Downe on Bonds
“You can’t hurt me anymore than you’ve already hurt me. You can’t hurt my family anymore than you’ve already hurt them,” said San Francisco Giants outfielder Barry Bonds on the first episode of his new reality show “Bonds on Bonds.” He continued to explain that he receives thousands of letters and e-mails everyday from angry baseball fans. In these letters people use vulgar language and racial slurs to tell him they hope he dies and rots in hell. Most of this anger stems from steroid allegations that have never been proven true. I for one think this is ridiculous. The man is a baseball player, nothing more. There is absolutely no reason anyone should have this much hatred for someone, especially for playing a game.
As the 2006 baseball season gets underway, the biggest story in the game is Bonds’ pursuit of Hank Aarons all-time home run record of 755. Bonds trails by just 47. Unfortunately for Bonds the controversy surrounding him due to the steroids scandal is making things difficult.
I think I take baseball as seriously as anyone. I passionately cheer for my hometown team, the Chicago Cubs, and have grown up watching their games and cheering them on. When they are winning I experience great joy, and when they are losing I take it hard, but there has never been a point in my life where I have hated an athlete. I cannot imagine anyone doing anything to make me mad enough to send them obscene hate mail.
People need to realize two things; first of all it is just a game. Second, Barry Bonds has not been proven guilty of ever knowingly using performance-enhancing drugs. Until he is proven guilty there is no way his home runs can be discredited. Yes, he has gained a lot of power over the years, but there is a thing as hard — it is possible he improved without cheating.
Even if he is using steroids there is no way he can take all the blame for the problems facing baseball. If he is using steroids he definitely wasn’t the first person to use them, and he won’t be the last. People blame him for setting a bad example for the kids and say he is the reason kids take steroids, but you have to realize that the people he has been in the locker room with and was looking up to when he was a kid were using too. If you are going to blame him for making kids use steroids, then you can’t blame him for starting if that is what his role models did — especially when baseball has been hyping up the home-run hitters while using lackadaisical testing methods.
After years of people accusing just about anyone who can hit home runs consistently, baseball has found a grand total of three athletes guilty of using steroids. If people are going to make such a big deal about drug use, baseball better step it up and start beefing up testing in order to catch some of the people who are doing it. Until then you cannot blame anyone for doing all they can to get the upper hand. And even if they use questionable means to become the best, that does not warrant them being hated and having death threats sent to them and their families.
It is hard to imagine that people like blogger Alex Mestas could say “I think Barry Bonds is one of the most awful human beings in existence-I hate Barry Bonds because he attained his super-stardom by cheating, but most of all because he’s an arrogant prick. Screw you Barry.” So to all those out there spending their time stewing in anger over someone who may or may not have cheated in a game, just remember that you probably cheated one or twice in Candyland when you were a kid, and no one said they hoped your children died, so just lay off the guy.
Matthew Downe is a sophomore. He can be reached at [email protected].
