No Sympathy For Bonds

I almost went crazy today. A close friend of mine and I were having lunch while we watched Barry Bonds' press conference. Somehow, we convinced ourselves that we should feel some sympathy for Bonds. After all, he shouldn't have to allow the media into his personal life. His family should be able to stay out of the spotlight. He might not be the most polite fellow in the world, but at least he shows up for the interviews.

What in the world were we thinking?

Bonds has proven two things over his 19-year career. He can hit the crap out of the baseball and he is a punk.

Make that three things: he has also used steroids.

These days, Bonds doesn't even deny it anymore. He just sidesteps the question. For example, when asked directly whether he has used illegal substances, Bonds replied, "You repeat those things to children and then eventually they tell you. I don't."

Is that a denial?

How about this one. When asked if he thinks using steroids is cheating, Bonds fires back with, "I don't know what cheating is. I don't believe steroids can help your hand-eye coordination, technically hit a baseball."

Thanks for clearing that one up, Barry.

Another batch of evidence can be found in his statistics. In his first 10 years as a major leaguer, Bonds hit 292 home runs. In his last 9 seasons, he has hit 411. You would expect a player's greatest output to be during his physical prime. Especially a home run hitter. We're not talking about a marathoner here. I guess there's still hope for me. I could still hit 500 major league home runs. I just need some juice.

We all wanted to love Barry Bonds. We all wanted to cheer for him and tell our kids one day that we saw the greatest player ever. But instead, we'll tell them we had to put up with him. He's a modern day Ty Cobb. The days where he had a chance to be loved by the fans are long gone.