This is from Page2 of ESPN.com this morning. I tend to agree with it. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/quickie Barry Bonds: Want to see the awesome power of the media? Witness the one-sided pig-pile on Bonds, following his candid, combative, often hilarious Tuesday press event. QUICKIE LIVE! 9-10 a.m. The Lead Item Two Words For You: DEFENDING. BARRY. On rumors: "This is old stuff, like watching 'Sanford and Son' -- rerun after rerun after rerun. It's almost comical ... Are you guys jealous? Upset? What?" Defending Barry: The media has an obligation to ask, of course, but we're quickly approaching the tipping point of obsessive to the point where fans will tune the media out (raving lunatic columnists especially). On scrutiny chasing Ruth: "Because Babe Ruth is one of the greatest baseball players ever, and Babe Ruth ain't black. I'm black. Blacks, we go through a little more. I'm not a racist, but I live in the real world." Defending Barry: He's so right about this, it's not funny. Literally. On lying: "All you guys [media] lied. Should you have an asterisk behind your name? All of you lied. All of you have said something wrong. All of you have dirt. All of you. When your closet's clean, then come clean somebody else's. But clean yours first, OK?" Defending Barry: Score the point to Bonds! If the curtain ever got pulled back on the media ... oh boy ... On cheating: "I don't know what cheating is. I don't know if steroids is going to help you in baseball, I just don't believe it. I don't believe steroids can help you, eye-hand coordination, technically hit a baseball." Defending Barry: Bonds is right about eye-hand, but sidesteps the elephant-in-room issue of "power." On asterisks: "You cannot rehash the past, and we'll crush a lot of things out of the sports world. We can go back into the 1800's and basically asterisk a lot of sports, if that's what you want." Defending Barry: For example, go back and read David Schoenfield's brilliant Page 2 analysis of who the real single-season Home Run Champ should be. On fan support: "From all the places I've gone -- and I've traveled all over -- it's 'Barry, keep your head up, we're behind you ... I've never heard that before." Defending Barry: The litmus test isn't fan reaction on the road (every good player is booed on the road); it's fan support in SF, which seems strong. On Canseco: "I don't know Jose. I was better than Jose then, and I've been better than him his whole career." Defending Barry: Not necessary. Did you know both were rookies in '86? On roid-testing: "[Let's] allow the drug testing program to work. Allow it to work. Let's go forward. You cannot rehash the past. Y'all stop watching Redd Fox in rerun shows." Defending Barry: His point is well-taken, although it would be nice if while we went forward, players who cheated in the past would step forward. Care to out anyone, BB? On Giambi-ish "apology": "What are you [the media] going to apologize for when you're wrong?" Defending Barry: Silly, Bonds; the media never apologizes. On rumors, again: "Why do you keep asking me the same questions? I'm not a child." Defending Barry: You'd never know it from the hysterical commentators, but give Barry a TKO. The media tried to pounce yesterday, and he punched back, with glib answers that should make you respect him more, not less.
i don't think so. I think you're seeing the beginnings of a backlash against the media who froth at the mouth over this story. The fans' reaction so far has been rather ho-hum, mostly because must of us have known that steroids have been used in virtually all sports for quite some time now.
Well if it wasn't, parts of it are absurd. Specifically, the race card comments re: Babe Ruth (what will he say when he's passing Aaron, who was clean when he broke the record?) and the "media asterisk" thing (so we can't question any public figure, ever, because we've all sinned?). Bonds, and that article, are way off base.
Ho-hum? What would you like people to do about it? You might want to wait 'til the season starts, at least. Also, other sports aren't the point, and other sports test for them, baseball didn't.
I learned a long time ago that everything before the word but is bull****. Barry is a cheater and I'll never defend or respect cheaters.
I'll be in Scottsdale on March 12. It's a split squad, but I hope he's playing by then so I can see the reactions.
Barry is a liar - I have zero respect for him and it has nothing to do with the roids - they were legal at the time - but to lie over and over about it - shows the kind of man he is I feel the same about Pete Rose - I think people would forgive if he hadn't just lied about it for so long - same goes for Barry, stop lying!
I somewhat agree with the media backlash. I was watching Sportscenter this morning and it seemed like every 5 minutes, they brought up something else with that interview. The damn show had been on for 30 minutes and they had yet to mention the Rockets-Sonics game. Call me crazy but you would think that the team with the longest winning streak in the NBA getting beat would be one of their first stories, but then maybe it is not a surprise as the Rockets never seem to get any love from ESPN (which was definitely true back during the championship seasons). But that racist comment was, in a word, idiotic. In the context that it was said, it appears that Bonds is using that as an excuse for being asked questions about steroids. Um, no Barry, if you had been paying attention, you would have noticed that a white player in Jason Giambi was hammered by the media about his steroid use. So, it goes both ways on this topic. The differences between Bonds and Giambi, IMO are 2 things: Giambi hasn't hit 703 homers Giambi hasn't been an assmunch to the media his entire career.
I didn't understand the racism comments. Not sure what that was about. But the media asterisk thing is real, I think. You can find a reason to asterisk EVERYTHING. Ruth? No integration. Maris? 6 extra games to hit one more homer than Ruth. McGwire? maybe steroids...definitely a ridiculous hitters' era. And on and on. Gaylord Perry is, I believe, in the HOF. He was a spit-baller. A cheater. We know it. He cheated playing the game. The guy still mades the HOF. Baseball players are cheaters. They have been forver. Rome jokes about it all the time saying that, "in baseball, if you're not cheating, you're not trying." Spit ball...scuffed balls...corked bats..vaseline on your cap...emory boards in your back pocket...and on and on. These aren't scrubs seeking an edge by cheating...the names of the guys who've done the above read from the HOF. I'm not defending it. But I think Barry gets unreal heat for this...beyond what others get. Maybe he's deserved it because he's not real media friendly. And i think the media is completely out of control on this story now. Far beyond the level the average fan cares.
