*** I Think I Fixed The Formatting. I Don’t Know What Happened ****

There is an ancient Jewish proverb that states you will reap
whatever you sow. Baseball and perhaps America is now reaping what it has has
sown for a generation now. With Barry Bonds official breaking of Hank Aarons
record last night we are now reaping from our “whatever it takes” mentality of
the last 20 years. When I was a kid, life was simple in my idyllic life. There
were good guys and there were bad guys. You knew who they were and you didn’t
root for the bad guy. Bonds, to be fair perhaps steroids changed all of
that. Sure some of our heroes were
flawed, but they were at the end of day good guys. They didn’t cheat, steal or
cut to get where they got.

Then I grew up. I watched a President lie to the people he
chose to represent and who in turn chose him to represent them. I’ve watched large corporations take losses
at stores so they can run the mom and pop competition out of the market then
jack prices through the roof. Last night I watched a man achieve a record that
a preponderance of evidence says he didn’t earn. I’ve endured countless hours
of people saying, “Well, if he did cheat, so did a lot of other people.” A lot of people steal, but I don’t see anyone
advocating we all head on down to our local store and start our own version of
the

Bronx

is burning.

The media isn’t exempt here either. When Bonds tied the
record, the game went 12 innings. It was a good game that should have been
celebrated at least in part by that fact. The next day 4 out of the 5
highlights were Barry Bonds, finally Khalil Green’s walk off hit was the only
Padre shown. ESPN, apparently wants both sides of this pie. They will follow
Barry Bonds around and catch “this historic moment” and at the same time make
money decrying his cheating. Isn’t that born of the same mentality that got Bonds
were he is today? “Whatever it takes” is the most selfish of motto’s. I have no
idea how Mr. Bonds conducts himself on a personal level but his selfishness
cannot be denied in this chase. ESPN’s and perhaps all media outlets’
selfishness cannot be denied in the debacle that has been the coverage of this
event.

He plays when he wants to play; he sits where he wants to
sit. He does whatever he wants. If he wants to talk, he talks, if not that’s OK
too.

What about his teammates? What about the organization he
plays for? What about baseball as a whole. What about what he’s teaching those
who watch him? In the end, any who endorse this record are saying that outcomes
are more important than morals. If we condone these actions as legitimate we
tell our children that if you have to cheat to get to the top, do it. Just don’t
get caught. If you do get caught, just use the three d’s: deny, deny, deny!

There is much that is wrong about the spectacle that has
become Bonds but perhaps the biggest issue is what we are teaching the next
generation. As a father I’m glad that this record will be broken by the time
any of my children are old enough to understand what was going on. Perhaps, by
then there will be something concrete, perhaps he’s be stripped of the record,
and I’ll be able to teach my Children that in the end right is right and wrong
is wrong. I hope I will be able to teach them that there are good guys and
there are bad guys.
Perhaps, all the heroes have gone away, but we certainly still have some villains.
To call them victims when they created there own mess is ridiculous. Dale
Murphy said it best:

 

"Barry’s a great player, there’s no question about it,
but he put an asterisk by his name on his own," Murphy said Monday on AM
radio 1280 The Show. "He’s deserved all the negative publicity that he’s
getting. I mean, people are calling up and complaining, I’ve heard the last few
weeks, that that he’s being treated unfairly. You know, life just usually isn’t
like that. You don’t usually get treated unfairly. You usually get what you
deserve. This is what Barry deserves. He’s a hard guy to like. He’s a hard
teammate to have and, you know, he’s set a terrible example for our kids." Online Source