Should you root for Barry Bonds?

[socalwingfan]

Originally Posted by Dion

If i'm a pro athlete and fans vote me into the allstar game i'll do what I can to repay them. I'm willing to be his hometown fans wanted to see him in the HR derby - especially since the game is being held in San Fransico.

Bonds wouldn't be in the All-Star game if it wasn't for the SF fans. The 3 games I went to - they bombarded the fans with "Vote Barry into the All Star game" messages on the scoreboard every inning - they had laptops setup in the concourse to stuff the ballot box, etc. I think he owes it to the Giants fans to at least participate in the HR derby - maybe not give it 100% but at least hang around for the first round

[habernac]

Originally Posted by ZDogg

It's Baseball.... aren't we Hockey fans? I can't believe so many people in here care about this. I couldn't care less what happens in the MLB. Overpaid, Boring... Roid cases, tainted records... just say no to MLB.

If you don't care for baseball, there are plenty of hockey threads to post in.

[La Flames Fan]

*

Hell no.

[Antithesis]

My opinions regarding Bonds have really changed lately ... I used to be a card-carrying member of the pitchfork and burning torches brigade, but there are several things about Bonds that need to be taken into account:

1. Steroids or not he was always, always a supremely talented ballplayer. Look at the quote in the original piece and it is all true. Like him or not, Bonds is an incredible athlete.

2. In the age of the Tank Johnsons and Pacman Joneses of professional sports, there must be credit given for someone who isn't out shooting people or the like.

3. He's a boor who antagonizes the media and thumbs his nose at baseball? Can you blame him? Wouldn't you?

Not to mention the fact that it doesn't really matter: Alex Rodriguez is going to destroy whatever record Bonds ends up with.

[Resolute 14]

1. He's a talented ballplayer who felt the need to cheat to get even better. I guess his ego wouldnt allow him to settle with mearly being great.

2. "He's good by comparison" loses all credibility when you consider that there are thousands of atheletes better than him. He's not the worst, but when it comes to the best, he does not even merit a mention.

3. When nearly all of the crap he takes is self-inflicted, yes.

[Maritime Q-Scout]

I'm not cheering for Bonds. However not because of the steriod issue. There are so many players on steriods that aren't doing close to what Bonds is doing. As someone stated early the "micro-Bonds" won 3 MVPs in 4 years.

Sports have always looked for ways to enhance play. Gatorade is scientific mixture designed to make your body rehydrate faster than normal. Is that fair? What about the records?

Creotine (sp) has our major junior players having abs that looks like washboards, arms thicker than my head, and bodies that are rock solid with about 0% fat on them. Compare the muscle mass of a Crosby or Ovetchkin to a Fleury or a Gretzky of yesteryear. Is that fair? Is that different?

We as sports fans don't cry foul with minor changes, new techniques, new surgeries. Should baseball record books be fixed to reflect pitchers who had Tommy John surgery? What about the NHL record books to taint defenceman that had knee surgery, something Bobby Orr never had access to. How many records would he hold if he could have played? We'll never know, so is it fair to have a Coffee, or Chelios holding records that rightfully belong to Orr but don't do to medical advancements?

Steroids are a drug yes. But so are the painkillers that I'm certain have improved over the past 125 years. If we want to have "perfect" records, then we have to play in a realm of medical technology of the 1900's. If you're not willing to accept that, is it right to draw the line at steriods?

Again, I'm NOT cheering for Bonds, but not because of steriods, he's a primadonna @ssface.

On a side note, the original author quoted a Rangers scout, shouldn't you find someone more reliable than a Texas Rangers scout? Trust me, if anyone knows how unreliable the opinions of those guys are it'd be me (see the avatar)

PS: We're also talking about a sport that doesn't have uniform playing feilds. A player playing in a blalpark that is a "hitters park" is going to have better stats than those that play in a "pitchers" park. Shouldn't there be a statistcal analysis done to compensate for the record books?

[JohnnyB]

Originally Posted by Maritime Q-Scout

We as sports fans don't cry foul with minor changes, new techniques, new surgeries. Should baseball record books be fixed to reflect pitchers who had Tommy John surgery? What about the NHL record books to taint defenceman that had knee surgery, something Bobby Orr never had access to. How many records would he hold if he could have played? We'll never know, so is it fair to have a Coffee, or Chelios holding records that rightfully belong to Orr but don't do to medical advancements?

Steroids are a drug yes. But so are the painkillers that I'm certain have improved over the past 125 years. If we want to have "perfect" records, then we have to play in a realm of medical technology of the 1900's. If you're not willing to accept that, is it right to draw the line at steriods?

The blurring of the lines is certainly not going to go away. Those lines just keep getting more and more blurry. It certainly doesn't feel right to just let anything go, but that may end up being the only option.

I honestly wouldn't be surprised to see genetically engineered athletes in my lifetime. Would you let a genetically engineered athlete who was not using performance enhancing drugs compete for the records of non-enhanced athletes? Would big business that has money wrapped up in the sport allow it?

Professional sports are so different from sports as they are normally played are for fun that they are already practically becoming endeavors in designing uber-athletes. Just look at the development that goes into young children in order to groom them to attain professional careers in sports. If you were a potential parent wouldn't you have some interest in having a child with genetically enhances abilities if it would earn them hundreds of millions of dollars?