Bonds rant

Obligatory for all baseball fans, I reckon.

Anyway, congrats to him for reaching a sacred mark held by a real class act who accomplished his feat despite harsh racism and without any known enhancement products. Bonds certainly belongs in the Hall, no question, first ballot. His talent for the game is indisputable.

But he sold his soul and there's no going back. By all appearances he's got company--Sosa and McGwire made the same demonic transactions. Hopefully kids can see the net effect.

I still remember the excitement of Aaron passing the Babe. Some weren't as excited but at least he wasn't being accused of cheating. At least the game itself wasn't tarnished. It's one thing to be accused of hitting cheap home runs in a hitter's park like Atlanta Fulton County Stadium since everyone else had the same access. Ruth was similarly criticized because he hit in parks with short porches but so did everyone else of his time, and without nearly the same results.

It's quite another to be accused of using steroids and 'machines' (the latter not proven but interesting nonetheless) to reach a record in order to make a racial statement of some sort (even though he's passing another black man).

So hooray and whoop de doo. All I can say is c'mon Ken Griffey, Jr. Imagine the fanfare right now if Junior were in Bonds' shoes? And that is precisely the fallout from this whole stinking selfish circus--there's absolutely nothing in it for the fans.