Where is the joy in Bonds' record-breaking home run?

Records mean more in baseball than any other sport. In football and basketball, records are liquid, broken all the time. But baseball records are etched on a tablet, stored behind glass and protected by security guards.

The home run Barry Bonds hit, No. 756, to break Hank Aaron's all-time record should have been loud. The country should have watched with the fascination they had when Aaron broke the record of Babe Ruth and when Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa took on the single-season home run record and each other just as Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle did long ago.

But the home run made no noise. San Francisco fans cheered. They love all things Barry. Outside of San Francisco, however, who cared? Did you and your friends talk about it? Did people you know replay the moment, savoring the detail, committing it to memory?

The feat came and went and within two days was forgotten. The contempt many fans have for Bonds and for the miracle muscles he added late in his career muted what should have been the biggest hit of all time.

What a waste.

Comments

[Jo]

I basically boycotted all media coverage of Linseed Asterisk Man and his pseudo-achievement. To me, it's not a real record, just like New Coke wasn't real Coke--it was a stunt cooked up in a lab that people saw through instantly. Anyone who read _Game of Shadows_ can have little doubt that this was a scientific, not an athletic, achievement. As much as I hate the Yankees, I'm rooting for A-Rod to beat Aaron's record. At least he isn't compromised the way Bonds, McGuire, and Palmeiro have been. I used to love baseball--but in the last decade (and especially in the last five years) I have virtually given up following it because I am so disgusted by the sport's inability to face the drug situation. So let 756*, 757*, 758*, and whatever else Bonds does this season fade away. I just won't give him any encouragement by even acknowledging it.

[SEW Jr.]

Question: If a baseball player doubles the number of home runs hit in season, does that fact along state that he has taken steriods? If a player states he might have unknowingly took some type of steroid, does that make him guilty of actually taking steriods? If a player has been convicted by the media while going after a baseball home-run statistic, should that player be convicted in the newspaper when there is no positive test clearly showing the player took the said steriods? What does our history tell us about other baseball players who have been home-run hitters in the past? Do we conclude that these players took some performance enhancing drugs?

[D. Mc]

The waste is how you can write such an article when the media has dogged him. We live in a country where you're supposed to be innocent until proven guilty. What a joke. Let's stick to facts. Barry Bonds has not failed a drug test, nor has he been proven guilty. Why isn't anyone making such a big deal about Mark McGuire or Raphael Palmero. I don't hear anyone dragging them through the mud or discussing asterisks by their records.

[DT2]

I maintain that Barry would have received much more interest from baseball fans everywhere, if he wasn't such a colossal jerk to the media and fans, alike... (despite the clear perception that he is/was a steroid user).

Alas, the truth is, that Barry Bonds made his own, selfish bed...I will enjoy him lying in it alone with his "record"*******

[nasis]

Good point! Professional Baseball should be just as strict on their players as the nfl. They should strip the record from Barry Bonds. If not I hope Alex Rodregez breaks it! Oh yeah that was a good comment you left on Pats blog.

[Bonds like Gumbel Is Black Trash]

Bonds is not just slimebag. He is an arrogant slimebag liar. Is this manipulating the system or what hiring some jackass lawyer to file lawsuits for defamation saying "whites who complain are nothing but racists"? But then asshole Brian Gumbel complained publically the winter Olympics were too white and boring? Both slimewads Bonds and Gumbel are married to white women and have offspring. So whats the point? Figure it out. Spoiled rotten pampered racists in reverse. We want it all and then some. Shame on San Fran for going along with him after they chastized him but what else would you expect from that toggaf joint. These brats are sucking integrity truth and fairness out of everything.

[Jones sabo brand new fact is that they are badly]

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