Letters to the Editor
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asterik my ....
All of this anguish is ridiculous. Simply put, Barry Bonds is the greatest all around player since his godfather, Willie Mays. Period. His list of accomplishements that can't be "steroid tainted" is staggering. The steroid sideshow is just smoke and mirrors. If you actually look at the list of people who've been suspended for steroid use, what should jump out at you is the wide range players who got caught. It's not just, or even mostly, power hitters. It's middle relivers, it's utility players, it's bench players, it's light-hitting outfielders and so on. That should tell you that steroid use was deep and widespread. As an aside, it's always interesting how pitchers seem to get a pass in the "outrage" department when it comes to steroids.
The powers that be in baseball are hypocritical at best. They actively looked the other way when it really would have made a difference and now they are just trying to scapegoat Bonds and a few high profile others to cover their asses.
As far as the general public goes, please, the "loss of innocence" cheating!!! outrage is just the empty howl of the mob. If you're going to howl about steroid era but ignore the much longer greenie era and downplay the active praise and mythology surround players who accomplished feats while drunk/hungover and high and violated the rules all the way to the hall of fame by throwing illegal picthes and bragging about it, then I can't take you seriously.
So Bonds is probably a jerk. So what? So was Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Mickey Mantle, Billy Martin, Reggie Jackson, Pete Rose, Curt Schilling, Randy Johnson, Roger Clemens and any number of other players past and present. Hell, compared to the '86 Mets team, except for Gary Carter, Bonds is a "saint". So, frankly, I hope Bonds continues on his FU tour and breaks the record soon and then DH's somewhere next year and pushes it out to 800 or so.