March 8, 2006
Let's get the first thing straight. Most people don't give a fuck about Hank Aaron. America hated him for breaking Ruth's all-time home run record (except for those two hippies) and it's common to hear fans mistakingly neglect him and still say Ruth has the career home run record.
Aaron's sort of like Tim Duncan. You know, for black people, there are actually two cardinal sins. I know it's strange, because we're so used to blacks having less, but in this case, we have more. The first sin is confidence; of the Terrell Owens or Don King variety. We learn early that what's encouraged from Donald Trump is called insolence when an African American does it. And right next to that is the sin of being a respectable hard working person. Oh, it's fine if you're Larry Bird. However, when you're Mr. Duncan or Mr. Aaron then you're just labelled as BORING. It sucks and it's not fair, but it's tough to be upset at math.
So it's against this sheet that we judge Barry Bonds. And for a country that has had sanctioned hate legislated out of existence, when there's a brother who the media is saying it's OK to hate, then, damn, does he get the full fury of uncles, grandfathers and cousins past who grew up hating on minorities. It's as if we say, "Hooray, I know I can't call that security guard a boy, but God, it's fun to put all that pent up hate on (fill in OJ, Kobe, TO, Prince in the 80's, or Ron Artest").
Now, I'll put Mr. Bonds in the confident category. He hasn't given a damn about the media since he played his first all star game in 1990 and complained that he wasn't voted in as a starter. So most sportswriters have hoped that we hate him for 15 plus years, and this new book with old information is just the latest attempt to keep baseball pure for the crew who believes Ted Williams played against quality competition.
The public is happily taking the bait, saying Bonds is the Tookie Williams of baseball, a threat to children everywhere and most likely made it rain in L.A. this past monday. It looks like fun and it's easy too. 1) Say he broke the rules. Don't forget to ignore that steroids weren't outlawed from MLB until AFTER the period the book recaps. 2) Say he's arrogant. And ignore that Bob Feller is still dissing brothers and simultaneously being feted as a national treasure. 3) Insist that his records should have asteriks next to them. This arguement works well especially if you can do this without mentioning the possibility that perhaps a coupla other Big Leaguers may also have used 'roids, even (gasp) pitchers.
If you can do these three things concurrently, then you have enough talent to kiss my ass. Keep on hating him, just like you did on Aaron in '74. It didn't stop him. It won't stop Bonds.
