8/8/2007

8 Responses to “#756 on YouTube”

1. I am no Barry Bonds fan, but he sure can put the bat on the ball. I remember him back when he was winning multiple MVP’s in Pittsburgh, and just kept getting better. He is a complete and total jackass, and his contempt for the media has cost him. But, when it comes to steroids, the media has really given him a raw deal.

   JD (06a9d8) — 8/8/2007 @ 9:21 pm

   
   

2. I did not make that very clear. I suspect that he did use steroids. Knowingly? We’ll never know.

   I also suspect that at the time he did so, it was not illegal under the rules, and that is on baseball, not Barry Bonds. I also suspect that given the fact that the majority of people that have been caught for steroids have been pitchers, that many of his homers came off of pitchers than were juicing, which to me, would balance things out.

   In the end, he is an ass, and will forever be tarnished by the steroid era. However, blaming Bonds completely absolves baseball of their lack of will to address this at the time, since Sosa, McGuire and Bonds were saving baseball post-strike.

   I will get off of my soapbox now. Sorry.

   JD (06a9d8) — 8/8/2007 @ 9:25 pm

   
   

3. Of course, they’re no longer flashbulbs for the most part, but battery-operated strobes. Either way, they’re guaranteed to ensure that the close-up field of view is over-lit and the intended (long-distance) field of view is comparatively under-lit. Lots of bad photos, in other words. That seems somehow appropriate to (grumpy old purist) me, though, for this particular sports non-icon.

   Beldar (92bc19) — 8/9/2007 @ 1:57 am

   
   

4. Yeah, the flashes at 500′ are totally stupid.

   Christoph (92b8f7) — 8/9/2007 @ 2:00 am

   
   

5. He is a complete and total jackass, and his contempt for the media has cost him

   Bond’s contempt for the media started years before the “juiced” era. When some of the “top” sportswriters in the nation decided to let their egos clash with Bond’s, and write storys that berated Bonds, Barry simply refused to grant these writers access to him—-hence the animosity grew out of this “selective” process that was every bit Bond’s right of refusal. Personal attacks continued to be the norm for these elite sportswriters while at the same time these same writers cried that they were excluded from interviews. The mainstream media hierarchy has shown similar contempt to anyone who disagrees with their point of view.

   Is Bonds an ass? Maybe. But I would submit it took a well oiled media bias to advance this discription. Ty Cobb was painted in similar picture by the press back in the early 1900’s:

   “Tyrus Raymond Cobb, better known as Ty Cobb (1886-1961), was most probably the greatest all-around baseball player who ever lived and also universally acknowledged as the “most hated man in baseball.”

   Was Cobb also considered an ass? Most likely.

   Rovin (7f64b8) — 8/9/2007 @ 5:09 am

   
   

6. Yes, but Cobb went that extra step and assaulted people. By any accounting, Cobb was a hell of a ball player and hell of a jackass off the field.

   A better example would be Ted Williams. The Boston media absolutely despised Williams and Williams was equally wary in return. The sour relationship cost him at least 1 MVP award and possibly more. Nowadays, he’s rightfully regarded as one of the all-time greats. But according to the media in his day, Williams was an underperforming no-good-nik.

   SaveFarris (b380f5) — 8/9/2007 @ 8:21 am

   
   

7. It isn’t just ‘Baseball’s Problem.’ Just examine the contrast between FDA’s treatment of the “vitamin and supplement market” and the “medications, and prescription medications market.”

   Al (b624ac) — 8/9/2007 @ 10:39 am

   
   

8. Come on, Bonds cheated on his taxes, his wife, and anyone who has been around the ‘steroid’ culture laughs at the idea that he could have ‘unknowingly’ used steroids. Looking in the mirror at his giant expanding head would have been the second clue.

   TimesDisliker (438469) — 8/9/2007 @ 2:55 pm