Tainted

Well, its been a while since I've posted anything. I blame vacation. That doesn't mean I don't have a lot to talk about though. Several things have happened in the last couple weeks that I don't even know where to begin. So I'm gonna start with Barry Bonds.

I was going to write the very same night he broke the all-time home run record, but I held back to see if my feelings about him and the record would change. They have not. And although I am not as bothered by it now as I was last week (baseball is just a game) it still bothers me that such a hallowed record has been broken under such controversy and scrutiny. For the most coveted record in all of sports to be broken you would think there would be celebration and praise nation wide. But when a majority of the country feels that it wasn't broken the "right way" it's almost like everybody was hoping it wouldn't happen.

This is a record so magical that we may only see this once in our lifetime. Babe Ruth's record of 714 stood for 39 years (1935-1974) until Hank Aaron passed him and ended up with a career total of 755 when he retired in 1976. And now, 31 years after Aaron retired, Barry Bonds has surpassed him as the home run king. So you would think we would all be stoked to see such a record broken. Maybe we would if Bonds was a "nicer guy" or if he was on pace throughout his whole career to break Aaron's record. But maybe, just maybe we would have celebrated more if Bonds' head didn't grow while using performance enhancing drugs aka steroids, creams and human growth hormones. Who's head grows in their 30's? Someone using steroids that's who.

And while we can't go through every record that was broken in baseball over the last 15 years and test those who broke them, we can make a separation in the "era" they were broken. This is the steroids era. There was the dead ball era, the World War II era and now we have the steroids era, plain and simple. It still takes skill and longevity to hit 756 home runs, but when you were never known as a power hitter and your skull is growing, there is something not natural about it. And from all accounts about Hank Aaron, he did it the right way. And from all of the criticism that Bonds has received recently, Aaron has received more praise than ever before about him surpassing Ruth, and rightfully so.

So when I watched Barry Bonds break Hank Aaron's record last week, I was sick to my stomach. My words may have been a bit more critical last week then they are now, but my overall feeling is the same. He may have the record, but I think we all know how he did it. The wrong way!

Thanks For Listening