|
Bonds' talent, skill is why he's King |
|
|
|
Thursday, 16 August 2007 |
By Leland Stein III
Barry Bonds, 43, is the new King on the hallowed baseball
homerun throne!
 FOCUSED - Barry Bonds worked tirelessly on his hitting technique in the cages before hitting number 756.
Bonds' blast off the Washington Nationals' Mike Bacsik
should have put to an end a long and extremely controversial pursuit, yet the
media machine continued to spin its own venom.
According to recent FBI crime statistics, the homicide rates
have again inched off the charts in major urban areas, as evident by the
execution-style murders of three college students in Newark, yet a single man playing a boys game
for entertainment only can draw more ire and disdain than the loss of human
lives.
I'm sick of it . . . I'm mad as heck and can't take it anymore!
The hypocrisy of it all is whacked. This holier than thou
garbage that is being spewed throughout the white-dominated media just shows
how wide the great divide still remains.
Bonds has always denied knowingly using
performance-enhancing drugs.
He has acknowledged using a rubbing compound that helps
muscles heal after games and after weight lifting. No one has accused him of
using a needle to inject growth hormones in himself, yet Bonds is being placed
on the steroid pedestal as the King of it.
MLB has been testing for six seasons and Bonds has never
tested positive for anything.
I've been up to the Bay Area and witnessed his workout
routine. The man does not poison his body with drugs or alcohol or laziness.
Among sports people that want to listen, Barry works out from three to six
hours per day in the off-season and is into nutrition and eating right.
George Foreman, Carl Lewis, Reggie White, and Brett Favre,
just to name a few, have shown us in recent years what people can do when they
treat their mind and body right.
Every coin has two sides; isn't it possible Bonds is telling
the truth?
One side of the coin is his Godfather, Willie Mays, who was
at his side. "I visualized him playing sports at a high level," he
said. "He was 5 when he was in my locker all the time."
Add in his father, Bobby, an All-Star outfielder. Barry
spent his childhood years roaming the clubhouse at Candlestick Park,
getting tips from Mays and other Giants.
Aaron, much to the delight of Bonds, gave him a video
tribute, saying: "I would like to offer my congratulations to Barry Bonds
on becoming baseball's career home run leader. It is a great accomplishment
which required skill, longevity and determination."
Prior to Aaron's tribute, Bonds received video messages
shown on the scoreboard during his chase of the record from Joe Montana,
Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky and Muhammad Ali - a remarkable collection of
some of the greatest living athletes in a variety of sports.
In the face of so many wanting to believe innuendo, what's gotten
lost in all the conversation is that Bonds has one of the most fundamentally
sound and smooth swings in MLB history. His patience at the plate has never
been matched by anyone, as evident by him being the all-time base-on-balls
leader, and, he also has the single season record (232 in 2004) that is 50 more
than Ruth's old record of 170. He has five of MLB's top 10 walk seasons in
history - five of them!
It's amazing that he only gets three or four pitches to hit
per game, yet he makes pitchers pay each time. No one in the history of the
game has been faced with so few at-bats as a slugger and produced so much at
the plate.
Longevity, discipline, magnificent hand-eye coordination,
baseball talent and no major injuries have been the real fuel that has powered
Bonds into history. Those things are the real story if so many in the
white-dominated media were not blinded by envy and degradation.
Another case for Bonds and his serious conditioning routine
is that all know that longevity and steroids go together like fire and water.
Bond's very late career success is a banner for his
innocence. Medical researchers have acknowledged that steroids and rapid
"unnatural" muscle growth put tremendous pressure on the joints and
tendons. Admitted steroid users Ken Caminiti, Jose Canseco, and banned
substance user Mark McGwire all saw their bodies break down as they hit their
mid 30s. In the end, they limped away from their careers.
It bothers me that critics point to Barry's weight gain over
a 20-year career. I'll just have them look at themselves. As a whippet 165
pound running back, I now weigh 200 pounds and I'm not fat. My hat size has
increased four times and my feet are bigger, too.
I look at Shaq and how he weighed only 280 pounds when he
came into the league; he now weighs 330. Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson were
string beans when they came into the league. Each left 20 to 30-pounds heavier.
It's a natural progression of life.
Is it not possible that Bonds has gotten bigger by adhering
to a strict diet and exercise regimen? Anyone can do it with the plethora of
exercise amenities available today - all one has to do is do it.
Bonds deserves what he has accomplished. You cannot steroid
yourself to over 700 homeruns; it has taken superior skill and dedication over
more than 20 years.
The whiners will continue to whine, because that appears to
be what too many American do nowadays.
Many will continue to hang their negative hats on a lame
book written by two reporters on supposition and claims but not substantiated
facts. Some say the book was fabricated because they claimed it came from Grand
Jury testimony that will never be opened for others to check the writers' facts
against.
The unmerciful media lynching of Bonds puts him on the
negative ropes of judgment, and, he is never shown to be a family man with a
living mother, three children and a wife, all of whom greeted him at home plate
after his historic blast.
No matter, the fact remains that Bonds hasn't been charged
by MLB or the Federal Government with any wrongdoings. Whatever happened to
innocent until proven guilty?
Leland Stein can be heard on WGPR radio (107.5) every Sunday
from 11 p.m. to midnight. He can be reached at
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
|
|
BVN Calendar Events
 |
January 2009 |
 |
|
|
