Mister Coaster

OK, so it's pretty much a foregone conclusion that Bonds will break Hank Aaron's home run record. As I type this, he's 1 shy of tying it, and 2 shy of the most coveted record in sports. Like many others, I think Bonds is a real tool, but I'll give him props for this amazing accomplishment, sterroids or not.

That being said, I wish ESPN would cut the crappy "Bonds update" that happens every 30 minutes or so. As I watched my Angels beat the living stink out of Detroit last night, I was subjected to their lame-o "highlights" (or lack there of) from Bonds' at bats, from a game that was over hours ago. Also on Sportscenter, 30% or more of their blurbs are about Bonds in one way or another. OK, I get it, he's close, you'd have to be an idiot to not know this. But seriously, ESPN, how 'bout a nice hot cup of STFU until he actually does it?

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Ilow

Couldn't agree more with the stupid ESPN updates. If they taped it and brought you an update directly after it happened it would really be just as good. And now they do it on the internet too with a stupid popup when he does something. Oh yeah, and I have to disagree with your statement that you have to give him props steroids or not. He is an obvious steroids and HGH abuser so his accomplishment is neither amazing nor props worthy, IMHO. To top it all off, he is a prick and a racist. I hope his abnormally large head explodes before he breaks the record.

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Halx

I think its stupid that the media expects him to hit a home run every at bat. I do hope he breaks it, though. I've always been a Barry Bonds fan, even though he's on the fuckin' Giants. I love his attitude. I could give a shit about the steroids, to be honest. Take away the steroids and he's still one of the best ever.

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Glory's Sun

Fuck Barry Bonds. He was good.. the steriods are a major problem in my book. I mean damn.. that totally undermines the whole spirit of the game. We have no idea what was real talent and what was just dope.

Willravel

Barry Bonds is a freak, and should be kicked out of MLB for life along with anyone else who uses artificial steroids. They should have all their records wiped and, as I've said before, I hope they all grow tits.

Drink your Gatorade, eat your Wheaties, get your 8 hours of sleep, and play your best. It's a game of honor. At least it used to be.

pan6467

I can't stand Barry and his chase for the record has become more of a disgrace than something to be embraced by baseball and the nation.

That said, there have been cheaters in baseball forever, Phil Niekro with the spitter, corked bats, Pete Rose admitting back in the 70's that he and many players took speed.

Scandals have always been a part of the sport also, 1919, the '79 world champ Pirates and cocaine, the 80's and cocaine.

Those are just off the top of my head.

I think baseball more than anything else demonstrates where American values are. In the last 20+ years it showed greed and do whatever it takes to win regardless of circumstance. Skyrocketing payrolls, the "me not team" attitude, no loyalties on either side, fans that expect winners or won't go (as opposed to just going to show support and for the entertainment value), and so on.

Bonds is just a creation of this monster, you want to crucify Bonds, crucify the people and press that for years allowed this and turned the other way because all they wanted were winners, long tape measure home runs and super human sports figures..

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I just love people who use the excuse "I use/do this because I LOVE the feeling/joy/happiness it brings me" and expect you to be ok with that as you watch them destroy their life blindly following. My response is, "I like to put forks in an eletrical socket, just LOVE that feeling, can't ever get enough of it, so will you let me put this copper fork in that electric socket?"

Willravel

I'm not much of a baseball guy, and I'll be the first to admit that outside of seeing John Goodman smoke a stogy and hit a home run in a movie I know jack about the history of baseball. I guess it's always been this way, which just reinforces how shitty MLB is in my mind.

At the end of the day, my favorite sports stars are people with extraordinary talent like MJ, The Great One, and Cristiano Ronaldo (MANCHESTER!!) who can take their sports to new heights with their ability and personality alone.

kutulu

I totally agree. Don't forget that the owners, coaches, players, commisioner, etc. KNEW the players were taking PEDs. He'll PED's go back before steroids also. Players have been geeking out of speed since the 60's.

It was never formally banned by baseball until it all blew up. Don't give me the line about it being illegal. Sure it was illegal but MLB didn't give a damn that the players (pitchers and hitters) were juiced.

The "Blame Barry" bandwagon is pathetic.

Bear Cub

He'll break the record, everyone will love him or hate him, and then the fans will sit quietly and wait for a few years until Alex Rodriguez breaks the record with a clean bill-o-health. Then all can rejoice as their coveted record becomes, in a sense, "born again."

Mister Coaster

Yeah, but A-rod is also a real tool. Kind of like choosing between drowning and burning to death.

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Xazy

I am not an A-Rod fan, but I hope he breaks the record now, since Bonds just taints it now that he has it. To me it is a sad day in baseball (though that is untrue it is sad that they have even allowed him to continue to play).

