[Dion]

Bonds went 0 for 3 in his last game before the Allstar break leaving him 4 HR's away from tying Hank Aaron and his record record of 755 home runs.

Time magazine prints an article looking at weather we should cheer for Bonds.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/ar...rss-topstories

"It's just too easy to loathe Barry Bonds. As he approaches one of the most important achievements in American sport--Hank Aaron's all-time record of 755 home runs--everyone knows about Bonds the boor. He's fought with teammates, dissed the press and shunned the notion that athletes must strive to be adored. Then there's that whole steroids thing. In a recent TIME.com poll, 77% of respondents didn't want Bonds to break Aaron's record."

Texas Rangers scout Mel Didier raises a valid point.......

Bonds "has the most perfect swing I have ever seen," says James. "Steroids didn't do that. He disciplines himself not to swing at anything outside the strike zone in a way that any player could but very few do. Steroids didn't do that." You have to credit Bonds for performing while opposing fans are throwing syringes at him and booing him. "I don't know 10 people who can take all the flimflam he has taken and still do that job," says Texas Rangers scout Mel Didier.

Then you have Giants fans who have mixed feelings about the whole thing......

http://www.kansascity.com/sports/bas...ry/181369.html

The view of a conflicted fan.......

“You have no idea how conflicted I am about this,” says Matt Clearwater, who’s wearing a Barry Zito T-shirt. “I love the Giants. Barry’s our best player. We’re better with him. But I’m not a (dummy). I see what’s going on. And I think you’d be surprised how many Giants fans, if they’re honest, aren’t comfortable with this whole thing.”

Then you have the homer view point....

Josh Clarke, a Giants fan from Seattle in town for the All-Star Game, put it a different way. “He’s a (jerk), but he’s our (jerk),” Clarke says. “Maybe this makes me a bad person, but honestly, I root for the guy because he plays for my team. If he played for the Dodgers, I’d boo the (crap) out of him.”

This fan points all are not gullable........

“I might not be the best person to talk about this because it makes me angry,” says Lisa Hubert, a self-described “former” Giants fan. “People like to think we’re stupid and just apologize for Barry because he plays here. There are a lot of people who love Barry. But if you believe we all do, you probably also believe we’re all gay and lesbian and rich off Google stock.”

Then you have a sports psychologist weighing in on the argument....

“The conflicting perceptions about Bonds are, ‘He’s my hero,’ and, ‘He’s a cheater,’ ” says Jim Taylor, a sports psychologist based in San Francisco. “So you can change one of the two perceptions. You can either say he’s no longer a hero, or you can say, ‘Oh, there’s no proof.’ ” You could argue why this is forever, but when it comes to cognitive dissonance with sports and celebrity, doesn’t it seem like we often skip the moral high ground? Especially when the alternative is a supremely talented ballplayer?

Add in a baseball players perspective..............

“His numbers are mind-boggling,” says Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez, who also knows a little something about being disliked by some. “If you see some of those numbers he had going back five, six, seven years ago, those numbers are Babe Ruth-like, if not better. There’s no one comparable in the game.”


-----------------------------

Will you be rooting for Bonds?

And do you agree with any of the sentiments above?