Bonds critics... blah blah blah

Dodger Stadium is the best show I ever go to in all of my baseball. They say, "Barry sucks" louder than anybody out there. And you know what, you'll see me in left field going just like this (waving his arms up into the air), because you know what, you've got to have some serious talent to have 53,000 people saying you suck. And I'm proud of that. -- Barry Bonds

And more serious talent to have a nation of baseball fans saying you suck, too...

Here's some random thoughts from a member of the sports media that Barry doesn't care about:

1. This is the end of the Steroids era in baseball, a time when a fair amount of players used the stuff and tilted the playing field. Now the field is back to normal (??) again and the game is as it was before the "Canseco cocktail." Deal with it. Bonds, Giambi, Sheffield and many others used the shit. Fine. They'll never admit to it, which it seems that everyone here wants.

Just as the saying goes: "You can wish and want in one hand and shit in the other, but at the end of the day, one hand is empty and the other is full." (Something like that...) You'll never hear them say aloud, clearly, not just in a grand jury room, that they knowingly took the stuff. So, wish and want all you want...

2. I can't wait for the thread from Yankee fans once it is found out that one or two or more Boston Red Sox players from the 2004 Champs were juiced. Should Boston give back that cherished World Series title if one or two players are juiced? Yankee fans will yell for it, but it won't happen. Boston fans will spin their way out of it and Yankee (and Cardinal) fans will cry to their heart's content.

But nothing will change. So, if the Giants win the Series with Bonds, especially since this will come in the post-steroid era, will people cry, moan and bitch that they did it on steroids? Yeah, but that World Series title will still be there.

Odds are, there are at least one or two juiced players on every team over the past decade. You may know about them or you don't, but there's no going back and erasing what has already transpired.

Which leads me to ...

3. Major League Baseball doesn't have the balls to put an asterick on any record from a "suspected" steroid player. It'll never happen. Nope, not even if Ford Frick came back as commish.

Why? This is a sports organization that has a serious problem with going back and correcting past wrongs. They have to be dragged kicking and screaming to honor the Negro Leagues in the beginning. Also, the blood is on its hands, too. How much money went into their coffers when McGwire and Sosa went on their home run tear? How much money went into their pocketbooks when attendance went up as teams tore the cover off the "juiced" balls that they talked about a few years' back?

In the 60s and 70s, pro football has its steroid era, along with its uppers, downers and other painkillers that the players digested to get themselves ready to play on Sunday.

Lyle Alzedo was one of them. We all know what happened to Lyle, but what happened to other football players who took the stuff, but no one learned of it? Did they break a few records, did they extend their careers and make more money than they should have?

What baseball is now entering this year isn't unlike what pro football went through then. The owners in the NFL made their money, got their gladiators to work hard and through the pain and moved on. They turned a blind eye until it was shown that it was costing them in the eyes of the public. We all know now that that was wrong and a really shitty way to go through a career, but it was done. And it was cleaned up, for the most part.

Baseball made a lot of money with steroid players and turned a blind eye, right LaRussa? They'll never put the astrick on it. They said that they'd celebrate Bonds' home run feats as normal this season and the next.

And there will be plenty of people there to celebrate, because...

4. For every purist out there who is crying over Bonds and steroids, there are nine other baseball fans or casual sports fans who view baseball and sports as entertainment. You know, kind of like what the WWE does... sports entertainment?

Earlier this week, I was on the local radio talking baseball and steroids when I asked this question: Are you more excited to see a three-run tape-measure home run or an inning-ending double play? Locals called in and only one said they'd rather see the double play. The rest said the home run. Most of the people I've talked to about this believe that baseball is entertainment. They want to be entertained and baseball, at times, isn't very entertaining. It can be downright boring.

It goes on. As does the game and Bonds and others out there that the public believes are on the juice. Giambi has it easy. He said that he was sorry and just about admitted to it. He didn't, but people are leaving him alone.

But wait until it is determined that Bret Boone, Pudge Rodriguez (who lost 35 pounds over the winter), and others may have been on the juice or the clear or whatever they called it. What then? Will they get the same treatment as Bonds and others? Maybe, but maybe not...

It may get to the point that the media and the public just stops listening and moves on. But until then, everyone (and I mean everyone) is in doubt and will be for the next few years.

So, sit back and enjoy the season. It is a whole lot better than the alternative...

Oh, a few more points:
5. Will Barry get into the Hall of Fame? Yes. He would have gotten there before all of this, but he won't be first ballot. It may take a few years, but he'll get there.

6. Will the Giants win the Series with Bonds on the team? No. Too old. Way too old. The team, that is. If they do, I'll be more surprised than others.

7. Will the cry of steroids in baseball die down? No, not until the BALCO investigation finishes up. Then the trial and the convictions. The truth - good or bad - is there, but I have a feeling we'll never truly know. Too much is at stake for the truth to be fully known at this point.

(c) R. Burns