I agree with Jason on not liking the guy. But I have to disagree with him about giving credit where credit is due. Bonds deserves no credit. He didn't come by this honestly. He acknowledged in his grand jury testimony that he might have taken steroids without his knowledge. Come on..one look at his size of his head tells you all you need to know. He cheated plain and simple. And I don't buy his story of not knowing . How many professional athletes put anything into their bodies that they don't know what it is? I just don't buy it. 756 has an asterisk next to it as far as I am concerned. As far as people not ganging up on Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa...well, they weren't poised to break Hank Aaron's record but I venture to say that if they were we'd have the same controversy over the record. And just because they took steroids as well doesn't mean that Bonds gets a free pass.
The a$$hole apart I think is common knowledge and I have to say that cheap SOB doesn't surprise me either. But even with him being both of these, I would totally celebrate his accomplishment if he did it honestly. But he didn't so I won't.
I might as well throw in my two cents... I haven't been following it and I didn't watch it last night. I'm glad its over. As a lifelong baseball fan, Barry Bonds sickens me. He's a prime example of all that is wrong with baseball. There is enough circumstantial evidence to at least cast a cloak of suspicion on his entire career and this record*. When it comes down to it, if the Baseball Writers of American put him in the Hall of Fame, they have to put Sosa, McGwire, and Palmeiro in there also. If the Hall is good enough for Bonds with all of the suspicion surrounding him, its good enough for the rest who are under suspicion. While Bonds is a grade-A a$$hole, I will argue that personality should not be used to judge a player's career. A lot of players were less than upstanding citizens - Ty Cobb was a racist, Babe Ruth was a womanizer, Mickey Mantle a drunk - to name a few. Their accomplishments on the field are celebrated, as they should be. The fact remains, Bonds now holds one of the most hallowed records in sports, and while that may make most of us sick, we can't change that. But one thing is for sure, it does not diminish the legacy of Henry Aaron. In my mind, Aaron will always be the "home run king" and one of the classiest individuals to ever play the game. Let us celebrate the legacy of Henry Aaron, who earned the record through hard work and talent, and let Bonds fade away into history.
