One Man's Rant Against Barry Bonds

[___ Eats It]

Found this humorously distubing...  ;D

It's R-rated for language.

http://www.csupomona.edu/~jvila/barrybonds.htm

[GarySJ]

I'm in the mood for a line-by-line rebuttal, so let me take a crack at this one. Quotes taken from the linked article:

He has not embraced himself as a celebrity and all he does is play and pick up his check.

So what's the problem? I like it that Barry Bonds isn't hocking deodorant, badly commentating other sporting events, trying to convert me to his religion, doing guest voices for The Simpsons, or whoring himself out on a dating show.

He refuses to sign autographs for Giants fans including kids, which questions why they love him so much.

Maybe, but he's scarcely alone in this regard. Many players, including some of much less stature, refuse to sign autographs.

Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire became national heroes in 1998 chasing Roger Maris, both men broke the Record and Barry was left where he belongs, forgotten on the shelf. So what does Barry do?  He bulks up over time and then starts free-swinging.

Yes, that's why Bonds' batting average is way up and strikeouts way down. In 2002 he actually won the NL batting crown. Would your beloved Mark McGwire ever come close to doing that? Will the great Sammy Sosa ever get his annual K total under 130? ("Free Swinger" Barry Bonds has only been over 93 strikeouts once, and that was in 1986.)

I hope Barry is happy, because we still hate you Barry.  Not because you are breaking our beloved sluggers' records, but because you don't give anything back to the fans that make you who you are.

Newsflash: Barry doesn't care if people love or hate him. Barry doesn't owe anybody anything. I know he's a jerk; I don't want to be his buddy, I just want to watch him hit the ball.

Just recently, my Cubbies

Oh, so THAT'S what this is about. This is just some whiny Cub fan who's all pissy about the baseball universe revolving around something other than the Cubs.

were playing the first-place Giants in the middle of a pennant race.

This must have been 2003, considering that the Cubs' last pennant race was 1989.

Barry comes up with the bases loaded and the tying run at 3rd.  He is facing a young 22 year old flamethrower, Carlos Zambrano. On a 3-2 pitch, Barry lines out right to Carlos to end the inning and C-Z pumps his fists several times.

Wait a minute. Isn't this whole bitchfest about what a jerk Barry Bonds is for admiring his own home runs, and other unseemly behavior? So why is it okay for some rookie pitcher to hoot and holler over an unsensational out?

Of course C-Z fired back and was backed up by Sammy Sosa.

Yeah, if I got into a shouting match with the top player in baseball, I'd want Sammy Sosa and his corked "practice" bat on my side. Real credibility there.

Who has had his run-ins with Barry.  Prior to the 2002 season he had a media war of words in which Sammy pretty much dogged Barry.

Sammy dogged Barry in a war of words? What is this, ninth grade gym class? BTW, no one likes Barry. It's hardly news that Sammy Sosa doesn't either.

Even before this incident, earlier on at Pac Bell Park, Kerry Wood had beaned Barry twice with a curveball (which in case you don't know, is one of the harder pitches to control), that had slipped out of his hands. Mark Prior pitches the next day and beans him with a curveball that went wild.  Now most people know that a curveball is a pitch that will go everywhere, so when the ball gets close or nicks you, you accept it.

Then can we stop all this Baseball Tonight drivel about the Cubs' rotation being so **** awesome? You just admitted the Cubs' top two pitchers can't get a curveball within a foot of the target. How much money are these guys making?

You would figure that Barry, who is facing 2 pitchers who throw curveballs, would understand the movement on a curveball.  But he throws a hissy fit instead.

I can scarcely fault Barry for being angry about three HBPs in two games.

Prior stand his ground.  Catcher Paul Bako restrains Barry while Prior motions him to come get him.

Yes, when you're a 22-year-old bonus baby starting pitcher it's really smart to pick a fight with a muscular lunatic who's holding a baseball bat.

Just answer me one question: was Prior going to punch Bonds with his left hand, like Tim Robbins learned to do in Bull Durham?

