By Billy Fellin
This title of a popular Linkin Park song is exactly where baseball and Barry Bonds are. A few years ago, all anyone could talk about is how the games would go down between the Yankees and Red Sox. Now steroids rule the cooler talk of the sports channels of the world, and I believe that it is ruining the sport. In case anyone has been missing that.
I hope how steroids have ruined baseball is as painfully obvious to others as is has been to me. I’m almost ashamed to call myself a baseball fan. Now baseball is all about who the media and the sports fan as a whole thinks is juiced or not and who has or is still taking steroids. To think, not all that long ago, fans and players were worried about other players spitting tobacco on the field. That seems tame compared to the beast that the steroids problem has become. Especially in Barry Bonds’ case, and for the record I’ve gotten sick of how often I hear that name on a daily basis. I turn on ESPN to see how the Yankees did, or how well the Hurricanes played, or to catch up on the player’s on my fantasy baseball team. However, whenever I turn the tube on all I hear is “Barry Bonds this,” and “Barry Bonds that”. It’s sickening.
Granted, what he has accomplished is historic. But I think he has created the wrong kind of history. If he has taken steroids, or whatever performance-enhancing device he used, he has set the wrong precedent for the history of the sport. Mark McGwire’s and Sammy Sosa’s famous march toward Roger Maris’ single season home run record was “historic”, and it’s come out that both of them probably were juiced up, McGwire for sure. I still believe that Maris’ is the true single season record holder, even though Barry Bonds hit twelve more than Maris did in a season. I think that Bonds, as well as McGwire, have said to the younger sports fans that they have accomplished greatness through cheating, and that using steroids and performance enhancers is ok, and that it will give you that much needed edge over your opponents.
As I recall, hard work was what you needed to get an edge. If you beat somebody, either you got lucky or you worked harder than they did. I think, in a way, Bonds and the “Steroids Era” of baseball has put a black mark on some of the game’s greats, such as Roger Maris, Joe DiMaggio, and Babe Ruth. Maris’ record stood for a long time, DiMaggio’s 56 game hitting streak still stands and as of right now, Ruth’s record of 714 home runs still stands. These guys didn’t have performance enhancers or steroids. They could hit baseballs and they helped their teams win. If Bonds gets past Ruth and Hank Aaron, I think he should get an asterisk by whatever number he reaches. I personally don’t think he will get to the magical 755, but if he does, he deserves an asterisk more than any other record in the history of sports. Take a look at his rookie card when he played for the Pirates, and then take a look at him today. I hope that when Barry Bonds retires, we never hear of him again. He’s taken his five minutes in the limelight, and then a whole lot more.