Barry Bonds is about to break Hank Aaron's Home Run record. That's cool. Good for Barry Bonds.
Even if Barry is known to be a jerk of the highest order, you can't fault a guy for rising to the top of his profession, and giving him all due respect
is the American Way. I mean, hey, if it was
me smashing those baseballs through the air, I would be hard to live with, too. I can already be a jerk without a reason.But, give me a reason to brag and swagger, well, who knows how many friends I'd have left?
Unfortunately for Barry, he's catching a bucket of shit for being the best bat in baseball.
And it ain't right.
Lots of folks out there are dissing the American Way when they dis Barry's achievements and his use of steroids to enhance his competitive edge. It's not his fault.
Yeah, you heard me.
I said:
"It's not his fault."Major League Baseball, and it's commissars, were digging every minute of it when Mark McGuire, Sammy Sosa, and the like were setting batting records, surpassing Roger Maris' mark, and the fans started coming out in droves to see the big guys do their thing.
After a depressing down period following a players strike,suddenly baseball was on the daily front page. Talked about in the shop. Debated at the water coolers. Cheered in the living rooms. Baseball was big again.
The sluggers were bigger than ever.
Ticket sales ballooned.
Viewership, and revenue, sky-rocketed.
And steroids were everywhere.
The commissars knew it, but looked the other way.
In other words: they allowed it, and all but encouraged it.
Whatever rule Major League Baseball had about steroids,(from my understanding, they had none) it was obviously not enforced.
The rules, either in reality, or in practice, did not rule out steroid use.
Players were free to indulge, and did. And since each player is competing against every other player for contract terms, headlines, endorsements and just plain success, a level playing field requires each player to seek out whatever edge he could attain.
So Barry,Mark,Sammy, and nearly every other slugger started shooting up.
Can you really blame them?
Don't fault a man for playing by the rules laid out before him.
Barry Bonds played by the rules. Every Home Run is his. He earned them.
Now,give the man his due.
And heap the shame were it belongs: On the commissars of Major League Baseball.
Not Barry Bonds.