Isn't this a lovely image, a 22 year old sophomore pitcher isn't scared of Barry Bonds.

How lovely is the the image of Prior going on the 60-day DL for shattering his pitching hand on Bonds' cranium? This isn't hockey, you numbskull.

This definitely must be a shocker to the only ***** in San Francisco.

Have you ever been to San Francisco?

This will be another excuse for Barry to wear even more body armor then he already does

Take it up with the league office. They do have rules on this sort of thing, you know. If I had to bat against Chicago's rotation of hot-headed 22-year-olds with massive control and maturity problems, I'd wear body armor too.

and inch his elbow even closer to the plate.

Oh, so now he's leaning in? Sheesh, I thought the HBPs were caused by curveballs being so hard to control. And check the stats -- Barry scarcely has a history of taking HBPs.

And why would a roided-up homer-trotting egomaniac do something so noble as taking one for the team anyway? Especially when he's frustrated with being walked so much and not getting to hit? What an absurd contradiction.

[___ Eats It]

I'm in the mood for a line-by-line rebuttal, so let me take a crack at this one. Quotes taken from the linked article:

If I may retort... ;D

So what's the problem? I like it that Barry Bonds isn't hocking deodorant, badly commentating other sporting events, trying to convert me to his religion, doing guest voices for The Simpsons, or whoring himself out on a dating show.

Ahh, but he WOULD.  He recently ranted to ESPN that the reason he GETS no endorsement deals is because he's black and McGwire was white.

http://rays.tbo.com/rays/MGBL6XWFOVD.html

"``How can 70 home runs [by Mark McGwire, who's white] outdo 73? I wasn't getting [endorsements] when I had six MVPs, five MVPs, four MVPs ... why should it be any different now?''

Bonds, for all his prowess as a hitter, still doesn't get it. Color doesn't have anything to do with the endorsement game. Just ask Michael Jordan or Shaquille O'Neal or Derek Jeter or even Kobe Bryant, pre-legal woes. It's about charisma and having an attachment to the buying public. Bonds, often too surly, too short and too uninterested, doesn't fit into that category. And never mind the whole steroids issue, which also turns off what could be an adoring public."

If you're running Gillette, is that the kind of attitude you want representing your company?

Maybe, but he's scarcely alone in this regard. Many players, including some of much less stature, refuse to sign autographs.

Yes, but I don't hear those players whining about how they're not loved by the general public, or how they WOULD be if they were white.  It's like Bonds' life is a game of poker, and he just keeps dealing the race card.

Yes, that's why Bonds' batting average is way up and strikeouts way down. In 2002 he actually won the NL batting crown. Would your beloved Mark McGwire ever come close to doing that? Will the great Sammy Sosa ever get his annual K total under 130? ("Free Swinger" Barry Bonds has only been over 93 strikeouts once, and that was in 1986.)

Bonds is having a great year.  Hitting 8 million home runs and forcing pitchers to walk you all the time because your roided up body can turn a pop up into a 550 ft homer will help.

Newsflash: Barry doesn't care if people love or hate him. Barry doesn't owe anybody anything. I know he's a jerk; I don't want to be his buddy, I just want to watch him hit the ball.

He does care.  He's just not willing to put forth the effort to bridge the gap he himself created over the years.If he didn't care, why would he be throwing the race card out there and comparing his popularity to McGwire's?

I have to go eat dinner or the wife will kill me.  More later.   ;D

[GarySJ]

Yes, but I don't hear those players whining about how they're not loved by the general public, or how they WOULD be if they were white.  It's like Bonds' life is a game of poker, and he just keeps dealing the race card.

I don't disagree with any of that, but that wasn't really the point of the article. The point of the article was "Barry's a jerk because he cheats and takes steroids and admires his homers and because he got in a fight with my oh-so-special Cubbies."

As for the steroid issue, I'm willing to take an "innocent until proven guilty" approach. This whole BALCO thing doesn't look good for Mr. Bonds, but I'm going to reserve judgment until all the facts are in.