I love it. Everyone claims that the media sucks, then they've pretty much let them dictate how everyone perceives Bonds...and this was before the whole steroids deal. The holier-than-thou reaction by the media to all this is silly. They absolutely love it because it gives them what they think is a huge story. However, I'm going to agree with MadMax and say that the majority of fans do or will have a ho-hum reaction to this whole mess.
I tend to agree with this . . . _________________________ Prepare yourself, Barry: Tougher questions await We thought he couldn't get any stranger. We thought he couldn't get any more arrogant. We thought he couldn't possibly get any tougher to love, or even like. But Barry Bonds keeps finding ways to go where even he hasn't gone before. On the field. Off the field. He's full of surprises, that Barry. It took a special Bonds performance up there on the podium Tuesday to make Jason Giambi look like a sympathetic figure. But Barry pulled it off. At least Giambi says he's sorry, signs some autographs, acts like a member of the species most of us can relate to -- even if we're not supposed to be sure what the heck he's sorry about. But the only thing Bonds seemed sorry about Tuesday was that he forgot to turn his cell phone off during his own press conference. OK, make that two things. He also seemed sorry he couldn't quote any good lines from "Sanford and Son." Actually, if there was one moment of true, inspired clarity in this press conference, it was that "Sanford and Son" quip. We've heard a few scouts say that Barry has been moving like Fred Sanford in the outfield these last few years. So maybe there's a different reason for that than they'd suspected. But the rest of that mumbo jumbo he fired out there? Mere media members shouldn't be allowed to analyze all that. We need to get the American Psychiatric Association working on this case ASAP. Oh, part of it we kind of understood. It was just Barry being Barry, doing what he's done 703 million times before: Turning on his West Coast Offense before his questioners could get his defense stuck on the field. Somewhere in there, we think he was trying to make a point about how alcohol and tobacco are the real scandals in this country, because they're documented "killers" -- so how come we have to waste everyone's time with this steroid garbage. But before he got that message out in a manner that might actually have been comprehensible, the flames of anger engulfed his point. And the next thing we knew, he was either suggesting we look into whether Ulysses S. Grant took steroids back in the 19th Century, or auditioning for a job as program director at Nick at Nite. We're still not sure. It's clear now that there are so many things he doesn't get, it's hard to know where to start. But we'll stick to this: Nobody wants to hate this guy. Not the fans. Not the people asking those questions Tuesday. Not the men he plays against. Not even Jose Canseco. Barry Bonds is the greatest player most of us have ever seen. It's human nature to want to love and admire people like that. But he's the one who makes that just about impossible, not the people who put him through "all this rerun stuff." Yeah, he should have smiled more in his career -- but not for us. For him. It's painful to see anyone that great who is that angry -- especially when he has spent all these years trying to make sure we knew he didn't care what the world thought of him. Well, if he didn't like these questions, just wait. Those BALCO prosecutors have some questions waiting for him, too. In an open courtroom. Where he can't control the setting, can't filter the topics and can't wriggle out of the answers by complaining about how tired he is of the subject. If he answers those questions the way he answered these questions, what happens next will make those 53,000 boos he hears in Dodger Stadium seem like a bigger lovefest than the Oscars. link
Barry put himself in a bad situation by cheating. Now he has to answert eh critics. Instead he dodges teh direct questions and attacks the reporters. Almost seems like an attorney who has a guilty client. I can't prove my client is innocent, but I'll show you how the accuser is a dirty SOB you can't trust.
Max, I agree with your point, but that's not the same as Bonds' media argument. He was saying that, because people in the media lie, they can't possibly judge him for his own cheating/steroid use. I think that's true in the biblical, "let he who is without sin cast the first stone" sense, but in a sports sense the steroid issue is one that shouldn't be swept under the rug. These guys are paid to ask these questions, and report the answers, it's their job. As for your point, yes cheating has always been an issue in baseball. The spitball was a legal pitch when it was done, and it was overt and not concealed, but the rest of the issues (corked bats, etc.) have taken place again and again. I'd argue that they all tarnish the game. I don't think you should stop trying to prevent it though, whether steroids or corked bats or scuffed balls. I think that Bonds doesn't deserve an asterisk, necessarily, but steroids are a huge blight on the game and he's the poster child.
I don't disagree. You have to try to clean it up. The new policies are a good step, I think. So let them play out. But, look...the media has never liked Barry Bonds because he's never liked them. Outside of what the media reports about how mean he is to them, I can't think of any thing Barry has ever done that has called his character into question, before this. They're particularly hard on him because they don't like him. Again...maybe he's EARNED that by being rude to them. As for the media lying...at one point he flat out calls a guy out. The guy says something like, "my sources said..." and Barry goes, "Who!!?? Who?? stop just saying my sources. name names or stop just throwing stuff out." (obviously paraphrased). And the guy names a name and Barry says, "you're lying. you just lied. that guy didn't say that." Now I have no clue whether or not he "caught" the reporter this time. But I have NO doubt that the media makes crap up. That they speculate to sell copy. It sounds like the ESPN columnist who wrote this article is basically affirming that.
Don't forget, Jose said in one month he'll produce evidence. I don't know what the hell that means. Could be legitimate evidence or a polygraph. Could be interesting.
yeah..i'll believe it when i see it. release a book without this massive evidence he has??? yeah. right. i stand ready to be corrected. could happen, but i doubt it.
