BARRY BONDS: 756; THE UNTAINTED
As the small, round star fell just yards shy of McCovey Cove on Tuesday night, so did the prestige of the most regarded record in sports. But is it a justified demotion? Everyone has their opinion concerning Barry Bonds, the new career home run leader. However, few seem sufficiently supported.
Major League Baseball Commissioner, Bud Selig, has been the person thrust into the most judgmental of positions. His subsequent response was, essentially, to take both sides. Selig followed Bonds until he, well, at least was able to tie the record on Saturday. That was his attempt at supporting Bonds. Meager? … Yes, but it’ll have to do. But, then, when the ball left the field of play, Selig lethargically took to his feet and boldly decided not to even clap his hands. That was compliments of the stern Commissioner in him, who doesn’t want to support a man who still may end up in perpetually boiling waters due to steroid abuse. My take on the partiality of the matter is this (and I’m no longer singling out the Commissioner) … We’re still in a nation where everyone is innocent until proven guilty. Barry Bonds has never tested positive for steroids. He admitted to using flaxseed oil and that’s it. If the law can’t bring someone down, then his public image shouldn’t either. I, myself, do think that there are plenty of synthetic enhancers which slip through the cracks of the drug-testing procedures. It’s also known that there was a time when baseball’s lax policies allowed for players to fill their bodies with unethical supplements. So I guess the question I pose myself is, “Should I despise the rat who eats the cheese or the one who let a mere simple maze stand between the varmint and his goal?”
Major League Baseball’s hands are very dirty in this issue which is another reason why Selig was so mum on Saturday night. As the presiding authority, history could remember him as going down with this proverbial ship. It’s funny how when the league was fresh off a strike and record-low ratings, the steroid testing was so infrequently done.
Now I’m certainly not asking anyone to jump on the Bonds bandwagon. But, please, don’t jump off that of the record. In a world where Floyd Landis is in a seemingly endless bout to prove his innocence so to keep his 2006 Tour de France championship, and where Pete Rose is permanently banned from the MLB Hall of Fame despite recording more career base-hits than anyone, the federal law is guaranteed to find a way to put a real asterisk next to Bonds’ name if it belongs there. In the meantime, keep rooting for Alex Rodriguez and Albert Pujols… anyone who might break the next barrier of 800 home runs. After all, perhaps building Bonds up to be the ultimate villain so we all watch until someone tops his record, is just the grandest and most maniacal way any company has ever tried to gain ratings? Okay, now I’m exaggerating a little bit. But, and I do mean in all seriousness, whenever I want to condemn Bonds, I just think of the time I went to my buddy’s bachelor party. My girlfriend found out there were strippers there, but had no proof I did anything. This, in effect, is my own unique testament as to why ‘756’ remains untainted.