Should you root for Barry Bonds?

[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?

[keratosis]

Can't prove it...
But I firmly believe his accomplishments are roid enhanced.
So, no, I'm not rooting for him.
I also wasn't rooting for Mark Maguire(?) getting into
CoopersTown.

[ricoFlame]

whatever, every stat nowadays is losing meaning. a-rod is going to obliterate both bonds and aaron anyways.

[JiriHrdina]

I find myself rooting for him but I don't know why. I think he probably is a cheater and by most accounts a huge jerk.

Yet I find that I'm a fan of his.

Can't explain it at all.

[metallicat]

Has he ever failed a drug test? How many times has he been tested?

Did you root for Lance Armstrong who also never failed a drug test but excelled at his sport?

[urban1]

Barry Bond's has done nothing to generate good will amongst MLB fans even if you ignore the roids issue. The guy is a prick and I wouldnt cheer for him because of that. Im not a SF fan either.

For the Simpsons fans, remember the Ken Griffey Jr gigantism??




Barry Bonds has gigantism on his melon.

Back to the roids issue...

This says it all..

[ricoFlame]

That micro-barry bonds on the pirates won 3 MVP's in 4 years...unreal.

[ricoFlame]

Originally Posted by oilers_fan

Has he ever failed a drug test? How many times has he been tested?

Did you root for Lance Armstrong who also never failed a drug test but excelled at his sport?

that's actully a good point, armstrong, like everybody else in cycling, almost certainlly cheated, but he's a hero.

[Eddie Bronze]

I'm cheering for him and this is why. For many years, MLB let the issue of drugs in the sport slide. Many suggested it was to create more interest in the league after a labour dispute. Home run contests every night to put asses in the seats. So, if the league was okay with it then but aren't now, who is really to blame? If it's a problem for them now, they created it themselves. Had they put their foot down from the get-go, it wouldn't be a problem that there was drugs in the sport and it wouldn't be a problem that a guy used drugs to break a record.

I love seeing the MLB get slapped in their collective faces because of their own stupidity and ignorance, and Barry Bonds breaking the record is the best way to cap off the entire saga.

[CaptainCrunch]

The sooner he gets the record, the sooner that he can retire, and everyone will forget about him.

[Dion]

I thought it was interesting to hear about Bonds from a Giants fans point of view. I can understand the homer issue to an extent where you cheer for a player because he plays on your team, but, with all the evidence out there I find it hard to believe that anyone would be cheering for Bonds. Not unless they choose to disbelive the roids issue.

Then there's Mel Didier and his point that Bonds has a pure swing and disciplines himself to not swing outside the strike zone. I have to admit that he did raise a compeling argument.

Myself I happen to believe the roids issue and won't be rooting or watching highlights when he breaks the record. And from what i've read Aaron won't be in attendance when the record is broken.

I would also like to see the baseball commish make a stand and not be there when Bonds hits the record homerun.

Further more there should be an asterix beside his name when he does break the record.

[Eddie Bronze]

Originally Posted by Dion

I would also like to see the baseball commish make a stand and not be there when Bonds hits the record homerun.

That would make Bud Selig a pretty big hypocrite then, don't you think?

[Caged Great]

Bonds in the pirates picture was 22. Hockey players fill out when they're that age. Perhaps it's possible that Bonds just worked out hard.....

Ah who am I kidding. He's "almost" certainly juiced.

That said, I'm cheering him on because what's to say Hank Aaron didn't take a little something too or any of the other record holders for that matter.

He's 100% clean now and there's no way of proving anything to the contrary because they've already tried and couldn't.

[moon]

Originally Posted by urban1

Barry Bond's has done nothing to generate good will amongst MLB fans even if you ignore the roids issue. The guy is a prick and I wouldnt cheer for him because of that. Im not a SF fan either.

I agree 100%.

Its bad enough he cheated by using steroids. (And there is no doubt that he did). But the fact that he is a dick to reporters, fans and teammates is the icing on the cake that makes it easy as can be to hate this loser.

He is not willing to do anything to help his team win, has rarely made the play-offs and done very little when there. He is the ultimate me first guy who will gladly put his stats and personal well being over winning or helping teammates improve.

He deserves nothing good that comes his way and every single piece of hate mail and ill-will directed towards him.

I still hold out hope that he will get seriously injured before he reaches Aaron and that it is bad enough to end his career.

[Dion]

Originally Posted by Eddie Bronze

That would make Bud Selig a pretty big hypocrite then, don't you think?

To an extent yes, due to past history.

I also belive it's time for baseball to right the wrongs of the past and take a firm stance starting with Bonds.

I also found a quote by Selig that disturbs me........

http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn...c.php?t=175558


"Does he even want Bonds to pass the 755 homers of Aaron, who played his final two seasons in 1975 and '76 with the Selig-owned Milwaukee Brewers?

"It is a fact Hank Aaron and I have been friends for 50 years, close friends," Selig said. "When you're the commissioner, you just don't think about that. I have said before if and when Barry Bonds breaks that record it will be handled the same way that every other record in baseball that's been broken was handled."

[Dion]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

I find myself rooting for him but I don't know why. I think he probably is a cheater and by most accounts a huge jerk.

Yet I find that I'm a fan of his.

Can't explain it at all.

There's a part of me that gets excited when a long standing record is about to be broken. I guess it's all the excitement and the drama associated with it. It was the same with me when McGuire has chasing Maris's record of 61 HR's in a season.

I can't stand Bonds and think he cheating, but a part of me will push me to watch the record when it's broken.

[Bobblehead]

In the Simpsons it was Ken Griffey jr who had gigantism.

Homer at the Bat

And there are so many reasons not to cheer for Barry. I'm hoping he gets a minor but career ending injury before the record is broken.

[Burninator]

I am not cheering for him because of his attitude. I just hate that type of athlete and person. I can't respect someones ability as an athlete with such a terrible opinion of them as a person. It's the same reasons I don't like Terrel Owens, McGuire, Roenick, Avery and other players like that. I also really don't like how he (and others) are not teams players and are really, really self centered. I wish he would just go away.

[habernac]

Originally Posted by Caged Great

Bonds in the pirates picture was 22. Hockey players fill out when they're that age. Perhaps it's possible that Bonds just worked out hard.....

Ah who am I kidding. He's "almost" certainly juiced.

That said, I'm cheering him on because what's to say Hank Aaron didn't take a little something too or any of the other record holders for that matter.

He's 100% clean now and there's no way of proving anything to the contrary because they've already tried and couldn't.

He's probably using HGH as there's nothing available to detect it currently. And he's already admitted to a grand jury that he took steroids "unknowingly", is that proof enough for you?

[Resolute 14]

Selig has a responsibility to recognize when Bonds breaks the record.

That said, I can't say I'll be disapointed if Bonds' career ends before he breaks the record.

Hank Aaron will remain the legitimate record holder for the forseeable future, no matter what the drug cheat does.