Bonds and American Racism

Barry Bonds is a jerk.

There I said it.

But he is also one of the greatest baseball players on Earth. Past and present.

However, a large majority of white baseball fans seem to feel that he is the worst human alive because he is under the suspicion of having used steroids. One of the problems here is that the majority of players believed to have been using steroids were PITCHERS, not batters.

What everyone seems to forget is that we ALL knew people were doing steroids and we didn't care because we got to see 50+ home run seasons from a variety of players across the league. So why all the hate for Barry?

Some feel that he sucks for charging for autographs. That does suck.

Some feel that he sucks for cheating on his wives and having mistresses all over the place. Yea, that's kind of crappy too.

Barry is not the best person, but he is a fantastic player. And that is what counts here. It seems that some white folks are okay with jackass white players as long as they created milestones.

Ty Cobb was a vicious racist.

Babe Ruth was a druggie and alcoholic that was rumored to have a violent side.

The Yawkey family (owners of the Red Sox for much of the last century) deliberately kept the team all-white even when it was clear that having black players might have improved the team.

But the Yawkeys are still revered in Boston and Ruth and Cobb are like baseball gods.
We all know that black males operate with a double-standard. You can be successful as long as you smile all the time and appear to be humble.

Don't grandstand.

Don't celebrate in the end-zone.

Don't do spinning dunks in mid-air.

Just do your damn job and keep the seats filled. Bonds does that in great numbers. People will pay for expensive seats just to be close enough to the field to yell at him. That's power.

But Barry doesn't eat humble pie. He has a bunch of white women on the side. He doesn't kiss ass. He doesn't play the games the media want him to play. And worse, he just broke one of the most hallowed records in sports history.

Just like Henry Aaron received death threats for breaking Ruth's record, Bonds is dealing with a character assassination through the media. He doesn't help matters by not being "Wil Smith" if you catch my drift.

In closing, I wonder if the same people who threatened Aaron are like the same guys who now "cherish" his record?

B.