Barry's World is the FanHouse's look into the season that is Barry Bonds.
According to the description on YouTube, this is footage from former big leaguer Vince Coleman's wedding, which was apparently sometime last winter in Hawaii. Coleman must have taken for granted that none of this invited guests would turn out to be amateur paparazzi, but the guy with this camera spent a good four minutes filming Barry Bonds, Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley and Marcus Allen sitting around a table and socializing with other guests. Riveting, I know.
Maybe it would have been entertaining had you been able to actually hear everyone, but I regret I'll never get those four minutes back. But then, as a reward for pleasuring my inner voyeur, after those four minutes of boredom Bonds actually got in front of a microphone and spent a few minutes giving a mildly amusing toast to the happy couple.
This isn't the side he chooses to show the media, but it's actually kind of cool to see him so relaxed and having a good time. Plus, he got a few big laughs out of the crowd, which was probably the last time he ever got such a welcoming reception on the road.
After all, both are icons in their own time, prodigious talents accused by many of using performance enhancers to take themselves to legendary levels. And yet Bonds is perhaps America's most hated athlete, and Lance Armstrong is one of its most beloved. Why?
Meanwhile, while plugging his book Hate Mail from Cheerleaders and Other Adventures from the Life of Reilly last month, Rick Reilly started a campaign for 'everyone in Denver not to watch this guy [Bonds] because what he did was wrong. He cheated to do this.' The foreward to Reilly's book is written by Lance Armstrong, another sportsman whose phenomenal achievements have been shrouded in suspicion. There the similarities end. While Bonds is cast out, Armstrong is a friend of Presidents. While Bonds is damned by the asterisk, Armstrong is feted. While Bonds is black, Armstrong is white.
If the men are different, so has been the approach to the problem of drugs by their sports. Baseball, having swept it under the carpet, now wishes the subject of drugs would quietly go away. Cycling has been indulging an orgy of recrimination and self-laceration. In the last year, Floyd Landis, the non-winner of the 2006 Tour, has tested positive and the two pre-race favourites for that race, Ivan Basso and Jan Ullrich, were forced to withdraw because of drugs scandals.
I would also posit that, beside race and the punitive differences of the sport, fans in America have a wealth of information regarding Bonds' alleged steroid use -- hate it if you want to, but Game of Shadows is a definitive work -- while no such literature exists about any abuse by Armstrong. That alone makes Bonds an easier target, and perhaps for good reason.
Fox and ESPN are discussing the possibility of expanding coverage of Bonds as he approaches Hank Aaron's home run mark of 755, anticipating viewers will tune in -- out of admiration, curiosity or contempt.
"First we have to decide, when can we break in and begin to do live cut-ins of his at-bats, and that's being negotiated now," said Len DeLuca, ESPN's senior vice president for programming and acquisitions. "Is it within two? Within three? Within five? Where does it become reasonable?"
Now, some may scoff at this notion, namely because as we're certainly all aware, Barry Bonds may not have the biggest fanbase in all the land. Not to mention, ESPN is sort of known for um, over-covering the crap out of this kind of stuff. However, I like this move by the networks -- if FOX and ESPN do indeed go ahead with this.
Even though I'm not really a fan of Bonds, I'm still going to want to have a chance to see him break Hank Aaron's hallowed mark live. And, I'm guessing I'm not the only one out there that feels this way.
I don't like the guy; I think he's one of the biggest lying, scummy, rude, and downright disgusting players in baseball. But I will say this for the man -- he sure has an unparalleled sense of doggedness about him. In a day in age when J.D. Drew misses games when he's less than 100% healthy, and navigating your way through the injury report in baseball will put your scroll finger in a splint, you have Barry Bonds who is determined not to become a casualty despite being held out of the Giants' last two games (save a pinch-hit at-bat Wednesday night).
"Don't count on me seeing the D.L. at all, ever," Bonds said in even tones. "Ever, ever. Like I said, ever. Perfect English?"
How can Bonds make such a pronouncement, especially with his 43rd birthday next month?
"Because I won't let myself," Bonds said. "I'll work hard. I'll do what I have to do to make sure I don't go there, unless I'm hit by a truck or something."
Just look at how powerful those words are. Envision the force with which Barry speaks those words. Other players don't enjoy going on the DL, but they allow themselves to be placed on it should the need arise. Barry on the other hand, has pronounced that he won't let it happen. I'm not a fan of his, and I don't even need to get into his play on the field, attitude towards his teammates and the press, nor rumored involvement with steroids and HGH. But I will say this for the man, that's the type of grit and determination I respect in a player, and that's the mentality I would want from someone on my team. You don't have to like the man, heck, you can hate the person that is Barry Bonds, but respect him for his fortitude.
Barry Bonds gets called a lot of names, some of them deserving. Sometimes, though, people get carried away with the Bonds hyperbole. Is he a cheater? Yeah. Is he the devil incarnate? No, no he's not.
Anyway, Bonds doesn't exactly do a whole lot to prevent that sort of hyperbole. The latest example -- as if we needed one -- is that Bonds might not give his record-breaking equipment and mementos to the Hall of Fame. Instead, he might keep them for himself. And that, as your mother would tell you, is just plain selfish:
"I'm not worried about the Hall," the San Francisco slugger said during a recent homer drought. "I take care of me."
"Doesn't everybody have the right to decide to do it or not do it?" he said last week.
Yeah. These are not the types of things that are going to endear Barry anyone, even his fans. Come on, buddy. You're the most reviled player in the modern game (and perhaps ever) and you're about to break the most hallowed record in professional sports. At least give up a bat or a hat or something.
There are many good reasons to dislike Bonds. There are also lots of bad reasons. "Because he's a jerk to the press" is a bad reason. Still, if you're wondering why people didn't like Barry before they knew he did steroids, well, here you go. Perhaps Bonds should get Barry Zito to write another fawning column to smooth this over.