Destrox

Sadly I agree, A-Rod is one of baseballs biggest tools playing the game. Most of it I would chalk up to him being a Yankee and his ridiculous payroll. Those two things together gives one room to act like the shit and probably get away with it. Then you add in his pure talent and you get great possibility of ones self being a complete tool.


Shame he didn't turn out as a role model style player, I think what A-Rod really needs is a new team.

Grats to Barry B, but you wont go much further in my book than a blip on the radar. Sure you did it, and it takes A LOT of talent with or without roids, but thats just not how the game goes.

Shame he couldnt wait till the Pirates series comming up, that'd have been great.

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Walking Shadow

First off, no one forced the Texas Rangers to offer A-Rod a $225,000,000 contract. No one held a gun to the owners head and said, "You do this or we deep fry your carpeting and serve it to you over steamed rice."

As for his contract enabling him to in your words, , what exactly do you mean?

A-Rod is the consensus choice for best player in baseball by all respected journalists/columnists/sportscasters etc.

It is the douchebag New York City media that has set out to destroy A-Rod's reputation by printing bullshit lies, which you seem to take as Og's own truth. And as for his not being a role model player, please?

Has he ever been busted for drugs or soliciting a prostitute or for doing roids? he was gracious enough to move over to third base, while saying nothing about Derek Jeter's whining to Steinbrenner and Torre that he, Jeter would never play third and would demand a trade if placed there. This despite the fact that Jeter is a mediocre shortstop at best, and would do much better at third base.

But according to you, he's a much better team player then A-Rod.

As for Bonds, all of the shrieking and bleating by the so-called fans is hypocrisy in it's worst form, seeing as these same people were standing and applauding back in 1998 when Mcgwire and Sosa were slamming them out of the park every night.

Finally, Ilow, you wrote: Excuse me?

Racist towards whom? What comments has Bonds made that could be construed as racist?

Porky Pig

on the one hand, barry bonds never failed a drug test and there is no concrete proofs that he is juiced either, yet he is being called a cheater. on the other hand, shawn merriman, who was racking all those sacks, tested positive for steroids, yet he only served the four games suspension and that was it. nobody got all worked up over that. nobody called him a cheater. what gives?? hmmmm....it is okay to cheat in football, but not in baseball???

btw, i'm neither a barry bonds supporter nor am i a barry bonds hater. i don't even like baseball.....

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Ilow

Ummm, Barry Bonds ADMITTED in grand jury testimony that he used steroids, but claimed that he did not know what they were. If you believe that I have a bridge I could sell you cheap.

[QUOTE=Walking Shadow]

A-Rod is the consensus choice for best player in baseball by all respected journalists/columnists/sportscasters etc.

It is the douchebag New York City media that has set out to destroy A-Rod's reputation by printing bullshit lies, which you seem to take as Og's own truth. And as for his not being a role model player, please?

Has he ever been busted for drugs or soliciting a prostitute or for doing roids? he was gracious enough to move over to third base, while saying nothing about Derek Jeter's whining to Steinbrenner and Torre that he, Jeter would never play third and would demand a trade if placed there. This despite the fact that Jeter is a mediocre shortstop at best, and would do much better at third base.[QUOTE]
Forget A-rod. stupid off field antics for a moment, such as cavorting with a stripper in hotels when he is supposed to be married, look as his history of on-field douchbaggery. in 2004 against the Red Sox, he doesn't like that he grounded out, and slaps the ball out of Arroyo's glove like a little girl. This year as he is going to third on a Jorge Posada popup he shouts "mine" to confuse the Toronto fielders. Those are just two examples that come readily to mind. The media may be obsessed with him, but they are not making this stuff up. He is absolutely the most talented player on the field, but he is also an undeniable tool.

Barry Bonds really seldom even hides the fact that he does not like white people. He admitted during his career homer pursuit that he didn't care about surpassing Aaron, only "beating the white guy" or something to that effect. Here's a couple of other tidbits to jog your memory.
Ron Kittle is no fan of Barry Bonds — not after his tense encounter with the slugger at Wrigley Field in 1993. Here's an excerpt from Kittle's book, describing how he approached Bonds with a couple of Bonds' game-worn San Francisco Giants road jerseys, asking him to autograph them for an auction for Kittle's charity for children with cancer:
"I paid about $110 of my own money for them, so they could be auctioned off at the golf outing. I did that all the time for stars like Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Derek Jeter and Roger Clemens. When I tell them how their autographs help the cause, every player gladly signs — with one exception.
I walked up to Bonds at his locker in the Wrigley Field visitors' clubhouse, introduced myself and said, "Barry, if you sign these, they'll bring in a lot of money for kids who need help."
Bonds stood up, looked me in the eye and said, "I don't sign for white people." If lightning hits me today, I will swear those were his exact words. Matt Williams and other Giants were in the room and they heard what Bonds said.
I stood there for a minute, and the veins in my neck were popping. I've only been that mad a few times in my life. I was going to beat the (heck) out of him, really kick his (butt), but Williams saw what was happening, so he came over and got between us. Matt said, "Ron, that's just the way he is."


