The Bonds Home Run... Sorry, I Had To

There it is, the asterisk. The one think standing in the way of anyone wanting to set a new record in sports. I know, I'm a little late to be jumping on this bandwagon. I am going into this post completely aware of that. I know everyone has been talking about this from the day McGuire hit his big home run.

The other day I was reading through one of my favorite blogs, Burnside Writers Blog. I found a post written by Aaron Donley called The Shrinking of Our Heroes. Here is a little something he wrote.

"frankly, I can’t tell you how incredibly disappointed I am with the whole situation. You see, as a youngster I’m thankful I had the opportunity to have positive role models. Legends you could watch and look up too with admiration, hoping someday to mimic if even a bit of their greatness in your own life. True greats you would watch over and over again in slow motion replays of their glory days with glossy eyed admiration for their personal determination and fortitude. Yet today, I’m afraid my own son will not have the same opportunity I had to view such untainted greatness."

It really got me thinking about this whole asterisk business. After reading Aarons blog, two phrases stand out to me; positive role models and untainted greatness. Let us take the first one for a minute and elaborate. Positive role model means just that, positive. Why would any parent, in there right mind, want to let their kids watch people like Bonds on TV. You are basically sending the message that you think it is okay for people to use steroids to enhance their personal performance. I go out of my way to change the channel when Bonds is on. I don't care if it is a highlight clip, a game, or a commercial. He doesn't get airtime in my house.

I don't care if Bonds said he didn't use enhancement drugs. He did or still does and that is all there is to it. I'm sorry, you don't go from hitting 49 home runs in one season to 72 in the next without a bit of help. Sure, he hasn't hit more that 46 in seasons following 2001. However, if you remember, promptly after his 72 home runs he went under investigation for enhancement drug use. I will just leave it at that.

Which leads me to the other point, untainted greatness. There will never be anyone greater in the history of sports than the Babe Ruths and Hank Aarons'. They achieved their records with what God gave them, not with performance enhancement vitamins, shakes and drugs. No matter how much effort is put into it, greatness will never follow tainted.

So I say, yes, hats off to you Barry Bonds. I am sure you worked very hard for your achievements. But, you will never be the heroic legend of the great Hank Aaron.