You know something's wrong in San Francisco when it's Ryan Klesko making splash hits into McCovey Cove and not Barry Bonds. You know something's wrong when May 8th was the last time I scrambled to throw up a "Barry's gone deep" post at night. You know something's wrong when I posed the question last week: "When Will Barry Hit Home Run No. 755?" and the guy isn't a step closer. And now it's not a lock that Barry will break the record by the All-Star break.
Barry Bonds has gone 11 games without hitting a home run. In that span, he's gone 5-for-31 (.161) with only one extra-base hit -- a double on May 10th. Barry's slugging percentage has dropped from an eye-popping .805 to a superb .630, and his batting average has sunk from a stellar .338 to a steady .287. And for the first time all year, Barry has not helped his team win games, only driving in one run and scoring three, while watching his team go 4-7 during the homerless streak. So has Barry gotten old overnight? Did he receive a random drug test that threw off his game? Are pitchers dealing with him more carefully? Will he still be able to break the record? Or am I just overreacting to a player who is simply going through a slump like anyone else?
A Dallas auction house is already talking turkey, offering $1 million for the ball Bonds hits to break Hank Aaron's career record of 755. ... "The all-time home run record is the most hallowed record in all of American sports,'' said Chris Ivy, director of sports auctions for Heritage Auction Galleries, which made the offer. "Barry Bonds hasn't been the most popular player in baseball, but his talents are undeniable. The record will represent not only his skill but his longevity in the sport."
Well, as people say, the ball is only worth what someone will pay for it -- and at this point, that price tag is already a cool million. It's interesting to note the anticipated discrepancy between the price of McGwire's 70th home run ball, and Barry's 756 home run ball. I guess once Maris' record was shattered, it almost destroyed the market for all record setting home run balls to follow. Either that, or collectors aren't as anxious to own a piece of history created by Barry Bonds.
A rather eyeopening poll over at ESPN today, only 52 percent of Americans are rooting against Barry Bonds to eclipse Hank Aaron's all-time MLB home run record.
More than half of baseball fans are rooting against Barry Bonds as he tries to break Hank Aaron's major league home run record of 755, according to an ESPN/ABC News poll.
The survey found that 52 percent of fans hope Bonds doesn't break the record, while 37 percent of fans want him to surpass Aaron's mark, set in 1974.
In addition, 73 percent of fans think Bonds used steroids, despite Bonds' repeated denials. Bonds has never tested positive for steroids.
It certainly seems like the percentage of fans who are rooting against Big Head is much, much higher than 52 percent. Perhaps, as MJD points out today, it has to do with the media's portrayal and coverage of public sentiment.
Race also played a big part of the poll.
However, race plays a unique role. Black fans in the survey are more than twice as likely to want Bonds to break Aaron's record (74 percent to 28 percent), and 37 percent of black fans think Bonds used steroids, compared to 76 percent of white fans.
Blacks are nearly twice as likely to think Bonds has been treated unfairly (46 percent to 25 percent). Why? The survey found that 41 percent of black fans think this is due to the steroids issue, 25 percent think it's because of his race, and 21 percent blame Bonds' personality.
For whites who think Bonds has been treated unfairly, 66 percent blame steroids. Virtually none blame race.
Jayson Stark has a good take on what this all means. I suggest you check his piece out. Because anything I try to write about it wouldn't hold a candle to his column.
"I would be ecstatic," Bonds said. "It wouldn't bother me one bit. ... I'm so happy for him. It's great. ... I hope you guys enjoy it, too, because it's just phenomenal. I hope he hits 100. I really do."
And would Barry similarly support A-Rod should he break the all-time HR record, which has been the banter around baseball lately?
"Hell, yeah," Bonds said. "Hell, yeah. Because, man, that's what the game's about. It's exciting and it brings people to the stadium. Somebody else does it, that's awesome. Go on, A-Rod, do your damn thing. I don't care what anybody says. Keep that look in your eye because it's solid."
Plenty of questions must be asked and answered. Is Bonds being serious? Who in their right mind would want their name wiped out of the record books? Bonds certainly cares about the records; he made it abundantly clear that he wanted to wipe Babe Ruth out of the books. So why would he act so hastily in cheering for a competitor to surpass him? Is Bonds sick of the spotlight, the questions, the speculation?
Surely that can't be the answer -- not for a man who had his own TV show. I'll take the time to say that Bonds is an absolute fraud who is patronizing his fellow ballplayers, playing nice guy with the media, and hoping you're dumb enough to believe him. Well I'm not, Barry. Try it on someone else.
So, because of Pearlman's attitude towards Bonds, I went into reading his latest Page 2 effort on Ol' Big Head with much trepidation -- one in which he argues Bonds' wearing of Jackie Robinson's No. 42 Sunday to honor him is a huge facade due to Bonds' prior actions.
Now in his 22nd major league season, Bonds' track record in areas of race and sports is, to be polite, abysmal. Here is a man who, according to infinite associates and peers, has rarely -- if ever -- gone out of his way to assist a rookie African-American teammate trying to find his way; who sees young black fans not as potential heirs to the game, but as autograph-seeking gnats to be insulted or dismissed. Four years ago, Bonds spit in the face of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum by ignoring an invitation to be presented with one of its Legacy Awards (taken aback by the public outcry, he finally visited four months later).
To his credit, Bonds once used his celebrity to influence a political campaign. To his discredit, the candidate he endorsed was former California governor Pete Wilson, an arch-conservative whose stances on minority issues were only slightly to the left of David Duke.
Wow, that's some damning information right there, huh?
A 
Barry's World
Barry's World
Barry's World
