The Barry Bonds Controversy

I wonder if people, when they’re writing a “tell all” book ever lie awake at night and think, “By damn, I’m incredibly uncool! I’m trying to better my life by harming another’s… Adding laughter to my family while adding tears to someone else’s….”

Doubtful. I’d wager that they lie awake wondering what other human beings have made mistakes that they can dig up. I guess the fact that so many of us are humans explains why there are so many of these worthless books.  And aren’t we humans, on the whole, a pitiful lot.  We want desperately for our own mistakes to be forever hidden, but we want those of others to be out there for the whole world to gawk and sneer at.
If you have the ability and resources to write a book and get it published, here’s a “novel” (sorry) idea: Put together something that will help another person. Something that will, after all is said and done, leave the world a better place for having been written.

The recent tattle tale book that has taken aim at Barry Bonds is, like most of these books, getting lots of attention. Sadly, he isn’t the only one who is being hurt. His fans and his family are hurting as well. Worst of all, though, is what this must be like for his beautiful kids. We have no idea what Barry did or didn’t do (and frankly I don’t care - it’s the past and I’m for leaving it there) - but we darned sure know that these children didn’t do anything. They don’t deserve to watch their daddy being treated like a thug.

What’s done is done.  The past is the past.  If the league, the media, and the fans didn’t suspect or catch anything while it was allegedly happening, what makes them think they have any business going back for  it now?

Especially if it isn’t within their power to reprimand every single player who did steroids, every single doctor or trainer who helped them, and every single manager who knew about it.  That would be impossible, so call off the witch hunt and quit trying to make one man pay for all of their debt!  It’s like a group of people want to stamp the letter S on Barry’s forehead and burn him at the stake.  They think that by doing that they’ll purge baseball, and possibly all sports, of the fact that steroids ever existed in the first place.

If the worst did happen, and Barry did do steroids, he has reaped what he sowed an then some.  His name will forever by marred by this controversy and scandal.

Imagine that.  Your name.  The one thing you’ll have forever.  The thing that’ll be with you all of your life, then will live on long after you’re gone.  His name will always be in the shadow of this mess.

I think he has paid in full.

Now, having said all of that, I will say this:  We’ve all seen athletes, actors, singers, models, and (for crying out loud) politicians do terrible things - drugs, drunk driving, brawling, adultery, etc. Most of the time the public has an initial reaction, then watches as the person goes on about their life - usually applauding their ability to “overcome.”

I think a great deal of it has to do with a person owning up to what they did. People, by nature, hate to feel like they’re being lied to. So, if someone in the public eye says something like, “I didn’t inhale…” our back goes up. But if they own up to what they did, we respect that. IF Barry did steroids, he would do himself a world of good to stand up and admit it. It wouldn’t give him his career back, but I believe it would give him his name back.

And, maybe best of all, it’d hurt the sales of a certain book.

Joi

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