Letters to the Editor
kenkapkk
Published Letters: 131 Editor's Choice: 13
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Kaufman is the fool
[Read the article: King Kaufman's Sports Daily]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]King Kaifaman, who I normally respect, has lost his reason.
"...that to dismiss his achievements as steroid- and human growth hormone-fueled is overly simplistic because we don't know what effect drugs have on baseball performance and we don't know which players and which pitchers were on the juice when."
Yes, and I guess we should still award Ben Johnson the Olympic gold medal. Wake up. If "Game of Shadows" didn't convince you, then you were asleep at the switch when Costas interviewed the man who MADE the "Clear". He said unequivocably that those who think steroids, particularly his steroid, only help in strength and recovery time are fooling themselves. He said adamantly that hand eye coordination and every aspect of the game is enhanced-immeasurably. This from the guy who developed it.
Let's see. Bonds never hit 50 home runs in a season and jumped to **73**. In his late 30's-early 40's his percentages went off the charts. Duh, Mr. K.
"History will decide how Bonds' home run record will be viewed. History's a bit of a fool sometimes."
Stop it. Stop it. Listen to someone like John Feinstein, one of the great sports observers of oue time whose disgust for Bonds is off the charts.
Yes poor Barry is a poster boy for the era. Tsk, tsk. But the reason it all came down on him is precisely because he put himself in the middle of the target by going after, and demeaning, if not desecrating, the greatest single record in sports. If a "nice" guy had done the same, the distaste would have been nearly as great. See any real concern or even attention over Sammy "I don't speak English's" 600th fraudulent blip on the radar?
I agree with several writers who suggest that this is chickens coming home to roost, not just for baseball, but for America- a mirror of a corruptness in society that has gotten way out of control. For that, I'll cut Bonds a little slack. In that we all share some responsibility.
But don't give me this "they were bad guys too" song and dance. Its apples and oranges. There are reasons why dopers are tossed out of international competitions, and their records erased, where they don't have powerful unions to protect them.
Bonds makes Shoeless Joe look like a choirboy.
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Kaufman's ambivalence
[Read the article: King Kaufman's Sports Daily]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Its fine King, to just want to watch baseball. Its a great great game. I live in Philadelphia and am torn for different reasons. The ownership here is a petty, greedy, small minded collective. Their resistence to committing to winning, with a marvelous core group of players, is legendary. The most famous quote from them was that they were a "small market" club in the fifth largest city in America. The only time they enlarged their payroll was when they got a new park, which is a huge cash cow for them.
There are many ways to taint the game, in this case legal. They destroyed the love of baseball here for nearly two decades. They hired and kept out of miserable incompetence a man in Ed Wade who was universally acknowledged to be a hack and the worst General Manager in the game, way over his head. The contempt for the fans of this city knew no bounds. I remember when the All Star game came to Philly and for a moment I realized exactly why I fell in love with baseball, because it was such a surprise and treat to see the game played well by great athletes. That's how bad it had gotten.
So I have my own ambivalence about supporting this team, which in spite of its insipid ownership, in a weak National League, is managing a very courageous and interesting season.
But here's my point. This desecration, in its many forms, means something. We all will have one life _in this time_, with this special game(s), with these moments. For those who deride love of sports, its garbage. Its like deriding ballet or opera or country misic, or whatever. Yes we can get too involved, but the drama, beauty, poetry of sports is often transcendent. And baseball is a game of great poetry and amazing moments.
When it is trashed this way by its participants, players, owners, refs, whatever, part of that lifetime is trashed, and it will never come back or be the same. Those moments are lost. The integrity, the possibilities, and the great joy of those moments are lost and cannot be recovered-ever. Just watch the HBO special on the Dodgers. It was heartbreaking. Not Katrina heartbreaking, but devestating to a community in its own way. Ask Baltimore when Irsay fled in the middle of the night.
If Bonds were on my team, I would share your ambivalence, but I would feel disgust in watching him, and have trouble going to the park.
This is the legacy we have bequeathed ourselves. Our rampant materialism and bottom line mentality has come home to roost.
And despite that, my love of the game also endures.