January 10, 2013
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DENIED!!!
The Daily News1 The great elephant has walked into the room. Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, and Roger Clemens were voted down yesterday as inductees to the baseball Hall of fame. In fact, nobody was inducted into the Baseball’s Hall of Fame.2 Thanks guys, for giving me something about which to write. The above pictures tell more about the story than any words I could write. It is painful. It is surreal. It is in our face.
3 Bonds.
4 Barry.
5 As a guy who has worked around sports for years, I can honestly say that when Barry Bonds burst on the Giants’ scene in 1993 I stood absolutely amazed.
6 Local boy, son of a Giant, and already storied.
7 That season, Barry Bonds was beyond any player I had ever seen, with the exception of Willie Mays.
8 Intelligent, well-trained, quick instincts, power. Son of Bobby Bonds. Developed natural instincts by the likes of Willie Mays and Willie McCovey, guys who would clearly not give him advice to “juice.”
9 I became a HUGE Barry fan. I saw his skills, and his baseball savvy. He needed steroids like Shakespeare needed an English teacher.
10 A lot of baseball people didn’t like Barry because of his arrogance, and for his disdain for journalists.11 I saw one of the greatest baseball minds ever to play the game. He was a shoe-in for the Hall.12 Then came the Game of Shadows, a book by San Francisco Chronicle writers Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams.13 <whisper whisper whisper whisper>14 At the time, I didn’t want to believe that Barry would cheat.15 That book was explosive. It blew the lid off not only baseball, but all sports. This is historically recent. The year was 2006.16 Barry threw a friend under the bus, and these two journalists who broke the story were almost put in prison for not revealing sources. He owns that, to this very day.17 I found it difficult to back the guy. I supported him for years. I loved every crack of the bat. He was a hero to me. I listened to every pitch in the 1993 103-win season when the Giants and Braves fought like Titans. The Giants came away with nothing that season, but it was a season beyond torture.18 A little over a decade later came Game of Shadows. It blew the lid off an entire era in baseball history, and it continues to blow the lid off where we are with sports at this very minute. One needs only to whisper the word “Melky” and people cringe and shoosh.19 I publicly railed against Bonds, and I railed earlier than most.20 I had felt betrayed. I bought into his lies.21 I still have trouble with his idiocy, and his allowing a friend to rot in jail for him.22 And yetg I also see him as a scapegoat for a much larger issue.23 How do I put this? Well, I just say it, I suppose. Americans love living in fantasy worlds.24 We enjoy sports. We enjoy watching human beings working hard to do extraordinary things.25 These extraordinary athletes have become our super heroes.26 Then some guys write a book that is sure to be a best seller.27 They expose several sports’ figures as steroid monsters.28 Barry happens to be the biggest target because of his personality, and because of his incredible natural skills.29 Most people know that the world of sports is rampant with such nonsense, but it remains the great elephant that sits in the room.30 Yesterday’s denial of Bonds, Sosa, and Clemens was a tepid means of saying, “Let’s wait ’til America comes to its senses, and all this stuff blows over, and then let’s give these guys their place.”31 I’m not sure if that will happen, or if it will turn into an annual ritual, like seeing if Susan Lucci will ever receive an Emmy (she did), or wondering if Oswald acted alone.32 In 2013, I am in denial about the rampant use of steroids in sports. Barry is just the tip of the iceberg, if I may be so cliche.33 I’ll say this once. I hate to break it to people, but sports is teeming with monstrous use of steroids. It is beyond comprehension, but watch any NFL game and tell me that those guys aren’t juicing.34 Should we just “out” the entire thing? What sort of message are we sending to young athletes who wish someday to go big? High school students have died as a result of steroid use.35 As a teacher, I see it as a huge issue.36 Where does it head?37 Are we going to make this an enormous issue, or are we going to bury our heads?38 I think we all know.39 For years the Hall wouldn’t allow people of color in.40 Should the people who controlled that be taken out of the Hall?41 Lots of issues.42 My guess is that the world of sports will throw a few athletes under the bus, and then continue with business as usual. That’s the American way.43 To be honest, I didn’t even want to approach this issue, because if we blow it open, there will be no sports.44 We want Titans. We want Avengers. We want Heroes.45 And so we will have them. We will pretend that this stuff will go away.46 I will pretend that the 49ers are all clean. I won’t really believe that, but as long as nobody points to it, I will enjoy the playoffs.47 But make no mistake.48 It the world of sports in 2013 were an emperor, he would be wearing no clothes.49 What a painful thing to have to confront.50 Fortunately, I am a hack journalist, and a fraud.51 I want to get back to writing about how sweet my students are. I don’t want these sorts of stories.52 They bring out the hypocrisies and nonsense we all experience on a daily basis.53 So I’m not going to follow this story, nor talk too much more about it. I am a hypocrite and a coward. I want this issue to disappear. I want it to stay in the shadows where it belongs.54 As a guy who writes, I had to address it. Somewhere in here you can probably read my thoughts.55 I suppose it is now on some sort of public record, at least in my frabjous mind.56 For now, I’m putting this sad, sad story to bed.57 It’s Thursday. That’s always a good day.58 Go about your business and smile.59 There are good things.60 Have faith.61 There are good things.62 Peace.~H~
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