Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
--Proverbs 16: 18 (KJV)
Barry Lamar Bonds makes the national headlines--again. One of the world's greatest athletes, Bonds looms larger than the sport that brought him fame and money. And thus we see his sin, the ancient one of Pride, one of the Seven Deadlys of Yore. Babe Ruth was bigger than baseball, and so was Joe DiMaggio. Bonds' fatal mistake was pulling himself up to the pantheon, shoving a few old codgers aside in the process, and attempting to stand next to George Herman and Joseph Paul. Tsk, tsk, Barry Lamar. You were too good, too cocky, too aloof, too self-absorbed. Mostly you were just too good. Hang your head, boy, and say "aw, shucks," and we'll cut you some slack. But stand pround, be defiant, and we'll cut you down. Welcome to the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave, Barry, where you can "be all you can be."
2 comments:
Well put. I read the LA Times commentary this morning, including their sports columnist Bill Plaschke (and don't we all miss the late, great Jim Murray, whoo) -- and his column felt slimy, like him. But what was interesting is that the comments (all 67 so far) on his column were at least half on the side of BLB and his talent and of the big non-issue and waste of time and money this is -- and this was from Dodger Town. I recall early days in the whole 'drug' bruhaha, Joan Ryan wrote a really interesting piece saying basically that perhaps the taking of anything ought to be up to the individual and accepted as that. Anway -- Bill said last night, 'They can't indict Barry Bonds -- he is God.' I am truly bummed and saddened today -- but one LA comment said so what if he did -- lots of players do and did, but they still couldn't hit the ball. You are right, Mark -- 'they' wanted him to fawn in gratitude and that rightfully wasn't in his nature -- and 'they' are going to be enraged when he still won't do it. You COULD hit the ball, Barry -- thanks. NOC
I have to admit to having a lot of emotion wrapped up in this. Bonds is the number one target for all of this, and he is the number one target because he spent his career being a flipping asshole to newspaper columnists, and probably a number of other people around him.
This probably is the end of Bonds career, and, speaking as a Giants fan who has watched him do some amazing things on a baseball field, I think that is too bad. See Ratto's column: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/11/16/SPFFTD98E.DTL&type=sports
Do I think that MLB, Bud Selig, George Mitchell and the federal government are capable of stooping to using their power to achieve political ends and drive Bonds out of the game? Yes. I do not think that they are above partisan pettiness.
Do I think that, because Bonds was indicted, that it is a good indication of his guilt? Well, what about those business scandals that caused millions of Americans to lose billions of dollars due to fraudulent business practices? Waht about those terrorists in Guantanamo Bay? Do you feel good about the government's chances of proving this in court?
Bonds is hardly the story of the "little guy" that you want to pull for, but I am, because he is aligned against the government and the news media who live off villains and a major corporate monopoly. After all, another year of 30+ homeruns in an era of drug testing would add an aura of legitimacy to his mark.
The whole thing stinks. News media saturating the news with personalities, as if it means something, while our Congress lets major corporations rob us every way they can with little coverage stinks. The political correctness stinks. The ugly undercurrent of racism (and yes, I do believe it is there) stinks. Baseball is a beautiful game, and deep down, I would rather not know than have heros (and I use the term in the shallow, phony sports-sense of the word) brought down.
The other day Matt Williams, former Giant, was named as an HGH user, and it did not provoke the outrage that Bonds does for putting on his socks, and he still seems to have the pre-fix "much-loved" attached to his name. Derek Jeter may have cheated on his taxes. Do you think he will be indicted by a grand jury? Finally the Giants are going to suck next year, and all that stinks too.
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