Barry Bonds is two home runs away from Hank Aaron's home run record. He is reviled by many baseball purists convinced by evidence that ranges from the physical - Bonds physique and head have changed quite a bit during his baseball career; traits of potential hormone and steroid use - to the legal - leaked testimony and reports of his steroid use. Wherever he goes he is booed. He is greeted with chants of "Ster-oids, ster-oids, ster-oids." Even in his own hometown there are many deeply skeptical of him.
But.
But he was voted into the all star game - a fan popularity contest. And the closer he gets to the hallowed home run record, the more people are paying attention. It is almost impossible not to. The home runs he continues to hit nearing the age of 43 are wondrous, gravity-defying shots.
Still, there is this deep tension. Love him? Hate him? Respect him? Admire him?
I can't help but wonder if part of the anger we direct at him is anger born of our own sinfulness.
Almost everyone knows what it is to cheat, to break the rules.
There are speed limits set aside because they silly.
There are affairs.
There are exemptions on taxes that are a bit generous.
There are expense reports with a few extra dollars.
And that says nothing of the ways people try and get ahead in office politics...to say nothing of political politics.
These are things we all hate about ourselves. They are the lesser angels of our nature - they are our dark side.
I can't help but wonder if that is why it feels so good to be righteously indignant at someone like Barry Bonds. His cheating seems so blatant, so obvious.
That cheating, if it is real, has already cost him dearly. He will break Aaron's record. He has already passed Ruth. He will never be Babe. He will never be Hammerin' Hank. There will be asterisks aplenty - if not in print then in peoples' minds.
Maybe it is time to give Barry grace for all he might have done - to spend the next few days admiring the beauty of a great accomplishment, to forgive him...and in the process perhaps give ourselves grace for all of our sins as well.
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I am so tired of this already, it is not because he is color. It is because he cheated plain and simple. Cheated did you get this. Did not play by the rules.
No way, Barry Boggs does not deserve to be given that award. What are we telling our children? It's ok to be dishonest. So, he got caught but it's ok. Hank Arron and the Babe worked very hard under extreme circumstances to obtain the records they did, and Boggs, using steroids,obtains the same record and it's ok. No way, Jose. Color, did I hear someone say color? what the heck does that have to do with anything?
Sports are a cultural metaphor for social values. Society in many ways is a competetive game based on rules or social norms. People like sports because they sum up ways we believe people ought to properly behave in the course of the game of life.
We should play by the rules, win fair and square, etc...
Not only on the metaphorical playing fields of our leisurely dreams...the baseball diamond reflects our ideal vision of social harmony and respect...
Bonds violates our aesthetic sense and our ethical sense, and you know what? In my opinion more people adhere to more rules in the right way as they play the game of life than get ahead by breaking them...
Therefore I understand and agree with the distaste for Bonds and his pseudo accomplishment...
Sorry I do not buy into the we are all no good so lighten up on Barry self loathing perspective.
I agree with Kevin - we can't ignore the race angle. Look at the news pictures of people holding asterisk signs, and see if you can find someone who isn't white. Kevin is right - we didn't hold Lance Armstrong, or Floyd Landis, to the same standard that we are applying to Barry Bonds. So many people are calling Barry a cheater, but the truth is that 'cheating' means breaking the rules, and there were no rules against his alleged infractions. Are the people who want an asterisk next to his record also going to insist on an asterisk next to the names of every pitcher he ever faced? How many of them were juiced? Way more than Hank Aaron, or Babe Ruth, ever faced. So, in my book his record is real - he faced the best his era had to offer, under the same conditions they did.
The more interesting question is, how long will it take until A-Rod breaks Barry's record? Because sure as sunrise, it's going to happen, probably in 2014, and this ridiculous controversy will be relegated to the history books.
I agree that grace and forgiveness should be extended, and that we should be willing to forgive. Particularly, those of us whose sins have already been forgiven through faith in Jesus Christ. However, there is a small problem with this blog, and one we should not ignore. Barry Bonds hasn't asked for forgiveness nor has he confessed his sin. We should be willing to forgive, but the actual granting of forgiveness requires that it be asked for. And, if the evidence proves that Bonds is guilty? He may certainly ask for forgiveness but it still won't remove the tarnish from the record.
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