Barry Bonds

Well the moment has finally come. The release of “Game of Shadows”, has given the baseball community and more so the world personal, documented, verifiable information regarding the how, when and why of Barry Bonds’ steroid use. There is to be no more speculation on the “IF” Barry took the ‘juice’, but more so as to what we as a culture are to do with an icon we have created and inflated which has now crumbled into a bitter pile of needles, creams and pills. With certifiable evidence that Barry Bonds used steroids this still is not an easy question. Sports analysts across the US are being asked some of these questions on the topic.

What do you think of Barry Bonds and his career as a professional baseball player? Should he be celebrated IF he breaks the HR record? Should he be allowed to continue to play in the MLB? Should he enter Cooperstown? Allow me to give you my opinion on some of these questions, but please note my answers are in the context of someone who already knows Barry Bonds is a juicer.
What do you think of Barry Bonds and his career as a professional baseball player?

Simple, its irrelevant, and the man is an idiot for ruining his legacy. He was a first ballot hall of famer by 1998 when he had been voted MVP 4 times, and had developed into one of if not the most complete player in MLB history. A consistent threat everytime he stepped onto the field, not to mention a tenacious outfielder, Barry Bonds needed nothing more, except to fulfill his own selfish greed.

Should he be celebrated IF he breaks the HR record?

No, its tainted, and in fact I think any records he does have should have an *asterisk* next to them. We take away Olympic medals if we find the athlete to have used performance enhancing drugs. So then why not take away Bonds’ records. And the argument that some people make is that steroids were not illegal in Major League Baseball when Bonds was breaking many of these records, so why punish him. Well, unfortunately for Barry we do not live in a world where you are only subject to your employer’s rules. Believe it or not, you are subject to the laws of THE COUNTRY THAT YOU LIVE IN. I.E. The United States, and no, you cannot take enough steroids to get bigger than North America.
Should he be allowed to continue to play in the MLB?

For me this is the biggest question, and the most difficult to answer. He has obviously spent the last two seasons “injured” so that he could flush his system of any ‘juice’ that could be detected by one of the MLB’s drug tests. So the chances of him failing a drug test are limited, and you can’t punish him for taking the drugs under MLB policy because they were not illegal when it was proven he took them. But………he could be penalized under California State Law, or US Congressional law. Steroids are illegal, and you can be arrested for buying, selling or consuming them illegally. So if I had to make the decision I would say charge him, and kick him out of the league for breaking the United States substaance abuse laws, not just the MLB’s.

Should he enter Cooperstown?

Again, no. How can you honestly put this man in the Hall. Pete Rose, who bet on his own team to win, was banned from baseball. So why not kick out Barry, and we can talk about his achievements anecdotally like we do Rose, but he’ll never get into the hall. And he shouldn’t, he cheated, blatantly, over a long period of time.

All in all, I am extremely disappointed for ever believing this man, but in a way maybe I do feel sorry for him. Then again, no I don’t he made millions of dollars to cheat and lie his way to the top of his profession. Well atleast he’s not alone in this world.

1st Draft
As a casual baseball fan, I did not find myself following Bonds until the 2002-2003 season when everytime I either turned on, or had the pleasure of attending a Giants game, all I ever heard about was how ‘BIG’ Barry Bonds had gotten. I never really paid much attention to his ‘growth’, but when I saw the man in the on-deck circle at AT&T park, I had to look closer. Coming from a football background I would have picked this guy for Defensive End or Middle Linebacker, not Right Field.
Many have finally given in to their grief. Even Tim Kurkjian of ESPN.com, one of the more prominent sources for baseball analysis is beginning to turn on Barry. For the last two years we have held off on labeling Bonds as a ‘roid user My response; the same things I did before I knew he used steroids, most of which pertain to the fact that I do not like him.

I have been to San Francisco, I have seen Barry smash baseballs into McCovey Cove first hand and at the time I cheered. Even though I did not like him I was excited to see Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron’s MLB Career Home Run Records be overtaken by a player from my generation. I was But now, I hope he is expelled from the league, villified by the media and basically excommunicated from popular culture and athletic competition in the UNited States