F*ck Y*u, B*rry B*nds!
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F*ck Y*u, B*rry B*nds!
I’m not even sure where to begin this post. I’m just so disgusted at what’s happened to baseball. Baseball used to be America’s Pastime, but those days seem to be as far away as ever before.
Countless poems, songs, movies, and essays have turned the green baseball diamonds into mythic battlefields where sluggers named Ruth, Mays, and Aaron became baseball card heroes.
I love homeruns. They’re beautiful things. When you’re in the stands and you hear the crack of the bat as it perfectly makes contact with the baseball and sends the ball into the stands, your heart instantaneously sinks or rises, depending on whether you’re for the pitcher or for the hitter. If you’ve ever been fortunate enough to hit one yourself, you know that there is no better feeling in the sports world than running the bases after you’ve personally sent the ball over the fence. Three-pointers? Don't come close. Catching a steaking pass for a 50 yard touchdown? Not even in the same league.
But somewhere along the way, the love of the homerun became an addiction. And like all addictions, it’s taken over everything around it. One of the first things little league coaches have to teach their players is to “just make contact,” instead of swinging for the fences with every pitch. Players began risking their health and their credibility by artificially enhancing their physiques so that their body size matched the size of their homerun hitting personas. And all the while, the club owners and league officials turned a blind eye to the bulging biceps on the players, because as it’s well documented, fans will pay hand over foot to see the game turn into the homerun derby.
Speaking of the Homerun Derby, I’d be willing to bet that the derby is a better buzz getter and draw than the All-Star Game itself. People LOVE homeruns.
Baseball is a sport that relies on numbers. Great hitters hit 3,000 hits. Great pitchers win 300 games. Great homerun hitters hit 500 homeruns. Know how many points the leading scorer in the NBA has? Know many goals Gretzky has? Know how many yards Marino's thrown for? But everyone knows that 61 homeruns in a season and 755 homeruns for a career are records.
...Or I should say, *were* records. Because we're now in the steroids era of baseball. So after nearly 50 years where few could hit 50 homeruns, let alone 60, we've had homerun totals of 63, 65, 66, 70, and 73, all hit within a 4 year window. And all of the homeruns were from people who took steroids.
I don't want to even say "allegedly" took steroids. Bonds, McGwire, Sosa...they all took steroids, plain and simple. It's obvious to me. I think it's insulting to my intelligence to say "allegedly took steroids" in regards to people who look as if they were designed by Hasbro.
Bonds is sitting at 755 homeruns as I type this. The next one he hits will be number 756 and will make him the undisputed home run king. And to tell you the truth, it disgusts me. It just absolutely disgusts me.
Hank Aaron is a class act. The man had to put up with death threats and acts of bigotry as he demolished Babe Ruth's home run original home run mark of 714. And to think that Bonds is cheating his way into the record books. It gives me a knot in my stomach.
People can talk about how there was no policy, so technically it isn't "cheating." You can't break a rule if there is no concrete rule to break. Please. Bonds, McGwire, Sosa, Giambi, et al cheated, plain and simple. And in doing so, they've destroyed the most sacred stats in all of sports. They've tarnished a beautiful game.
And because of them, I give this whole era one big asterisk. I feel bad for the players who did things the clean way, but what's done is done. Since it's impossible to know just how many pitchers and batters used steroids, everyone gets painted with the same brush.
And Bonds, you're the king a-hole of them all. Not only are you a cheater, but you're a friggin' asshole. You cheated, you know you cheated. We can all see that you cheated. Yet you still act as if you're above everything and everyone. The game is bigger than you.
It's frustrating. It's sickening. Baseball and the record books deserved better.
-Matt
I’m not even sure where to begin this post. I’m just so disgusted at what’s happened to baseball. Baseball used to be America’s Pastime, but those days seem to be as far away as ever before.
Countless poems, songs, movies, and essays have turned the green baseball diamonds into mythic battlefields where sluggers named Ruth, Mays, and Aaron became baseball card heroes.
I love homeruns. They’re beautiful things. When you’re in the stands and you hear the crack of the bat as it perfectly makes contact with the baseball and sends the ball into the stands, your heart instantaneously sinks or rises, depending on whether you’re for the pitcher or for the hitter. If you’ve ever been fortunate enough to hit one yourself, you know that there is no better feeling in the sports world than running the bases after you’ve personally sent the ball over the fence. Three-pointers? Don't come close. Catching a steaking pass for a 50 yard touchdown? Not even in the same league.
But somewhere along the way, the love of the homerun became an addiction. And like all addictions, it’s taken over everything around it. One of the first things little league coaches have to teach their players is to “just make contact,” instead of swinging for the fences with every pitch. Players began risking their health and their credibility by artificially enhancing their physiques so that their body size matched the size of their homerun hitting personas. And all the while, the club owners and league officials turned a blind eye to the bulging biceps on the players, because as it’s well documented, fans will pay hand over foot to see the game turn into the homerun derby.
Speaking of the Homerun Derby, I’d be willing to bet that the derby is a better buzz getter and draw than the All-Star Game itself. People LOVE homeruns.
Baseball is a sport that relies on numbers. Great hitters hit 3,000 hits. Great pitchers win 300 games. Great homerun hitters hit 500 homeruns. Know how many points the leading scorer in the NBA has? Know many goals Gretzky has? Know how many yards Marino's thrown for? But everyone knows that 61 homeruns in a season and 755 homeruns for a career are records.
...Or I should say, *were* records. Because we're now in the steroids era of baseball. So after nearly 50 years where few could hit 50 homeruns, let alone 60, we've had homerun totals of 63, 65, 66, 70, and 73, all hit within a 4 year window. And all of the homeruns were from people who took steroids.
I don't want to even say "allegedly" took steroids. Bonds, McGwire, Sosa...they all took steroids, plain and simple. It's obvious to me. I think it's insulting to my intelligence to say "allegedly took steroids" in regards to people who look as if they were designed by Hasbro.
Bonds is sitting at 755 homeruns as I type this. The next one he hits will be number 756 and will make him the undisputed home run king. And to tell you the truth, it disgusts me. It just absolutely disgusts me.
Hank Aaron is a class act. The man had to put up with death threats and acts of bigotry as he demolished Babe Ruth's home run original home run mark of 714. And to think that Bonds is cheating his way into the record books. It gives me a knot in my stomach.
People can talk about how there was no policy, so technically it isn't "cheating." You can't break a rule if there is no concrete rule to break. Please. Bonds, McGwire, Sosa, Giambi, et al cheated, plain and simple. And in doing so, they've destroyed the most sacred stats in all of sports. They've tarnished a beautiful game.
And because of them, I give this whole era one big asterisk. I feel bad for the players who did things the clean way, but what's done is done. Since it's impossible to know just how many pitchers and batters used steroids, everyone gets painted with the same brush.
And Bonds, you're the king a-hole of them all. Not only are you a cheater, but you're a friggin' asshole. You cheated, you know you cheated. We can all see that you cheated. Yet you still act as if you're above everything and everyone. The game is bigger than you.
It's frustrating. It's sickening. Baseball and the record books deserved better.
-Matt
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