You know, all the problems, all the investigations… I have to say, congratulations to Barry Bonds. No matter what you think of him, no matter what you think he may or may not have done, it’s still an impressive accomplishment. No, I don’t have a problem with this, really.
The way I look at it is this. Even if I took twice the amount of things people have said Barry did. Heck, even four or five times the amount, there’s no way it would make me hit baseballs like that. The natural talent is still there, and it’s still impressive. Even if you go back to a time before all these issues are alleged to have started, he was still a hall of famer. Great player. To hit that many baseballs takes talent that I don’t think any drug can give you. Plus, to be honest, it is still a big deal, and I’m not going to get all mad about it, get all pissy like a lot of sports people will probably do (Jim Rome comes to mind). I’m going to enjoy it. Partially because I figure Arod will probably beat it a few years down the road. :)
The local connection is that former Ranger Mike Bacsik was the one who gave up the shot. Quite a fiasco in the stands rumbling around for the ball.
Also, I was QUITE surprised at the video message from Hank Aaron. Given how much has been written about how Aaron can’t stand Bonds, I was quite frankly shocked to see that there, especially given the remark that Hank Aaron made not too long ago saying he “didn’t know how to spell his name”. So it was quite surprising to see him there. Barry definitely loves his dad – that much showed in his speech.
I say let it go, because if you asterisk this event, then where do you stop with the “steroid era” stuff? Do you just eliminate anything that happened between 1985 or so and now? You can’t do that either, so you just live with it, I think.
Now if something definitely happens, and we have concrete proof and he admits something, I might change my opinion, but for now…
Congratulations Barry Bonds.
A remark when reading around the net about this.. I’ve been a fan of CBS Sportsline for awhile. They lost a bit of credibility with me by posting this image in talking about the story.
