I got an interesting email today from the good folks over at InsideTheMonster.com, and they told me they have begun a campaign to get baseball fans, and specifically Red Sox fans, to give Barry Bonds the cold shoulder as he approaches Hank Aaron's all-time record of 755 home runs.They formed a new web site called, "BACKS2BONDS." It basically asks fans in parks where Bonds will be playing to stand and turn their backs when he comes to the plate and show him what you think of his chase of Aaron's record. I am on record as never having been a fan of Bonds, and I feel very badly that Aaron's record now looks like it will fall to someone as classless and arrogant as Bonds. (My apologies to my friend Ken in California, who is a huge Giants and Barry Bonds fan. I guess we'll just agree to disagree on this one, Ken.)
I was a big Hank Aaron fan as a kid, and I'll never forget the night he broke Babe Ruth's home run record in 1974. (He was breaking a Yankee's record, so that put me firmly in Hammerin' Hank's corner.) It's sad that a man of such dignity as Aaron, who had to endure such garbage as racist hate mail and death threats on the way to home run 715, has to be put in such a situation like this.
There is a possibility that Bonds could reach the record by June 15th, when the Giants are at Fenway playing the Red Sox. (Bonds is in for a real rude welcome there, as Sox fans haven't forgotten how Bonds played the race card three years ago about never wanting to play in Boston, a city he's never been to in his life.) I don't advocate anything like abusive behavior towards him like throwing objects or threats. Giving him the cold shoulder would be a better thing, but I'm sure he probably wouldn't care anyway.
And as far as the steroids mess goes, just read "Game Of Shadows."
If you'd like to check out the site and endorse it, go to: http://www.backs2bonds.com/
I'll have more about Bonds as he gets closer to the record. But as you might guess, it won't be of a positive nature.
A line drive, specifically one from Bonds, off the back of your head wouldn't be too fun, though.
ReplyDeleteI just can't get into hating Bonds, for several factors: 1. Not a Yankee. 2. National League. 3. So many other guys cheat/cheated in the same way. You know what I mean? It's like, I'm way more offended that Giambi cheated to beat my team in '03 than I am that Bonds will have cheated to pass a record that, when you think about it, may get passed a few more times in the coming years anyway. And you gotta love Aaron, but if he loses the record, there's nothing we can do about it--the asterisk on Bonds is there in people's minds, and that matters more, in a way, than what the record books say.
I'm watching a Zone right now--the one where the neighborhood is torn apart because only one family has a bomb shelter...it's great how the chaos of the incoming (so they think) missiles brings out the animals in them, and they start telling each other how they really feel. Serling is amazing.
I'll qualify by saying that I haven't read "Game Of Shadows."
ReplyDeleteI think, until he is actually convicted or barred or admits use, that he shouldn't be booed. Yes, he's arrogant. No, I never have liked him as a player. But what he's accomplishing is quite amazing and, IF he actually hasn't done steroids, it would be a criminal shame to have him be booed while passing the record.
As I say, I haven't read everything about him. Just my (somewhat uninformed) two cents.
Hi there, and as he gets closer to the record (opps, gotta puke) he gets closer to Fenway. As long as we keep playing the way we are, I don't give a darn...but he obviously cheated.
ReplyDeleteAnd Jere, wasn't that episode called Main St. USA? Or something like that. And yes, he WAS amazing. I'm still sad he smoked so much.
ReplyDeleteI watched The Twilight Zone last night too. I love the fact it's on late night on the Sci Fi Channel. Last night's episodes were great, especially the bomb shelter one. Rod Serling was an unqualified genius in my opinion...
ReplyDeleteEveryone has an opinion on Bonds. If you're a fan, that's fine. I'm not. I understand your take, Jere. Aaron's record was going to fall someday, and it appears Bonds will reach it first. I simply won't celebrate it, and I support those that don't.
I hope you have another friend named Ken in California because as a Padre fan who's been burned by Barry more than any other team I will not be getting any reaction from me anymore. I used to boo, I did the turn my back on him for 25 seconds when he's announced. But I realized something about Barry last year. He's a pathetic human being that is not worth the venom. If anything I feel sorry for him. Here was a talented ballplayer (I'm not sure he was a great player in the 90s more like EXTREMELY good) who felt like he needed to take a short cut in order to be at the next level. I think he was jealous of the Griffeys (the best player of the 90s ... no revisionist history when Junior was healthy he was the best player in the game at the time. In the All Century Team Bonds finished 18th), McGwires and Sosas. A-Rod will probably pass him and I just hope when Bonds inevitably passes Aaron it isn't against the Padres.
ReplyDeleteThe Ken I meant in the article was a friend in the Sacramento area who is a bigtime Giants and Bonds fan.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your take on it, though. Bonds has long terrorized the Padres, and I know every Padre fan hopes he sets the record anywhere but San Diego. The reception he got at Petco Park last season is proof of that.
The Emperor has no clothes folks, Barry Bonds is a cheat. In a perfect world every single pitcher he faces in the next few weeks will just plunk him, hit him right in his fat, steroid ridden backside and put him on base so he doesn't get to swing the bat. The man failed an amphetamines test in 2006!Most of us fail that, we lose our jobs or go to jail. Barry Bonds does it, and ESPN gives him his own reality show.
ReplyDeletePeter: That episode is called, "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street."
ReplyDeleteRight now, one of my fave episodes is on: Midnight Sun. And now Zones make me think of Quinn, so I came here to comment.
Oh, and I only caught the end of the last episode, but Serling noted how all the concentration camps should remain standing as reminders, etc. It was a great speech, which I'm not doing justice to.
Thanks for the compliment, Jere. Whenever I see The Daily Show, I think of you...
ReplyDeleteThe Twilight Zone episode with former concentration camp commander who goes insane as punishment is another of my favorites, "It's not retribution, Captain Lutzer, it's justice." A powerful episode. I'm sorry I missed it, as I got home late from Trivia Night.
"Midnight Sun" is also a great one, especially the twist at the end. Both are terrible ways to meet the end...