(why i just can't hate barry)an interesting development in the land of baseball happened yesterday when the fan-voted all-star game starters were announced. the league's pariah, one barry bonds, leapfrogged the cubs alfonso soriano and made it into the line-up as the nl's third most popular outfielder. the fact that bonds is included in the game is really interesting on a lot of different levels.
one, barry is the 500 lb. gorilla in the league. everyone in the mainstream sports media is so convinced that barry has cheated the integrity of the game that they haven't been able to write a kind word about him for months. ever since he announced that he'd return to the giants this year, thus ensuring that he would break hank aaron's home run record if he stayed healthy, sportswriters have been ripping him apart. wishing that he would injure himself. quit. anything that would prevent him from "tarnishing" baseball's legacy by breaking the one record that most defines the sport. and there is a part of me that understands this treatment. in every sport i have played, i have just assumed that my opponents were playing fair, "doing it the right way" if you will. i didn't even "get" or start to wrap my head around the fact that people cheated until i was 22 or 23. it didn't even cross my mind. so, had someone told me that joe q. pitcher was doctoring his balls while i was in high school so that his curve would have a better chance of making me swing and miss, i'd have been pissed. the feelings toward barry are in this same vein times a million. so, i "get" it now, but do i care?
two, the all-star game is being played at barry's home park in san francisco. the game will be called by joe buck and tim mccarver, two of barry's biggest detractors since hints of his cheating started to surface. i will record the game (since i'll be playing a double-header of softball that night), if for no other reason than, to listen to the pair try and convince the nation that barry breaking aaron's record is a bad thing while his hometown fans cheer wildly the entire time. it will be classic television. just wait for his first at-bat and listen to buck painfully talk nice about barry's still out of this world on-base percentage. i can't wait. the hate will be obvious. i promise you. but if the folks in san fran. don't hate barry, why should i?
three, barry is a freaking rock star, and who doesn't want to watch a rock star in what could be his last concert before a national audience? honestly? you don't? yes, you do. why don't you? if it's because you don't like baseball anyway, fine, i'll give you that. but if you do, and you choose to turn the channel because you don't want to participate in the greatness that is a barry bonds at bat due to all the rumors, innuendo and circumstantial evidence, then you, my friend, are a moron. just watch and you'll see one of the best pitchers (probably sabathia or haren or beckett) on the planet nibble away in the first inning as they pitch to him because he's still the greatest hitter in the game as a 42 year-old. i love rock stars. and i love rock music, even if the means to writing that song or playing that show included hard drugs. if this in my stance on music, then why should it be different with sports?
the fact is, for me, it isn't. sure, i'll admit, i get swept away at times when all of the talking heads on espn are exploding with vitriolic statements aimed at punching holes in barry's armor. i think to myself, "yeah, screw that guy. him and his cheating, swollen-headed magnificence. screw him." but that's just silly. i love watching barry. for all the wrong reasons i guess. but i love watching him, and i will be happy the day he breaks the record. i really will. god bless hank aaron, but i never saw him in person. i never embraced him as one of my favorites. i don't have any loyalty to him. i don't have anything against him, but barry i'll remember and celebrate that i got to see him hit a home run in person off john smoltz. that's just the way it is.
and for all the negativity, barry, himself, insists he never knowingly took anything that would unnaturally enhance his body or performance. and if barry says it, well, it's good enough for me (wink, wink).
2 comments:
Here's the thing - lots and lots and lots of guys in the league are or were using steroids. Still no one has done what Barry has done. Since Barry quit doing whatever it was he was doing (not steroids according to him) he still has a monster slugging percentage and still hits shots a mile high. When Barry breaks Hank's record will I have the respect for him? I'll admire what he's done, but Hank did it without "help." By that same logic I consider what Ruth and Maris did, and especially DiMaggio's hit streak, to be far greater achievements than what McGuire, Sosa, or Barry did with their 70 homers. Again, it's because those other guys did it without "help." Heck, Ruth would eat 5 hot dogs, go out and hit a home run, and then pitch the next inning. Talk about a beast! Regardless of the thoughts on what Barry did, I wish people would give him the respect that, "help" or not he's still done something special. Do I like him? No. He comes across as a jerk, but I still respect his skills.
"so, had someone told me that joe q. pitcher was doctoring his balls while i was in high school"
kevin, that may be the greatest out of context line ever blogged.
my feelings toward barry are mixed. it is easy to hate him. at least it was. this year he seems to be playing the game so much more than the last couple of years. hitting doubles. playing defense. and who can doubt that barry's baseball skills were tremendous, and still are. i wish there was no cloud of doubt, because without it we would be witnessing one of the greatest baseball feats ever.
Post a Comment