And even if Bonds were found to be abusing steroids, he'd hardly be alone among MLB players. Ken Caminiti admitted doing it during his MVP season, and is now paying the price. We all love to hate Barry, but it would be disingenuous to treat steroid abuse as strictly his problem when it is an epidemic among MLB players.

Besides, if hitting 80 homers is just a function of abusing steroids/supplements, why couldn't McGwire or Caminiti do it?

[Velcro]

The key is that Caminiti is paying the price... and if Bonds is shown to have done steroids (very likely), then he should pay the price too.

Hitting homers isn't "Just" a function of steroid and supplement use... but it is aided by it.  when a ball that most hit for a popup goes an extra 30-100 feet, that routine fly is now a homer.  McGwire hit 70.. and that was supplement aided.  It isn't steroids, but it still mars the achievement, although not as much as if it were illegal.

Barry has a very good swing, and without steroids, he'd be hitting 30+ or even 40 per year... imho.  Good mechanics will do that.

Good mechanics and extra power = incredible #'s.

Look at the last bunch of players to hit 60+...

Sosa, MacGwire, Bonds ... each one is suspected (or admitted) using performance enhancers, and their #'s exploded once they "got big".

[Bullshiznitz]

Alright let me attempt to take this point by point:

(1) Im not even going to get into Bonds yet, but how you can even argue that McGwires numbers are marred is beyond me. He took a legal (thats right, completely LEGAL) supplement that anyone could have taken. Why is he punished because he wanted to better himself. I'll never get why baseball is the only sport where this even gets mentioned. Football players are bigger, stronger, faster than they were 20 even 10 years ago, yet no one questions Emmitts numbers, or Jerry Rice, or Cris Carter. Why is that?

(2)Another point that I dont get is why any baseball player who is even remotely big automatically gets accused of using steriods. Fact of the matter is, that even the absolutely biggest baseball players (Bonds, F. Thomas, etc..) would be nothing more than an average outside LB in football. Bonds is approximately the same size of Derrick Brooks, someone who is considered a "smallish" linebacker, yet people consider Bonds huge.

(3) Why is it most people argue that todays numbers deserve an asterisk? Ive brought up the point several times that players like Ruth, Williams, Cobb, etc.. never played in an intergrated league. Yet no one mentions that their numbers deserve an asterisk.

[Velcro]

1.Macs legal supplement makes those numbers more legit, but andro is a form of steroid, technically speaking... it is a testosterone product, as is steroids.  Now Barry's aren't legal, so Macs situation is different.  

2.  Football actually tests for drugs/steroids better that that thing they call a players union in baseball.  Baseball's setup, plus the fact that you can see the difference in a player from their small stage to the roided up stage all plays into it.

Notice that Bill Romanowski is indicated in the Balco case... football is not exempt... just lest obvoius

3.  sounds like you have said a number of times they deserve an asterik... unless you are no one.  

[GarySJ]

1. Moral legalism. McGwire may not have broken any MLB rules. But whenever his 70-HR season is discussed, a dicussion of the performance-enhancers he used is never going to be far off. The legitimacy of the mark will always be a topic of discussion, subject to the opinions of the individual. As it is with all things baseball. There are still those who think Roger Maris' 61-HR season shouldn't count because he had more games than the Babe. Time will tell.

BTW here is a good discussion of the ethical matters, if you can ignore the logo at the top: http://www.hhp.ufl.edu/keepingfit/ARTICLE/andro.htm

2. I think there's a little more than the issue of physique driving these accusations. The BALCO testimonies, admissions of other players, and results of random tests give observers plenty of reason to suspect this.

3. I'm not arguing that numbers deserve an asterisk. But if these players are found to be using illegal substances, it will tarnish their reputation and the legitimacy of their accomplishments. As with #1, this will ultimately be decided in the court of public opinion.

[___ Eats It]

Oh my goodness, a real live DISCUSSION of the steroid issue without Smazza drooling all over Bonds.   ;D

I'm so excited!