the middle? Where does it end? It ends with the realization that Barry Bonds is the greatest player of his era. His era just might have happened to be juiced.