BARRY BONDS VS. BOSTON: 'Too Racist for Me'

By Dave Zirin
July 1, 2004 -- The media and sports radio establishment of Boston are calling for the head of All-World baseball player Barry Bonds.
In an interview with the Boston Globe, Bonds was asked a cream puff question about whether he would consider finishing his career in Beantown.
Bonds shook his head and said, "Boston is too racist for me. I couldn't play there. That's been going on ever since my dad (Bobby) was playing baseball. I can't play like that. That's not for me, brother."
When the reporter countered that the racial climate has changed in Boston, Bonds responded, "It ain't changing. It ain't changing nowhere."

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Glory's Sun

I hate the yankee's more than anyone.. but are you being serious with this statement?? Holy Fuck.

kutulu

I agree with the statement. Jeter gets so overrated because he makes some amazing plays twice a season but as far as the regular, everyday stuff goes he's not that great.

This is from Hardball Time and it is an analysis of zone ratings collected by Baseball Info Solutions. They used it to calculate runs saved by a defender. Through the first couple of months of this season, Jeter was the worst SS in baseball:
http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/d-fence/
A key thing to consider is that most defensive ratings are subjective crap. Fielding percentage is only about errors. Zone ratings are based on a pretend 'zone' that a player is responsible for. If a second baseman (say Orlando Hudson for example) is constantly hogging fly balls that are in a 1B or RF zone than the 1B or RF's zone rating will suffer.

Many teams realize this and have developed proprietary metrics for defense. I was at a Q&A with Josh Byrnes (DBacks GM) and he said that they have their own metrics for defense.

Walking Shadow

[QUOTE=Ilow]Ummm, Barry Bonds ADMITTED in grand jury testimony that he used steroids, but claimed that he did not know what they were. If you believe that I have a bridge I could sell you cheap.

[QUOTE=Walking Shadow]

A-Rod is the consensus choice for best player in baseball by all respected journalists/columnists/sportscasters etc.

It is the douchebag New York City media that has set out to destroy A-Rod's reputation by printing bullshit lies, which you seem to take as Og's own truth. And as for his not being a role model player, please?

Has he ever been busted for drugs or soliciting a prostitute or for doing roids? he was gracious enough to move over to third base, while saying nothing about Derek Jeter's whining to Steinbrenner and Torre that he, Jeter would never play third and would demand a trade if placed there. This despite the fact that Jeter is a mediocre shortstop at best, and would do much better at third base.Re: Bonds racism towards white people.

Wow, one unsubstantiated cite from a guy who already had a grudge against Bonds.

That's ironclad proof.

As for Boston, it is one of the most racial divided cities in the country, if you're a black person you just don't go into Southie, even to drive your car through, unless you can't possibly avoid it. there is still turmoil tghere over the busing incident and that was nearly 35 years ago. Shit, there's a Pulitzer Prize winning photo of a a black business man nearly held by two white mooks while another white douche bag tries to run him through with a flagstaff with the American flag on it. This is the same city where after Bill Russell led the Celtics to 11 NBA championships, white scum broke into his house detroyed every single furnishing and took a shit in his bed.

So quit trying to tell me that Boston isn't a racist city, 'cause that's a bullshit lie.

Re: Bonds grand jury testimony. No, Bonds never admitted to knowing that the "cream & the clear " were steroids. In fact he made it very clear that he never asked what was in those two substances.

dirtyrascal7

Great news!! Bonds really hasn't broken the HR record yet...

MLB Credits Hank Aaron With 50 Lost Home Runs

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Strange Famous

If Bonds had shown the side of his personality that he did after hitting the record breaker more in the last 20-odd years he wouldnt be so hated.

Of course he was a great player and a hall of famer without the steroids, but we know he took drugs (unless you really think that someone's level is really likely to go up that much at age 37, or that people's feet go up sizes in their mid 30's)... and the record is tainted and should not really stand.

It is the difference between hitting 650 and hitting close to 800. Barry Bonds was already a great player, the juice made him almost super human in terms of hitting.

When he was speaking about his father, about Hank Aaron in the moment after he hit that run, we did see his human side... unfortunately through most of his career he has been hostile, defensive, insular and dismissive.

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