More Bonds

In case you did not hear about it..Barry Bonds hit his 715th homerun over the weekend. The reason why I said, in case you did not hear about it, is because it was not reported. With the exception of ESPN, no one else said jack. Oh we heard about Albert Pujois getting his 25th homer. We heard about the close race at the Daytona 500. We heard that Ricky Williams attended his first full practice in the Canadian football league. But when it came to Bonds, nothin'. Bonds is the second man to reach 715 homers all time. Well if you want to be unofficial, he is the third man to reach that milestone. Ironically, all of the men who have reached that plateau, are black. Gibson (962), Aaron (756) and now Bonds (715) have out hit, White "America's Greatest Segregated" ball player and out performed their "greatest segregated" ball players in DiMaggio, Cobb and other most revered white ball players.

You know, I can get with the excuse of ridiculing Bonds for his behavior with the media. Bonds may be closed to the media, but where in the constitution does it say, the media or baseball fans has the right to pry and prod into the lives of its athletes. Todays media is the equivalent to the National Enquirer. Todays news on athletes is based on what an athlete does in his personal time, does he shake after he pees or does he make a sound when doing number two. What type of women he accompanies or what he eats and oh yeah, he's a ball player. And then you take Bonds, this man has grown up around the game, he's father was a helluva player and by the way, his god-father happened to hit 660 homeruns and is part of the top ten all time on the homerun list, Willie Mays. Mays is to black folk as DiMaggio is to Whites. When you compare the two, in my biased opinion, Mays is better, because he played in a league that finally excepted him non- equally. He played with whites, which means he faced all competitors. I don't think the same can be said about DiMaggio for all of his career.

So why all the ventriol towards Bonds? One, he is linked to an investigation involving BALCO and its owner Victor Conte. Bonds, truthfully under oath before a grand jury, said he unknowingly took the cream called flaxiseed. To this date, Bonds has not tested positive for any type of steroid use. To this date, the fact that Bonds name came up with the BALCO investigation left open for many of the media and fans, who claim they are purist, to believe in pure speculation.

Sports talk radio hosts, like Jim Rome uses the word, allegedly, loosely. Meaning that he used steroids based off a book by two beat reporters from the San Francisco Chronicle (no mention about the two authors being investigated as to who leaked grand jury testimony), although Bonds has not failed a drug test. And please don't tell me that this man is not given a cup to pee in after his seven homeruns this season or his twelve last season. To put it simply, Bonds is being crucified and ridiculed because of one thing. 714 homeruns. This isn't about Aaron, just like it wasn't about Mays, when Bonds pushed passed him. Baseball celebrated that feat, and it will celebrate it when and if Bonds chooses to chase Aaron.

This is where race comes in and besides Bonds, only two men have encountered such public hatred. Roger Maris when he clipped Ruths single season record for homeruns. That feat was hit with an asterik and caused Maris to breakdown physically. Maris up until McGwire and Sosa did not get the recogniton he deserved for his personal feat. Problem with the recognition for Maris, is that he is dead and was not able to hear the cheers himself, get the exclusive interviews or his take on McGwire's use of steroids. Next man to get the "Ruth Treatment" was Henry Aaron. Aaron if you recall received death threats and hate mail. He had to hire bodyguards for his family. Why? because white folk who call themselves purists, did not like the fact that a black man was going to surpass their favorite "segregated" ball player. I imagine that this messed with grandpa's psychi, he remembered the game when Ruth played, along with Gehring and other white ball players, who got over by not facing a group of men of color. I bet grandpa, had to two events in baseball, he says changed the game for the worse. Blacks brought into the major leagues and when free agency was set. Jackie Robinson, was chosen by the Dodgers to be the first black man to break the color barrier in the major leagues. Nevermind the fact that black athletes represented this country in the Olympics and brought home gold, Nevermind the fact that black men were boxing champions and represented this country despite its bigotry and never mind the fact that black men like whites gave their life for this country. None of the accomplishments and sacrifices blacks and black athletes gave to this country were recognized while they were living . And now the media and so called baseball purists, whose life depends on the purity and innocence of a damn game, wants to bury a man who played the hand he was dealt. Did he have choices? absolutely. Did he do the right thing for himself and his career? probably. Should we care what he does to his body? no, it ain't our business.

So please save the litany of bullbleep excuses of why Bonds deserves an asteriks and needs to be run out of the game. I get so tired of hearing white sports talk hosts and their callers bitchin' about what they think is pure and what they want to believe. Hell I want to believe this country has gotten over its racist ways, but when I see a country divided on an alleged rape of black woman on a Duke University campus, and read about something that never reached national airwaves in regard to the wrongful arrest of 39 or so blacks in Tulia, Texas in 1999. And now you want to me believe that the ignoring and allegations of steroid use is the only reason why Barry Bonds is getting this disrespect. He is a seven time MVP, He has stolen over 500 bases with 500 homers and a host of other honors by playing this game. And all the game and it's fans is giving to this man, who has reached a plateau done by two others. Is the cold shoulder and hope that he goes away.

Meanwhile, with the same sentiment and disdain for baseball and it's purist fans. I'm glad that finally the guy who was number two can be finally laid to rest and not mentioned until someone else passes him and his asterik filled career out of our lips.