Since everyone in America is talking about Barry Bond’s achievement, which is to say, "the feat" which is to say "the mountaintop" and because Mr. Bonds’ ascent to the top is marked by controversy, I want to add my little voice to the cacophony. After all, that’s what a baseball crowd is for: it serves as a democratic shouting index and that’s as it should be.
As everyone knows by now, Barry Bonds has been under supreme suspicion of having used illegal steroids during the last decade of his career, a period for most athletes when players experience the erosion of their athletic skills. Not only did Barry Bonds hit more home runs in his final decade in the batter’s box, but he looked suspiciously bigger and brawnier while doing it.
At this very moment Mr. Bonds’ former personal trainer is sitting in prison because he refuses to testify before a federal committee that’s looking into the use of illegal drugs in our nation’s pastime.
The home run title is baseball’s most glorious prize and my personal view is that anyone who breaks a cherished record while using banned substances should be given an asterisk. After all, when doctors or attorneys take their respective board exams more than once this information is entered into their professional record with the phrase: "passed the boards on the second try".
Let’s let Barry Bonds have the home run title with a similar caveat, something like: "Performance enhanced record".
Heck, they could even build a special room at the baseball hall of fame for guys like Bonds and others who surpassed long held records with the help of chemistry.
I think this is the best solution to the whole problem of drug use in professional sports. People could choose to be listed as either authentic or performance enhanced competitors. In turn we would keep two kinds of record books.
In my view, and in the view of millions of other baseball fans, Henry Aaron is still the home run king. The man doesn’t need an asterisk.
Right now it looks as though professional baseball is going to let the record stand as if it’s authentic. That’s really a shame.
I love baseball. I also love grand opera. But I don’t condone lip-synching.
S.K.
Andrea’s Buzzing About: the Disability Blog Carnival # 20 she’s titled "ON HOLIDAY!"
Planet of the Blind 