one to go

as i write this, barry bonds has not passed ruth's 714 career homeruns. somehow, he has been thwarted in his last several attempts. i'm resigned to the fact that babe's record is probably a thing of the past, but it brings me much satisfaction to know it hasn't happened yet. i detest bonds. i believe he represents all that is wrong with sports today - ego, money, and of course, drugs. yes, it's been going on forever, but bonds stands out to me as one of the worst offenders (well, he and mark mcgwire, palmeiro, canseco... hmmm). he shows so little true joy in the game anymore, strutting up to bat, rarely smiling, barely interacting with fans, as if his only reason to play is to for posterity's sake.

but coming to posterity, let me just say that when bonds reaches 715 and beyond, i don't believe his record should be marked with an asterisk. it kills me to admit it, but i actually think, that if baseball is going to let him play, then whatever he achieves while he's playing is fair game. there's a great movie out there 61* about the race between roger maris and mickey mantle for single-season home run record. once again, the man to beat was babe ruth, and when maris did pass his record, baseball officials put an askterisk by his name because of all the public pressure. the public argued that because the season was longer, it wasn't a fair comparison. in the movie, maris says that they have other things to deal with, such as night games, coast-to-coast flights, and other natural progressions in any sport. so, the separate records stood for many years, even until after maris died. on the same basis, i don't think you can do it to bonds. as bad as he is, it's up to baseball to intervene on all his play, not just his records.